Samoyed At Juno Download

Review: Making his first full appearance on Jacques Greene's Vase imprint, Samoyed brings an energetic, ravey streak to his more typically mellow output, but he's still in command of a keen ear for strung out pads and emotional vocal snippets. "Sloe Eyes" is the sweeter of the two, but still finds itself whipping up into a breakbeat frenzy in between the dreamy breakdowns. "Guts" leads in on a lilting loop of melancholia, before a rugged beat and prominent bass come marching in to add some ass-wiggling dirt to the wistful situation. Fuelled by the sharp programming of UK funky and yet still as spooky as anything Samoyed has produced, it's a different kind of dance wrecker.

Review: Scottish producer Samoyed earns this week's prize for most un-PC title, but it's easy to overlook such transgressions when the music is so unconventional. The title track features woozy, psychedelic chords and slamming percussion crafted on analogue gear, but then the arrangement veers unexpectedly into jazzy stabs. "Cherry Ripe" is a totally different proposition and sees Samoyed drop a resonating bass and deliver a gloomy take on early Chicago house. There's an offbeat sensibility at play on "A Small Good Thing", where angelic vocal samples are fused with a swinging bass, but for sheer weirdness head straight for "Klondike Rush". There, over lo-fi tub thumping drums, Samoyed appropriates the central riff from Jeff Mills's "Changes of Life" for use in his own alternative realty. Bizarre but brilliant.