Vinyl Fanatiks Vinilo y CD

Review: Big Bud originally released Faceless/New Vision back in 1995 on Underdog Recordings, offering up a weighty variant of atmospheric d&b that he made his own. As you might expect OG copies of this mid-decade change hands for some hefty sums, but fear not because Vinyl Fanatiks are on hand with a spanking new pressing on pink vinyl no less. A side 'Faceless' is a laser-focused roller with tightly clipped breaks and strafing synths, but 'New Vision' is the real gem which gets more intricate in the drum programming, drawing on less heavily mined percussion and more artful synth work to make a truly standout cut.

Review: Last year, hardcore and jungle archivists Vinyl Fanatiks dipped into the back catalogue of early 90s breakbeat heroes Rhythm Section - a crew whose members included future TCR main man Rennie Pilgrem - and offered up a 12" featuring the first four tracks from their 1995 double-pack The Sequel. Here they round up the rest of the tracks in remastered form. There's much to admire, from the warehouse-ready, 'Bombscare'-inspired melodic motifs, crunchy breaks and booming bass of 'Rhythm Is Fundamental' and the acidic squelchy of peak-time smasher 'Freakin' Out', to the hip-hop sampling breakbeat funkiness of 'Time To Hit The Floor' and the stab-happy, sub-heavy hedonism of 'Work That Body'.

Review: Vinyl Fanatiks take us back in time once again with this powerful slab of early jungle justice from 1994. Previously released on Monita's Skelton Records, which was launched in 1992 and played an influential role in the burgeoning jungle sound, both cuts pack an incredibly timeless punch. 'The Razors Edge' was nodding at Reinforced but doing its own cosmic thing with massive pans and huge layers of space. 'Full Cry' tolls the bells with its alien stabs, stop/start motion and twisted tension. Forever future.

Review: Spirits From An Urban Jungle were a jungle supergroup comprising of JMJ (EZ Rollers) & Richie and Tekniq, who between them continued to release music through the 90s and 00s on scene stalwarts such as Moving Shadow, Formation and Good Looking. But the group itself only had two releases back in 1994 on White House Records before they disbanded. Urban Decay EP is their second and final release - a blitzing four-tracker in their own patented mode of spitting, classic early junglism. With distinctive anti-deforestation and anti-civ themes, it's a much-sought gem for a good reason; its sound - from the soul coos on 'Retribution' to the voxpops on 'Inhabitants Of Pandemonium' - is spiritual, seeming to hark back to a prehistoric age.

Review: The Vinyl Fanatiks label is doing a superb job of offering up classics from days gone by that need to be heard again. They do so in a range of genres and Mad Dog is behind many of them. He is a hardcore maestro and two of his most explosive sounds are offered up on this new limited 7". 'Relapse' opens up with hurried breakbeats and skittish snares that explode and implode over menacing basslines. There is no let up on the flip when 'Secret Garden' storms out the blocks with just as much breaks-driven energy but more smooth and pensive synth work.

Review: Andy Cowan and M. Cowan are the brothers behind the short-lived 90s techno duo Fozbee & Cooz. They didn't put out a lot, but what they did was excellent, and is now the subject of this reissue on Vinyl Fanatiks which offers up the title track of their 1991 debut EP in all its glory. It is a perfect convergence of sounds of the day - ripping acid, progressive synth melodies and lush bleeps. The other two cuts are 'I Need' which has a more house feel but is no less analogue and raw but for the yelping female coo at the heart of it, and the wonky melodies of 'Easily' close things down.