Eight Weeks

Review: When 123MRK's Noname EP dropped in 2011 creating waves all around the dubstep and bass music scene. Moulding the sound of his generation into a style all his own, the Frenchman suddenly found himself held aloft as an innovator as well as simply a producer of sounds. This remixed release of his seminal EP was a lofty undertaking and the finished item features remixes from some of the future dubstep scene's brightest young stars alongside long-time innovators. From Liar's metalic, lo-fi flavours to Troy Gunner's understated clicks and swirls; ViLLAGE's heart-pounding house remodelling to Heblank's old-school twist, even the likes of Pixelord and ReSketch play their garage-influenced hands to create an all-new modern-day canvas of what exactly bass music is right at this moment. It can never be truly defined, but this is a pretty good encyclopedia.

Review: For his debut on Phucked Recordings, 1Point5 has delivered a very impressively produced offering indeed. Intricate, 2-step infused beats jostle for supremacy with bouncy dubby bass notes and a slick vocal from Al Rolfe, before they conclude that basically they all win. Remix wise, Moxix opts for a synth heavy post dubstep reworking replete with crying baby sampling whilst Nu-Direction offers up a futuristic doomy D&B revision.

Review: Prague's Meanbucket have snapped up some raw new talent in the shape of Dutch producer 618. This here is his debut release and with one listen it makes it clear why he's created a buzz for himself. "What You Do" is a brutal booty bass assault with serious juke overtones, while "Amsterdammed" applies heavy bass to the kind of techno heard in Berlin in the good old days. Remix wise, the title track become minimal hip-house by Boeboe, thumping house by Embryo Planet, freq bending electro by Seymour Bits and incredible dark electro-house by Veit B.

Review: Bristol's DJ Die has gone one better than signing Addison Groove to his Gutterfunk imprint, he's only gone and collaborated with him on both tracks here as well! The footwork-influenced side project of Headhunter, Addison Groove assumes charge of "Keyhole" - a stripped back excursion into sultry voodoo beats. Meanwhile on "Hydropump", DJ Die takes the lead steering this ship into breaky hip-house waters in the process.

Review: Andy Jay and S-Tee are keeping up the good work with another new production that keeps them a fresh prospect despite having been around for ages. For this key tune they've left no stone unturned, supplying no less than six versions, all covering a different dance genre. Of the six our picks are the dark and bassy 2-step mix, the party-startin' dub house mix and best of all, the sultry edge of the tech mix.

Review: Now firmly entrenched in the Dim Mak roster, these rising electro-house producers see their collaboration with Felix Cartal - the anthemic "The Alarm" - get reworked by a host of other acts. Keys N Krates take things in a commercial trap direction while retaining the high-pitched escalations, Charlie Darker is pure maximal, with everything (the Mad Decent beats, the ott trance synths from the chorus, the Ed Banger-style noisiness) turned up to 11. Finally Eric Rincon's '3Ball Bootleg' version takes us on a funky Latin excursion.