Juno Recommends Breakbeat: March 2022

Review: DJOKO hops back into his Kolter guise after an excellent release on a split EP with Robert James for Body Movement. Now he gets the run of the record on his fourth appearance for Pilot, and he wastes no time in getting the party started with the wiggy breakbeat house trance trip of 'Seducer'. By way of contrast, 'Neintien Eyti' creates a uniquely bubbly kind of happy house with splashes of acid and breakbeat. 'Gifting' strips things back to a cool-headed garage shuffle, and then 'Closing Time' freaks the funk back in once more for some organ-led fun and games.

Review: As much as dance music always likes to claim to be the most futuristic and quickly evolving genre of music, it also doesn't half love to look backwards. Still, with tunes as good as these in the arenas it's always going to be fun to dig them out, shine them up and reissue them. Boogie Times does that with this slice of breakbeat laced hardcore from 1991 by Timebase aka Bernard Simon and Kromozone, also aka Bernard Simon. 'Fireball' on the flip side samples the breakbeat from James Brown's 'Funky Drummer' and reworks it into a big bit of main room action that is packed with energy. The opener, 'Unity,' is no less intense with its steely drums and prickly acid.

Review: After some wicked EPs by Yosh, Etch and Tom Jarmey, here is some proper underground UK flavour courtesy of Burnski's Vivid imprint - a new sub label of Constant Sound. The latest one this week is by the enigmatic Tamoshi. On the A side, we have the snarling minimalist roller called 'The System' which is quite reminiscent of early DJ Krust. Over on the flip, hear a convincingly old school junglist stepper, the fittingly titled 'Darkside' that goes all the way back to '95. One for the heads.

Review: British producer Bufobufo takes the reins for the latest Art of Dark slab of wax and wears the rich musical heritage of his homeland proudly on his sleeve throughout. First up is a fusion of sub-bass and rave motifs, early techno drums and Castlemorten free party energy that will liven up any setting. 'Caracal' then serves up some crispy breaks with darker bass sounds and smart little samples to take things into the future. There is then some twitchy techno business on 'Pallas' and 'Jaguarundi' closes out with shadowy jungle moods. This is another timeless offering from Colin Chiddle's label.

Review: To date, Kim Cosmk has generally done her own thing - self-releasing a string of digital-only singles and albums which variously mix and mangle elements of electro, IDM, techno and dubstep. Here she pops up on an established label - Ralph Lawson's 2020 Vision to be exact - for the very first time. First, she whips up a frenzy courtesy of the fuzzy and aggressive riffs of techno roller 'Night Flight', complete with creepy chords and foreboding motifs. She then delivers raw, heavy, industrial-fired electro on 'Ore', whilst warped dubstep and electro are brilliantly mixed on 'Nocturnal'. To round things up nicely, 'Drifting' is a partial vocal number built around a wobbling dubstep bass with punchy electro drums and twinkling pianos.

Review: Kyoto's Stones Taro has released a lot of classy club gear in the past two years. He's landed on Cheeky Sneakers, Dance All Day, Lost City Archives, Breaks N' Pieces and plenty more, refining a sound which deals in ravey signifiers collated into a modernist framework. Now he's dropping the Seed Man EP on NC4K, bringing the pressure from the get-go with the snappy breaks and pitched up ragga vocals on 'Magma Driver'. 'Auto Translation' opts for a trancier outlook peppered with playful bleeps, and 'Seed Man' takes breakbeat choppage into more ethereal waters while maintaining a necessary ruffness. Then Coco Bryce rocks up to remix 'Auto Translation' with a more rugged set of drums which bring the track in line with Taro's wilder cuts.

Review: Israel 'Iz' Gravning aka Tone Scientist hails from the West Coast of the United States. He has a room packed with gear - drum machines, samplers, keyboards - and he sure knows how to jam on each piece if this new EP is anything to go by on Basic Moves. 'Discrepancy' kick off with whirring chords and clacking drums, 'Heartache' is suspenseful and airy drum & bass and 'Pyramids On Mars' dubs and dives on drums that flap like sheets of metal in the wind. There is still time for the deep and sludgy 'Things Get Done' and another jungle work out in 'Esoteric Junglist.'

Review: Introducing Tread; a brand new London label dedicated to the pushing the limits and boundaries of bass music and it starts right here with Berlin-based Guava who picks up where he left us on labels like Control Freak and Holding Hands with his leftfield, techno-influenced stance on broken drum music. Highlights include the wonderfully spacious and cosmic guitar runs on 'In Cloud' (with Alex Blake) and the glistening twangs and shiny soul of 'Equinox Meaning' (with Leo Abrahams). Look out for more Tread marks on the UK club terrain very soon.