Trip II The Moon Part 3 (Scott Brown remix) (4:25)
Review: Kniteforce Records drop the first instalment of remixes for UK hardcore royalty Acen's landmark 'Trip II The Moon' series. Originally released on Phil Fearon's iconic Production House imprint, Acen's Trip II The Moon trilogy formed a crucial part of the hardcore canon. The first remix comes courtesy of d&b veteran Danny Byrd, who delivers a bassbin-rattling slice of choppy late hardcore nostalgia, replete with air-raid sirens, plentiful Prizna-esque wubs, and a rushier rendition of the famous brass hook. Next in line is NRG, who reimagines 'Trip II The Moon Part 2' as a vast, multipartite 'ardkore odyssey, sashaying between misty-eyed E-lation and punishing hoover beatdowns, before Glasgow's bounce techno innovator Scott Brown raises the roof with a typically rushy hard house version of 'Trip II The Moon Part 3'.
Review: Deathchant continues its mission to put out the most deranged and situated hardcore out there with this new one from Akira, which takes the label well over 100 releases. 'Rice Up' kicks off with an unlikely sample from the tune best known for defining the Rocky soundtrack and it comes in a world of caustic fuzz and noise. After that one, 'Smoke Dad' is another techno blizzard with dense synth winds howling away over the edgy and serrated bass and beats. 'Vegan Rice Beats' shuts down with hip-hop samples and plenty of scratching.
Review: Hyperdrive's label debut was a biggie that brought together old and new-school techno on one fizzing EP. The follow-up comes soon after and this time makes no bones about being a Rave Revival. Anthrophia's 'The Voice' kicks off with what is a hefty breakbeat cut with edgy rave stabs and slamming bass. Dimension 23 - 'Fascination' (Seb G mix) then takes a more stripped-back approach with turbocharged synths layered up over silky drums. Centuras brings plenty of bright, euphoric prog energy to the urgent drum funk of 'Jizz' and last of all Dimension 23's 'The Eagle' then kicks out more dusty old-school breaks with machine gun synth fire. A potent EP, make no mistake.
Review: Longtime drum & bass legend Aphrodite carved out his own path, helming up his very own Aphrodite Recordings almost from the word jump. The infamously groovy humanoid figure on the front cover of each release (a bit like the Moving Shadow logo, albeit more spiritual) sums up the mood of his releases: hardcore, ecstatic, demi-divine. On 'The Stonka' EP, the producer leans far more in the former territory, however, with 'Stonka' portraying a sub-heavy reversy-breaks cacophony and 'Break Of Day' laying down a ragga-sample-inflected mind-expander, not to mention a clever pun.
Review: After a brief pause to allow their frankly huge 36-track VA compilation to sit and breathe a while, Motive Hunter Audio is back at the sharp end of the jungle scene with this new EP from the brilliant ARKYN. It's a lovely slab of grey wax that revives a blend of hardcore jungle techno that is not for the faint of heart and comes with a tasteful homage to this subgenre's roots. Packed with piano stabs and 4x4 kicks, the EP delivers controlled mayhem that is perfect for the club as collaborations with SYNTAX, DJ B, and ARKYN's alter-ego DJ TUF all bring depth and hints of early Dutch rave influences.
Atlas & K Super - "Supply & Demand" (feat Wild Swan) (7:55)
Atlas & K Super - "Talk To Frank" (Buda remix) (7:44)
Review: Atlas and K Super echo a well-known drug advice line slogan with 'Talk To Frank', a supreme jungle techno sheller of risky but rewarding proportions. This sizzling five-track slice of 12" from the renowned DJ-producer pair echoes Mole The Dipper or Noise Factory with its free-flowing but still relentlessly factorial breaks slicers; the A-sided Double Drop remix of 'Red Marios' marks an impressive scission through both pitched up-and-down breaks layering come harmonics. Meanwhile, the title track and 'Partyline' dial the hysterics knobs up to eleven, deploying an unheard-of amount of jank and stab; the latter track feels especially destabilising, a central "oo-er" vocal sample heard buried well below the main melee. 'Supply & Demand' and Buda's version of 'Talk To Frank' round things off on twin notes of mecha-trance breaks and pitch quartz unleashings on an overtop lead sample respectively, proving the artists' rightful joint mastery over an incipient UK hardcore sound.
Review: The whole history of UK music is contained within these potent two tunes, from early rave to jungle, gabba to breakbeat, dub to techno and even indie house. It is a hugely sought after tune from Baraka that comes hot on the heels of his 'Nutty Bass/I'll Be There' release. 'A Million & One' (feat Cinderella has crashing breaks, Happy Mondays samples, euphoric chords, ragga vocals and techno drums as its flips through moods, grooves, styles and tempos with ease. On the flip is a slightly more heady version with heavy studio effects as well as the bruising beats.
Review: Everyone's talking and no-one is listening... Unless Chatta B is chewing your ear off with his militant breaks - because then we're all ears over here. Unleashing the ghosts of 93 with big sacks of sheesh and oh my gosh, each of these cuts hits hard with the neck-snap breaks and big hooky samples. 'Watch Out' sets the scene with energy, 'Real Badman Sound' goes full-on rudeboy, 'The Exit' is a big sing-along moment while 'Easy Take It Easy' sends us off into the sunset with mixed sentiments... The vocals are like a sweet rum punch while those rattling breaks on the rhythm are more like a tum punch. Talk to us.
Review: The latest Coco Bryce EP is different to much of his previous work, eschewing the retro-modern banger-science for something that edges much closer to liquid jungle. Fittingly for the style, an core theme on 'My Space' is that of personal dominion and interiors; like the reams of potential found in a family living room or kitchen, the tracks here are interpretable as everything from 'chill' to 'nostalgic' to 'creepy', depending on how you choose to hear them. The palette is eerie and objective, though Bryce's usual preference for unpolished joy shines through as ever in his choice of samples.
Review: Certain names in dance music do well to predict the future - and Digital Pressure is one such name. Originally released on A Guy Called Gerald's label Juice Box in 1993, this phonkout beast of an EP came via the joint efforts of producers SDR and Subsonic aka Adrian Lloyd and Kelly Bowers. The twizzling melody and tunefully sawing breaks delays that kick this one off reflect the "digital pressures" of today perhaps more so than it did back then; 'Watch Dis Space' and 'Strictly Drug Related' make unique use (for jungle) of glitching phone chip stinger sounds, reminiscent of the twinkly "coin get" sound effects one might hear on carting about an old Watara games unit. If only handheld games consoles and uncommonly sighted mobile phones were the extent of our digital woes; now we've a heck of a lot more to worry about, and doesn't the further ironically named 'Back 2 Da Future' know it with its Twilight Zone topline and clunky robo-vox! Limited run of 350.
Review: "A record planned for almost 30 years is finally happening!" say the only notes with this new, one-sided and limited edition hand-stamped 12". It finds DJ Heartchore offering up two versions of the same track. 'In Love' is a classic hard techno banger with more energy than a classroom full of nine-year-olds after a crate of Monster energy drinks. It issuer rave fodder for main room deployment and also included is a 1994 Tool with a more old school feel but no less of an impact.
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