Bestsellers This Week

Review: Arriving at a fourth Midnight Riot label compilation in little over a year is no mean feat for Yam Who?'s ISM operation, and the key to their success lies in the diversity of sounds you can include within the overarching theme of nocturnal grooves. And of course the high standard of artists that contribute, with this bumper 23 track selection no different as Yam Who? call on some respected names to contribute; seeing the likes of Joey Negro, Ilya Santana, Rakyo and LTJ Experience puts you at ease as you know you are in good hands - the Negro edit of Yambee's Ballistic Brothers classic "Blacker" is a notable highlight. Yet the fact these established names don't overshadow the contributions of lesser known Midnight Riot newcomers such as Dan Butler and Caserta - indeed the latter Boston based producer provides perhaps the best example of a 'nocturnal groove' with his slow burning, beat down house cut "Get Down".

Review: Russian producer Valique is back with the latest installment of his successful disco edit series. He specialises in toughened, quanitised beats, lending old stuff a modern electro-house groove. Highlights here include his highly danceable take on The Smiths' "Barbarism Begins At Home", the skippy, cut up house shuffle of "Angry Brides" and the infectious electro-funk anthem "Like Dancing".

Review: Mooqee's label Bombstrikes is doing all right for itself. So much so in fact that they've reached that milestone - a label's first compilation album. Here Mooqee has selected 25 sizzling bangers new and old that do it for him, and hopefully will do it for you too. Highlights include the compressed electro steamroller that is "Back To School", the crunch synth funky freakout of "Come On Bounce" and the devastating bass that's eaten all the pies of "Let's Do It Right Now". Heavy!

Review: It seems that the nu-disco trend of re-edits is one that just keeps growing. Everyone from Siberia to Greece is doing it, and now the fever has spread to Ireland too in the form of the Get Down Edits label. Thankfully these guys don't (usually) pick the obvious stuff - Fingerman samples Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much" on "Too Much" so they lose points for that, but generally it's all good jazzy, funky retro jams.

Review: The always onpoint Echo Beach serve up a long overdue second edition of their Reggae Germany Downtown compilation. Some eighteen tracks deep, Echo Beach give a true representation of the Dub scene in Germany, pairing veteran artists like Felix Wolter (Dubvisionist, TVS), Seeed, and the Senior Allstars with rising talents such as Aldubb, Brain Theft, aDUBta, Symbiz sound and Chazzy Wezar (the son of Matthias Arfmann). Reggae Germany Downtown takes dub as it's starting point and veers in various musical directions so expect sub heavy dubstep (the Giotto remix of "Let There Be Dub" from Aldubb" is a highlight) downbeat skank, rude electronics and dancehall torch songs. Germany is Dubland"!

Review: Flip the switch and get with the program: evergreen party purveyors Breakbeat Paradise have commissioned a whole bunch of reversions and each one is an instant booty-buster. Highlights abound throughout this raucous bass-bizzled nu-funk adventure but only a twit wouldn't pack Badboe's rub of Kool Hertz En Vouge sampling sizzle-up "Whatta Joint", JiggyJoe's orchestral disco-strung halfstepper rub of Calagad 13's "Back To The Power" or Badboe's take on Rudd's Supremes-slicing "Shake It Out". Paradise found.

Review: Given his encyclopedic knowledge of music, you'd expect any compilation put together by Bill Brewster to be full of unlikely gems and lesser-known anthems. That's certainly the case with After Dark, the first in a new DJ-focused series from the Late Night Tales camp. From start to finish, Brewster's selections are spot on, from the lowdown, slo-mo disco oddness of Sheffield chanteuse Marti Caine's "Love The Way You Love Me" and wide-eyed, acid-laden kosmiche of Coober Peder University Band's "Moon Plain", to the dirty electrofunk of Zed Bias's "Koolade" (featuring Toddla T, of all people) and mid'80s percussion fest of Martin Kershaw's "Keep On Pokin". If that wasn't enough, Brewster has also unearthed a decent Jamiroquai record. The wonders never cease.

Review: The Legendary Sound Orchestra continues his attempt to provide disco edit lovers with something extraordinary, with a third collection of hand picked reworks. Predictably, there's plenty to enjoy, from his own sparse, piano-heavy version of Silvetti's Salsoul classic "Spring Rain", to the rolling, bongo-laden goodness of 78 Edits' sprightly but loopy "Don't You Know". Highlights-wise, it's a toss-up between Alkalino's baggy disco-soul shuffler, "Have A Ball", and Jimmy The Twin's superb, TR-707-enhanced "Party Down". The latter, a horn-heavy chunk of upbeat disco-funk, is arguably the Bristol-based scalpel fiend's best work to date.

Review: Following the success of the first three volumes of his AOR-tinged V's Edits series, Russian producer Valique (best known under his usual pseudonym for disco-flecked funk breaks) unleashes another EP of scalpel jobs. This time, the sources are a little more obscure (the silly artist names offer clues), but the party-starting remit remains. So, we get some chunky low-slung, Fleetwood Mac-ish rock ("Because"), a dash of hustling disco-funk ("Up"), a sprinkling of synth-bass laden funk-rock ("Soul Francisco"), a thickset house version of a soul classic ("Good Or Bad") and a big chunk of '90s US garage silliness ("Love You Too") - all tweaked and teased with an eye on dancefloor devastation.

Review: Spinforth's quest for freshness continues as he follows up the debut December Scour dispatch with another generous selection of chunky-jacksy bass joints. With gnarly fingers probing every party pie, across the collection we're treated to dubstep-meets-classic-Brooklyn ("Time To Rock"), 23rd century electro wobbles ("Boss DAT!") and VERY cheeky Cypress Hill booty business ("Insane Brains"... obviously!) And that's only three examples. Get Scouring.

Review: Anyone who decides to dedicate a fair chunk of his debut edits release to scalpel cuts of tracks from Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and Stevie Wonder must have gonads the size of watermelons. Sitting down could be an uncomfortable proposition, then, for the mysterious V, whose seven-track debut EP also includes chunky, floor-friendly re-tweaks of The Kinks and Sly & The Family Stone (as well as a couple of stonking disco bangers). While some would argue that much of the material here didn't need messing with, he's done an excellent job. The Dub of "Whole Lotta Love", for example, is pitched just right, offering much more bang and exactly the right amount of disco dubbiness.

Review: The Boddika-helmed Nonplus unveil Think & Change, the label's first compilation and what a way to mark such an event. Calling on a cast of the great and the good of contemporary techno and bass music, Think & Change arrives sporting some thirteen tracks, a statement of how far Nonplus has come since its emergence in 2009 as an outlet for the Autonomic family of artists, gradually mutating into a more wide ranging approach, with material from Actress, Kassem Mosse and Basic Soul Unit ensuring a reputation as one of the most respected labels in the bass music diaspora. The highlights on this compilation are many, but you should be checking Four Tet's contribution "For These Times" (easily his best, least fussy club track to date) "Bad Chicago" from Martyn, and Kassem Mosse's excellent "Broken Patterns".

Review: LA-based drum & bass label Soul Deep Recordings is one of the most diverse and prolific out there. Concerning themselves with the deeper side of D&B, unlike many labels who take "soulful" to automatically include liquid, much of this release features tracks focused on the heady early days of drum & bass to fantastically smooth effect. Most, if not all the tracks included are from new, upcoming artists from around the globe and this is reflected in the diversity and energy of the compilation as a whole. Check Disept & Zendi - "Around The World" for early days vintage vibes, Introspection - "HumaNature" for deep, rolling beauty and Remote - "Stars" for some truly old school sounds. Essential listening for those who prefer beauty in their bass.

Review: With the imminent return of Daft Punk reminding us all of Paris's vibrant electronic music heritage, local label ClekClekBoom pop-up to provide us with a wide-eyed snapshot of the current Parisian underground. There are hints of familiar French staples - the stomping Ed Banger-ish ravery of The Town's "Dice", the classic house flex of Coni's "Missing You Nire" - but for the most part Paris Club Music Volume 1 dances to a different beat. With label regulars French Fries coming to the fore, much of the album is devoted to the sort of hard-to-pigeonhole bass music that takes its influence as much from B-more, R&B and UK garage as filter funk and electro-house.

Review: Rotterdam's own Prospect Recordings enjoys a huge following and an even bigger roster of mashed-up, dark and filthy artists, and this family album looks to capitalise on some of this artistic wealth. Why not? If you had a back catalogue full of some of the most insane drum & bass on offer to the wider world, wouldn't you want to share it? Littered with breakcore, neuro, gabber and hardcore, it's a whipround through the neck-breakingly heavy side of drum & bass that many fear to tread. Track names like "Skullsplitter", "Total Confusion" and "Death Will Set Us Free" have rarely been so truthfully descriptive, and even label darlings Counterstrike and Bong Ra team up for "Possessed", a feeding frenzy of metal, breakcore and drum & bass. A horror movie for your ears. Nobody's lives were ever enriched by staying inside the chillout room.

Review: Originally released over two 12" singles earlier in the year, Lovebox 001 sees Manchester-based label Music Is Love's setting out its formula for future success. That means delivering warm, endorphin-boosting deep house cuts, garage-influenced tracks and deliciously summery dancefloor tracks from a range of new or little-known artists. Pleasingly, there's plenty of high quality material to enjoy, from the lucid deep garage revivalism of Maxwell's "Need U", and bouncing grooves of New Jack City's "I Believe" (complete with heavy New Jersey organs, of course), to the '89 hip-house funk of Jamie Trench's "Juicy" and Gwen Guthrie-sampling goodness of Mikki Funk's "Deeper Love".

Review: Entering what seems like a new phase for Pinch's bastion of forward-thinking dubstep, Tectonic Plates reaches its fourth edition and brings in a raft of fresh producers and new angles on just what the genre might mean in these fractured times. Even the classic standard bearers such as Jakes are bringing curious 4/4 momentum in amidst the sparse, dread filled pressure, while Guido pivots off of the plush musicality of his album to create an utterly broken symphony on "State Of Joy". There are a lot of different ideas floating around the whole compilation, and yet everything holds together with the deep-rooted soundsystem mentality that has always defined Tectonic as a shining example of what dubstep has always meant.

Review: Four volumes in seven months... Actual Sounds are ruthlessly efficient when it comes to showering the scene with fresh booty-shaking bootlegs. And it's business as usual as we're thrown around by the limbs to a 28-track strong selection of wide-eared funk fusions that range from an uptempo breakbeat cut n' shut of Nina Simone ("Ooh Baby") to Brooklyn era block busters ("Down With The King") via classic rave-meets-early house mashery ("A Bigbeat Treat"). A bargain and banging - these booties are keepers.

Review: Cypress Hill getting mashed up and personal with Led Zeppelin, Biggy getting busy over The 45 Kings, an electro-skank remix of Sister Nancy... these are just three of the super-cheeky bootleg treats on offer right here. Booties can go one way or the other; poorly pitched cut n' shut or clever, witty and complementary. These definitely fall in the latter. From furry flute bliss ("Dr Fluteski") to Busta Rhymes on a major skank-up ("Kingston Bounce"), this ticks all the right party boxes.

Review: What with Critical celebrating their ten year anniversary this year it's only right and proper that there should be a landmark album, looking back on their success to date. Enter Critical X; featuring a carefully curated selection from Critical's past, present and future (watch out for some cracking unreleased material), this is a must buy for deeper D&B heads. Stand outs from across the 16-track album include Breakage's awesome "Staggered Dub", Spectrasoul's iconic "Organiser", and of course jungle revivalist anthem Bladerunner's "Back To The Jungle". Make sure you check out the remixes from Mefjus and Enei, which add the final cherry on the cake for this superb and frankly rather essential release.

Review: ISM Records' two Futurism EPs have proved so popular that label boss Yam Who has decided to use them as the inspiration for an expansive compilation of previously unreleased gems. Unlike the label's other popular strand, Midnight Riot, there's always been a bit more of an open-minded, eclectic feel about the Futurism releases. This is no different. Whilst rooted in nu-disco and deep house, Futurism: Shades of Space also touches on 21st century jazz-funk (Manmademusic), bongo-laden spiritual house (Nu Ak's "Fly Away"), fluid garage (Nega Tiv's excellent "Liquid Call"), woozy Balearica (Ben La Desh and Plan DAqua), block party boogie (Questlife feat Wildstyle, Freekwency) and nu-jazz (Hamish Balfour). More importantly, the quality threshold remains high throughout.

Review: Kevin Griffiths is a wag. Having previously decided to press up just 100 copies of his latest Tsuba Limited compilation, he then had the masterstroke of calling it One Per Customer. Now it's available digitally the joke is slightly less amusing, but it's still a bit of a belter. Made up of previously vinyl-only jams (Italo Johnson's rather fine remix of Spencer Parker's "Show Him You're The One" being the most obvious example) and a smattering of new cuts (including a bassy chunk of low-slung basement house from Milton Jackson and a near Balearic rush of eyes-shut goodness from Rio Padice) this compilation comes highly recommended.