South London Ordnance At Juno Download

Review: Is there no stopping South London Ordnance? Since appearing on the radar of discerning bass connoisseurs earlier this year he's racked up an impressive catalogue of releases for labels like 2nd Drop and Well Rounded, and this release for Amsterdam's Audio Culture represents his biggest release yet. "Big Boss Theme" is as threatening as it sounds, lumbering in with warbling subs and dub chords, somewhere between Kowton's slow house excursions and 90s UKG, while "Booty Call" mixes up the formula with a lighter, deeper piano touch. "Harrier" is the undisputed floorfiller of the release though, a proper UK techno styled production filled with industrial textures and sheet metal delay. Exclusive to the digital release are two further tracks: "The Question (The What)" and "Turkish Delight", two similarly tough excursions into dubbed out techno with the latter's weighty drums and rasping synths providing one of the EP's finest moments.

Review: South London Ordnance's rise has been nothing short of meteoric over the past year, and now he officially joins the aristocracy of bass music with his debut release for Scuba's Hotflush. "Revolver" is pretty much the most refined example of the current wave of tech-bass, pairing steely, swung beats with a roaring sample sounding like a dying jet engine, before moving through a multitude of dubbier techno moods. On the flip, "Transmission Funk" is perhaps the lightest thing he's produced contrasting pulsing bass and severe plate glass tones with shimmering background harmonics, all held together with his signature structural scaffold of firm kicks and sharp, rolling snares.

Review: The latest name to emerge from London's melting of pot of hybrid styles, the young South London Ordnance drops his debut release for the esteemed 2nd Drop imprint, a sharp mix of swung garage, dubstep basslines and dense house shapes. "Sanctuary" is filled with overflowing low end, cavernous drums and some nice deep house touches and spoken word reminiscent of Joy Orbison's "Ellipsis". "Roofy" meanwhile is slow and syncopated, its sinister melody and rattling percussion somewhat like of Kowton's recent material.

Review: While there may quite an alarming amount of buzz around South London Ordnance for a producer with just one record to his name, it's not hard to understand why he's attracting the attention. His take on house and techno tropes has a very contemporary sound that fits in very neatly with the wave of young UK producers that favour rugged industrial drum hits and nutty sampling. There's a fizzing energy to "Pacific" that keeps the essentials rigid for the mix whilst the decoration flirts with your eardrums. It's all underpinned by a deliciously acidic bassline as a gruesome foil to the pleasantries of the pads. The bassline on "Trojan" is even fouler, dominating the track with its stretched out dark side leanings, but once again there's plenty of light-hearted diversion to be found elsewhere in the track.

Review: South London Ordnance's killer run of form continues with this release for Danish imprint TEAL. "Witch Hunt" sees him develop his canny mix of 4/4 house and swung garage dynamics, this time bringing in the mood of 90s jungle to his slow-house formula, with its churning subs and vocal skip with narcoleptic peak time stabs. The lumbering density of "Chase Song" meanwhile combines the deeper techno atmospherics of Skudge with a maelstrom of snares and rave dynamics.