Andy M & Dream Frequency - "I Want Your Love" (6:07)
A Plus - "Just High" (re-edit) (4:52)
Review: Back in 2020, Mike Stewart decided to reactivate his B.I.T Productions label - an imprint that originally delivered a string of forthright house and trance EPs in the late 1990s. This multi-artist four-tracker is decidedly retro-futurist in tone, mixing sounds reminiscent of the label's late 90s output with nostalgic nods towards earlier rave sounds. Stewart kicks things off by re-editing and extending Awesome3 & Ondamike's 2021 breaks/electro/rave mash-up 'Ready For This', before "dirty bass" loving rave revivalist Retropolis peppers a sweat-soaked breakbeat with massive piano stabs on '5AM'. Andy M joins forces with original Mancunian rave crew Dream Frequency on the 1992 breakbeat hardcore style rush of 'I Want Your Love', while Stewart picks up his scalpel for a second time to rework the full-throttle rave madness of 'Just High' by A.Plus.
Review: Nick Bike rides again on the Chosen Spokes label with another pair of his superb funk jams and killer breaks that need to be added to your collection and never allowed to leave. Magic Party Breaks is a 7" gem that opens with the infectious 'Move Move Move' featuring raw drum breaks, big claps and florid melodies that bring plenty of loose and playful energy for the floor. Flip it over for 'Extended magic' which is a horn-laced cut with characterful live drums, warm Hammond organ stabs and more superb breaks.
Review: In the summer of 2023, Upgrade Records launched via a nostalgic, party-starting EP from the previously unheard artist In 5 D (likely an alias for someone a bit better known, but don't quote us on that). For the label's return, long-serving DJ/producer Buckley Boland (best known for his releases on Made To Play, Black Riot and One Records) is the man at the controls. What he's delivered is a nostalgic, sample-rich affair that combines the angular wonkiness and mind-mangling noises of early-to-mid-2000s tech-house with nods towards vintage acid house, electro-house and the hard-to-pigeonhole house filth of the (long gone) Music For Freaks label. Basically, it's all fun-time, party-starting fare, with the bump-and-squelch of 'Daft Sandwich', the bustling brilliance of 'Nude Night' and the break-sporting hustle of 'S/A/M Real Man' standing out.
Review: Double B is Barry from 2-X-Treme and is surely the most famous rave producer to have come out of Portsmouth. The dance floor don wrote this one at the same time as his celebrated 2-X-Treme EP so brings back plenty of the scone pleasures of that ear. Now pressed up once more it blends breakbeats and UK hardcore across five unrelenting cuts that very much chime with the current leanings of the underground scene towards harder, faster sounds.
Review: Diagonal Records gives itself over to Australian rising star Jonus Eric, who is sure to have a big year if this is anything to go by. His new EP follows on from a fine recent outing on Gerd Janson's Running Back and once again it finds him serving up six tracks of sample-rich, psychedelic house music with a loveably rase aesthetic. it; shard not to hear the sounds of Theo Parrish echoing through the mechanical house sounds of opener 'Darkwhirl' then the funk-driven 'Crimewave' cuts more loose, the gnarly 'Shapeshift' contorts body and mind and 'Polarity' is a 90s IDM-infused finale. What a trip!
Review: Mega-sick big breaks from Brighton's Krafty Kuts, flipping undocumented verses from an earlier collab between the producer and verbalist TC Izlam, 'Ill Type Sound'. Every beat hits with huge plantar weight here, with kicks and reverso-claps rooting themselves in sonic continual soils. The original mix features here too, with twisty scratches, pan pipes and turntablist's kick rolls bringing a distinctively kitsch, jazzy, De Wolfe samply feel. "We got the groove, we got the sound, we got the vibe to make you get down!"
Review: Minds At Large are back on Vinyl Fanatiks with a second outing, this time to resist their 1993 bangers 'Futureworld' and 'Spinechiller' which only came on white label the first time around. 'Spinechiller' is possibly more well known for being the standout on LTJ Bukem's 'Hardcore Volume 9' mixtape from the mid-nineties. It's a pristine breakbeat workout with chopped vocals and rich bass, while 'Futureworld' pairs even more manic breaks with some ethereal vocals. Two stone-cold killers.
Review: Edit action from the mysterious Rave Yard; this takes Crystal Waters iconic anthem and raves the dickens out of it. Supercharged with an array of breaks and bassbin-busting samples from the era, it's a tastefully tweaked take on one of house music's sweetest standards. Guaranteed to light up any floor. Limited business - blink and you'll miss it.
Review: Fresh off the back of X-Ray Ted's debut album Moving On comes this instrumental/scratch tool version of 'Get Loose', one of the record's best-loved non single tracks. Prior to the full album's making and eventual completion, The Bristol-based DJ and producer had spent years honing his craft and refining his signature sound, which drew heavily on soul, funk, hip-hop and breaks; all of which were styles heavily indebted to the street battle breaks culture found in 90s New York and other major cities. 'Get Loose', the seventh track on the record, features British rappers Dr. Syntax and Elemental and is a fiery exploration of what it means to loosen oneself; the track features here in full original form, alongside its locked groove and acapella versions, the former of which samples an oldskool comedy set characteristic of the kinds of sources battle DJs would sift theirs from.
Review: Astonishingly, almost nine years have passed since the release of youANDme's off-kilter tech-house anthem 'PPPP', a Loleatta Holloway-sampling slab of low-slung peak-time funk with just the right amount of off-kilter swing. Rhythm Cult are fans and have decided to release a pair of remix EPs featuring new interpretations. This, the second volume, begins with a deliciously big, booming and sweat-soaked techno interpretation from Shed under his popular Head High alias, before German veteran Ian Pooley re-frames it as a chunky, disco-tinged deep house roller. Over on side B, the artist himself reworks his earlier 'Drunken Diva Mix' and turns it into a rubbery, broken-house treat, while Johannes Albert adds a dash of acid house jack whilst retaining youANDme's fizzing stabs and vocal samples.
Review: From Istanbul to Berlin flies producer Freedjom, whose current focus is footwork and juke. On their debut album for Beat Machine’s Terra Tempo series, comes Freedjom's own spin on of the much-publicised, much jitted-over genre known as juke. The artist finds untapped expression in lending the crossrhythmic footworky sound a Turkish twist, with traditional Turkish instruments - darbuka, bendir, def - replacing your default 808 kick, snap and hat sizzle. The result is a marked softening of the footwork sound, where roll-it-loud hype and dispensate kicks are displaced by well-thrown percussive potteries (though the odd 909 clap occasionally finds its way in). Influenced heavily by the Turkish poet Attilâ Ilhan’s work "Sisler Bulvari”, the centennial spirit of Istanbul’s street music and atmosphere is heavily channeled and redefined here, in modern hues.
Review: The next level beat maker and sound designer that is Skee Mask returns to long-time home label Ilian Tape with another bold and brilliant album, Resort. It's an album that expands on the artist's usual sound with fusions of celestial ambient, IDM sound design and lithe, rhythmic techno drums. There are breakbeats on 'Reminiscrmx' backlit by heavenly pads, 'Schneiders Paradox' is marbled with zippy pads and raw drum hits, 'BB Care' glistens with a futuristic glow and 'Holzl Was A Dancer' slips into a shuffling, UKG tinged dub house pumper. It's a wild, wonderful ride that reaches all new levels for this already accomplished producer.
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