MORESOUNDS 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: French murksmith Moresounds continues his jagged beat assault with four straight-up gems on Om Unit's Cosmic Bridge. "Ting N Tings" is every rave tape pack and Vibealite flyer in the world condensed down into a short, sharp, energetic and multi-layered shock. "Mutation Experts" flexes back on a system-primed halfstep that cleverly mutates into a skippy breaks energy midway, "Ruff Times" murks up the feels with a stripped back percussive rolling aesthetic that's laced with seriously far-out instrumentation while we sign off with the sedate shimmers and tones of the guitar-strumming, bongo-stroking Balearic nodder "Positive Yourself".

Review: Moresounds meets Astrophonica once more for further bassweight adventures. The Paris-based producer was last seen Fracture & Neptune's ever adventurous outpost in 2013, and aside from some work on Machinedrum's Vapour City project that was Moresounds last transmission making the Pure Niceness 12" a most welcome return. The fanatical appreciation of classic dub techniques is of course present, weaving it's way to the fore on opening track "Reality Tune" but as the 12" progresses it becomes a more subtle element. See the ruff junglist brilliance of "Altercations" and the title track, whilst Astrophonica's Neptune pops up on final track "Dead & Bury", a spacious roller that will definitely nice up the dance.

Review: MC-focused EPs aren't particularly common in D&B. They're even less common on Critical. In fact this is the first. And it's a delight from the off as Redders teams up with mates old and new for a body of work that's more album than EP. "No Go" is all space-funk oddness with barely a bar in sight, "96 In One" is rapid fire storytelling over a dancehall version, "Dem Ones" is Redders' take on a dry-humping love song while "Sexy Or Sweet" sits somewhere between Toddla T and Barry White. Winding up "Aphasia" sees Redders and Sam flip Ruffhouse's dark tribal stamps into a carnival killer and "Vintage" sees the Bristol-based MC go toe-to-toe with the best MC in the game. One of a kind.