Back Catalogue

Review: New to Berkane Sol, Aleks Zen impresses hugely with these two newies which perfectly rise the fusion between house, neon-coated '80s funk and post-dubstep production and bass. There's so much good stuff wrapped up on "High Life" - thin 808 snares, trippy G-funk mono synths, punchy kicks and blunt, subby bass - that it's virtually impossible not to be hooked after just a few seconds. On the flip, "Pimp Shoes" is another cavalcade of cool, and a winning meeting of Floating Points hypnagogic textures and Night Slugs' rhythms. Highly recommended stuff!

Review: An undoubted favourite from Zed Bias' recent "Blasonic Hotsauce" LP, "Night Lovers" features Skream/Magnetic Man vocalist Sam Frank fed through a mighty vocoder over a uncharacteristically slow, syrupy electro-funk beat that brims with post-midnight neon goodness. Greenmoney rework "Night Lovers" into a sped-up tropical banger, complete with lashings of Latin carnival percussion, while Rinse's Scratcha DVA keeps things warm and enormously future-funky thanks to some wavering synths and a deep set of kicks and hats. CRST also does wonders with the single, providing a Blawan-esque mix of percussion and soft synth stabs.

Review: With plenty of heat and hype building from the underground and streets, the talented singer/rapper Zee Musiq gets the full club remix treatment for her latest single 'High'. With support across Radio 1xtra and Rinse she looks set for big things and these cool and classy remixes from the likes of DJ SKT make for a really nice soulful house moment, bringing plenty of summer vibes. Her songwriting and smooth vocals flow effortlessly with the housey flavours, and there's also a very of-the-moment UKG mix from Crezza, as well as a big room cut from Tucka. All bases covered on this solid release, and we are tipping Zee Musiq for big things this year. Lock in and get to know!!

Review: It's quite a turnout for the books to see Zinc delivering a release for Rinse, and he weighs in heavy from the off with 'Sprung'. Deploying a fat breakbeat reminiscent of 'Fat of the Land' era Prodigy, he rinses out a fat mid range riff against a sample intoning 'let's go' repeatedly. It's not the most original material, but Zinc makes this irrelevant, with an ability to make the masses move in ways that other producers can't. Elsewhere, 'Unlike Me' utilises lots of loud tricks and plenty of gusto, while "Unlike Me" sounds like the perfect hybrid of big room electro and UK funky, with a hollow bassline that mines grime for its sound to great effect. Finally "Recovered" utilises a similar formula, utilising an ascending melody and aggressive vocal looping to round off a bombastic EP.

Review: Vato Gonzalez goes in on Zinc's now ubiquitous dancefloor anthem and gives it a new lease of life for 2011, transforming it from booty bass, crack house notoriety into a cool 4/4 incarnation with hypnotic bongo beats, thumping drum kicks and smooth tropical flavours which are all oozing with late night / early morning Ibiza vibes. Ms Dynamite's superb sing-a-long lyrics are woven amongst the pumping beats, coming into focus at choice moments. An excellently executed remix here.

Review: Regular subscribers to the JunoDownload UK Funky releases will no doubt be fully aware of Zulu, the improbably young talent who's made a mark for himself in little to no time. Having already graced the Toddla T helmed Girls Music and appeared alongside co-conspirator TOYC for Zoomusic overseen Rinse FM DJ Monki, the 18 year old Zulu adds the excellent Enchufada to his growing resume. The Lisbon imprint have established a reputation for tribal leaning, bass heavy music, making Zulu's INCLEH EP a perfect fit. Operating around 130bpm across the three tracks, Zulu demonstrates an envy inducing ease for crafting heavily percussive, snaking tribal rhythms, with the insistent waves of hypnotic, tightly coiled synths that permeate "Kwame" perhaps the pick of the bunch.