Battle Weapons France 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: France's faves Battle Weapons deliver two heady new edits, only for those ready. On the A comes an ingenious, probably never-done-before, almost laughably why-hasn't-anyone-else-ever-thought-of-this-until-now breakbeat rendition of Peter Bjorn & John's 'The Young Folks'. To be frank, they've not done much besides beef up the backbeat a little, but a simple sprucing up is sometimes all a tune needs. On the flip comes a phattened version of 'Forgot About Dre' mashed up with the Azzido Da Bass UK garage classic 'Dooms Night', also produced to hilariously, surreally arresting effect.

Review: UK-Irish label Battle Weapons do exactly what their name suggests, releasing slab after slab of proverbial sonic weaponry for use on the dancefloor come warground. Here the outfit welcome two seasoned names, DJ LBR and DC's Finest, for 'Let Me Clear My Funk' and 'Can I Have It Like Wack'. The first is a hilariously hung slab of cutup goodness, mashing up a live recording of DJ Kool, Biz Markie and Doug E. Fresh's 'Let Me Clear My Throat' with the central lick-groove of Cheryl Lynn's 'Got To Be Real', among other crowd-jeering follow-ons. Then the B moves bustlier and heavier on the ride cymbal sizzle, with vocal sampleage from Pharrell Williams' 'Can I Have It Like That' together with some super-real big band bravado.

Review: The figurative "battle weapon" is a kind of warring sonic heuristic; a dirty, up-your-sleeve musical "tool" made expressly for the MVP DJ to use in times of soundclash-y trouble. The Battle Weapons label know this all too well, and here they welcome new trainee assailant DJ Maars to demo his skills in the colosseum, bridging a fine line of recognisability and productive sample-flippage. 'A Nah Gun Nah Heat' brews Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' and Doug E. Fresh's 'La-Di-Da-Di' to delicious acapella effect, whilst 'Feel Like Standing' smashes Ludacris and Marcia Griffiths in an almost fated blend. Why didn't anyone else think of these before?

Review: Two more battle weapons handpicked from the eponymous UK armoury. Label motto ("You want this party started, right?!") and A-cut refrain ("la-di-da-di, we like to party"), converge in perfect sync here on this latest 7": the obverse samples Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick's 1985 mover, peppering slight but bright brasses over a punctuated beat mix. 'Tambou' on the B-side honours a historic canonical Swizz Beatz crunk bit with a re-edit of 'Tambourine', produced and released in 2006 for blase partystarter Eve.

Review: French label Battle Weapons does it again here with another superb reissue of a dynamic fusion of vintage soul-jazz and catchy beats. They come from Hardly Subtle featuring Peggy Lee, whose iconic vocals soar over Hardly's masterful production to utterly alluring effect. The track pulsates with a gently infectious energy and infuses organic drums with modern electronic rhythms. It is a great one among many from Peggy Lee, and on the flipside you're treated to a superb Wonderlove edit of her sumptuous take on the Otis Reding classic 'Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay'.

Review: Chad Jackson and Hallmighty deliver a fresh take on classic sounds with Jazz Be Good To Me on Battle Weapons France. This hip hop/R&B release features two creative tracks. Side-1 showcases Chad Jackson's 'Jazz Be Good To Me,' a lively hip hop groove that echoes the late 80s and 90s, when dance music was a key component of the genre. Jackson updates the early 80s classic by the S O S Band with a vibrant, contemporary twist, making it a perfect fusion of old and new. On Side-2, Hallmighty presents 'What Is Stormy Love,' a masterful mash-up of Haddaway and Diana Ross & The Supremes. This track is produced so seamlessly that it feels like an original song from the late 60s, blending vintage soul with modern production techniques.

Review: Whenever you next need to select your dancefloor arsenal look no future than this first volume of battle weapons from the French label of the same name. It's a super tidy 7" with two very different sounds on each side. The first is Mr Doris & D-funk's 'New York Kiss' which is a low slung hip hop joint with East Coast bars and psyched-out guitars. The flip is a mix of two classics to give rise to a new funk sound that is brilliantly irresistible with a killer Clash bassline.