Sbtrkt At Juno Download

Review: Aaron Jerome dons his favourite tribal mask for another outing under the increasingly high profile SBTRKT moniker. The effortlessly soulful "Hold On" was one of the highlights of last year's debut SBTRKT full length - a slick, broken beat throwback with enough deep future garage chops to keep contemporary dancefloors happy. Here, the excellent original is joined by the more obviously dancefloor-centric Sisi Bak Bak remix (an alias of none other than Thom Yorke!), which chops up the beats, vocal and melodies in classic future garage fashion. Also worth a listen is bonus cut "Ride To Freedom", a glorious starburst of MDMA-rich synths and shuffling broken beats.

Review: It's already been flagged up as Zane Lowe's "Hottest Record In The World" and mask-wearing, bass music pioneer SBTRKT's new single "Living Like I Do" does not fail to disappoint. Joining the dots between grime and funky with a soft, soulful vocal from the equally hot talent Sampha, it's a sumptuous slice of future garage with catchy, swinging beat and velvety bassline. Accompanying it is the Machinedrum remix of "Look At The Stars", which continues the themes set up in the first track but takes things on more of a stripped back, sultry tip with sparse, slow-building layers of sound.

Review: Since donning the SBTRKT mask, one time broken beat producer Aaron Jerome has become far more famous for the booming intensity and restless rhythms of his productions than the sweet soul he was previously most famous for. It's something of a pleasant surprise, then, to see Jerome returning to his musical roots on this SBTRKT debut LP. While the trademark shuffling dubstep rhythms, future garage grooves and hurried broken beats remain, they're underpinned by a thick vein of sassy soulfulness - thanks in no small part to the fragile vocals of Sampha - and an overriding atmosphere of melodic beauty. It's a wise move on Jerome's part, because SBTRKT is a far better album than many would have expected; in fact, it's a bit of a belter.