New releases last four weeks: Footwork/Juke

Review: The spirit of ghetto tech looms large over this full length offering from duo Hi Tech, surfacing on Omar S' FXHE label. That said, the usual straight forward pumped up booty bouncing beats that the genre flaunts are left well behind by an eclectic and well constructed trip across the rhythmic spectrum. 'Milf Milo' is one of the more regular sounding jams, riding a relatively conventional house/garage production, but elsewhere elements of trap, hip-hop, techno, footwork and electro all influence the genuinely innovative and original frameworks. Even better, the cleverness of the arrangements doesn't lessen the alarmingly thuggish timestretched and over-autotuned vocals, giving us the best of both worlds.

Review: Scottish fusioneer Stillhead follows up last year's album doublet Out Of The Loop with this exceptional wide-armed spread of sounds that flexes from UKG (the beautifully restrained hip-wriggling intro 'Sick Fing') to uncompromising juke jams (the pounding, loopy 'Girl Problems') by way of deep slithering, hypnotic dub ('Social Distance'). All weaves together with large servings of bass and some rather nifty (not to mention cheeky) samplecraft. Stillhead? Still bumping...