Nina Kraviz At Juno Download

Review: It's difficult to make dance music with 'real' instruments, as so many second rate punk funk acts have proved, but Miami proves to be an anomaly. BBF have taken inspiration from jazz influences for this album, which makes for an adventurous, at times breathless work. At one end of the spectrum there's the seductive piano lines and soaring woodwind of the title track and "Miami Titles", while at the other there's the high tempo, syncopated rhythms and deranged brass of "Skiffle It Up" and "Broken Pieces", which features a contribution from Jamie Lidell. Another contributor, Nina Kraviz, helps to turn the air blue on the abrasive "Verwahrlosung", but in the main, Miami is a work inspired by warm sea breezes and ice cold cocktails.

Review: Although its been over a year since the release of Nina Kraviz' debut album, Rekids have decided to joins forces with Detroit's FIT in much the same manner as the Rush Hour hook-up last year that spawned some excellent remixes of Kraviz from Steve Rachmad and Kink. This time it's a Motor City affair as two artists well suited to Kraviz' stripped back style offer their take on her material. First up, Marcellus Pittman takes the trippy, dubbed out tones of "Working" and puts it through a digital blender, turning it into a minimal masterpiece which feels more impressionist collage than remix, dropping fragments around a loose rhythmic framework. Then its the turn of Sherard Ingram aka DJ Stingray, who adopts his Urban Tribe persona to rework the dusty vocal soul of "Taxi Talk", turning it into a throbbing, straight up big room track with early 00s undertones present in its unashamed pomp and neon synths textures.

Review: Siberian singer/producer Nina Kraviz has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last few years, thanks in no small part to a killer debut 12" (2009's "Pain In The Ass"). Here she drops her long-promised debut album for Matt 'Radioslave' Edwards' Rekids imprint, a collection of unusual deep house, downtempo and leftfield pop cuts with her own unique twist. It's a decidedly atmospheric and forward-thinking collection that mixes her fragile vocals and off-kilter production with live instrumentation and decidedly bass-heavy grooves. It's a wickedly original formula, capable of delivering haunting songs ("Fire", Hard Ton collab "Walking In The Night"), fuzzy floorfillers ("Ghetto Kraviz") and spooky downbeat grooves ("The Needle"). Highly recommended.

Review: Russian producer Nina Kraviz gets remixed in three radically different ways. KiNK's take on "Love or Go" is a mellow affair, with dubby drums mixed with a resonating bass and a warm acid bleed leading into a sensuous breakdown. By contrast, Steve Rachmad puts the focus on the dance floor for his reshape. The Dutchman's 'Jack' version is powered by heavy drums and Kraviz' vocal contribution sounds like it has been taken over by a montone robot as an atmospheric filter pushes it into an epic breakdown. Rachmad's 'Scorp' version is far heavier and more stipped back, with tearing acid lines unravelling over metallic beats and the robot reduced to intoning what sounds like 'techno, techno, techno'.

Review: REKIDS give "Aus" from Nina Kraviz's heralded self titled album its own release. Remixes come from The Rhythm Odyssey, DJ Q and Radio Slave as Matthew E. "Aus" is as low-slung and sultry as it is loose and minimal; King Aus preaching all things house music and freedom in tune to church-like Rhodes. DJ Qu focuses on looping the key elements of NK's original, creating a deep and hypnotic mantra while The Rhythm Odyssey brings the p-funk with a walking bassline in his "Warehouse Tape edit", similar to Mike Dunn's "Phreaky MF". Radio Slave works the bassline in his mix also, but substitutes The Rhythm Odyssey's disco groove for some up beat ghetto-funk, while adding flashing camera samples and random snippets of the warning bleeps a car makes when keys are left in the ignition.