Back Catalogue

Review: Swiss producer Herr Johann really steps up into the big leagues with this new EP on Dwntwn Rcrd. Opener "Shade Off" is an eerie 2-stepper with a heart-melting pitched-up vocal line and a SBTRKT set of hazy Detroit chords floating over the top, while the slower "Loner" will immediately find favour with fans of Lone's gliding textures in particular. The more conventional "Someone" offers some UKF-cum-Balearica and the ice-cold dub of "Vibrations" mixes crisp future-garage beats and Boddika-esque filter vocals. A hugely impressive and essential EP indeed.

Review: There's something eternally fascinating about the last days of Rome - that unbridled hedonism like there's no tomorrow. Well here's the latest infatuees with this era and they mean business. Jabru's title track is a raw, bassy tropical workout featuring the languid flow of MC Joshua Idehen. The instrumental version appears to have been smothered in synths and is all the better for it. Blacksmif steps up next with the euphoric slammin' retro house of "Gavelock" and finally Juno Sutton & MTD deliver "Solace State", a super-feel good bouncey house gem that features a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Janet Jackson sample.

Review: It's been a long journey for James Edward Jacob, from young thrash metaller in Leicester to aspiring dubstep producer in college, and now hot future bass property. This EP of his own VIP mixes is premier grade stuff, expertly produced and cleverly tweaked for different moods. "Fade" gets three different interpretations here - a club mix that sees big crescendos drop into totally nasty 4/4 garage basslines, a different club mix that goes deeper with soft pads and a retro Enya-goes-RnB vibe, and finally the Etherwood version, all melancholic DnB, forlorn vocals and piano fused with low bass and urgent beats.

Review: Jam City's Classical Curves remains one of the 2012's most unique albums, but some may have been upset at the slightly DJ-unfriendly nature of the album edits. This EP addresses those issues and then some with a raft of unreleased cuts. Featuring 12" versions of standout tracks "The Courts" and "How We Relate To The Body", dub versions of "Her" and "Club Thanz", and an instrumental version of "The Nite Life", the real gem is nevertheless the all new track "Now We Relate". A 9 minute epic which stretches out Jam City's hyperreal house like a piece of elastic, it constantly hovers on the edge of mayhem for what seems like an eternity. Keeping the kick drum back until halfway through, its peak time stabs skipping maniacally like a broken record before dropping in with all the force of some lost Underground Resistance production. Essential.

Review: For all of the genre bending insanity of his early singles on Night Slugs, it's unlikely that anyone could have foreseen Jam City coming out with an album like this. Across ten tracks the producer delivers music that runs the gauntlet between Prince influenced funk that flickers like a burnt out neon sign, Chicago house that sounds like it was made in an echo chamber and Philly club that sounds like it was made for an athletics commercial. Despite its air of detached ADD hyperreality it's an album that's never cold, and never once looks down on the listener ... in short, absolutely essential.

Review: Keen observers of the Night Slugs movement will have noticed a consistent stream of Jam City tracks featuring in the DJ sets, charts, mixes and weekly Rinse FM shows performed by Messrs Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 which even predate NS as a label entity. As Night Slugs draws close to a near perfect first year of business, they quit with the teasing and finally unveil the debut proper EP from Jam City. "Magic Drops" has been a staple of the extended NS family DJ set for yonks now so anyone with a semblance of club going in them will be more than familiar with the pressurised crunk grind meets blissed out keys and sludge drunk synths Eski riddim tribute. What really impresses is the richness in sonic detail throughout - you can listen to "Magic Drops" ten times in a row and find something different to captivate you. "Scene Girl" retains the industrial pressure style percussion, but lays down A saw tooth synth wash that positively bullies its way to the forefront, whilst "2 Hot" drops some half step menace courtesy of the massive cloud of outergalactic synth tension. This release combined with the preceding Refixes EP proves to be an auspicious portent of things to come in 2011!

Review: Lesser spotted Night Slugs alumni Jam City offers an auspicious insight into what we might expect from his often hinted at debut album on the startling Waterworx EP. It's likely you will already have a taste for the three tracks here after snippets appeared unannounced on the NS Soundcloud, however those 90 second samples don't fully hint at the magic on display here! "Aquabox" shoots muscular stabs of bass and neon flourishes skywards over a stumbling steppahs rhythm, pausing briefly to let the crystalline jah infused undercurrents shine. Up next, "Countess" sits alongside the recent John Roberts remix of George Fitzgerald in the "what do we even call it" stakes - if there ever was a track to definitely silence the wanton genre givers it would be this - with a tight strutting bruk riddim subjected to a schizophrenic array of snaking arpeggios and vocal squeals. "Barely A Trak" is really where those snippets don't reveal Jam City's brilliance, combining the rising pressure of the synth ripples with simmering stop start grime patterns before a genius left turn lends the track a utopian finish.

Review: New on Car Crash Set, Australian producer James Arctic lives up to his name with these two new chilly yet thrilling bass/jack house winners. "Green Lagoon" recalls Addison Groove thanks to its icy use of crisp 808 drums and whispy atmospheres, while "Ollie North" is a very hype sweat-fest featuring bouncing basslines and sharp snares.

Review: Young Dutch fella Jameszoo is guaranteed to win some awards with this new EP of his, even if it's just the 'music that sounds most like it's from another planet' award. Nothing wrong with sounding different though, and this release is all the better for it. "I You Cherrypearl" begins with sci-fi Theremins, before kicking into a cowbell and laser fest that sounds like Dr Dre crash-landed in the Congo. "Mrm Aid S" is a bizarre mix of weird percussive loops, booming bass, atonal synths and um, a squawking bird! "Doc Piper" is off kilter hip-hop, and "Psitta Riddim" is like drunk baile funk. Bonus track "Palmpolysanto" sounds like a keyboard was left under a coconut tree, its tropical nuts falling and hitting all kinds of keys in the process, even triggering a distorted bass loop!

Review: Arriving in a fashion not dissimilar to the all encompassing deviations from Burial is "Far Nearer", the long awaited drop from The xx's Jamie - courtesy of the always on point Numbers imprint. Subject to many a YouTube appearance over the months, this charming steel drum infused summer jam can finally be enjoyed after potential sampling issues were circumnavigated by the smudged vocal that runs throughout being re-recorded. It's perhaps too twee and gentle to drop in the midst of a set, though it will certainly have the requisite effect should you deem to slip it in at the end! Complementing this, "Beat For" channels darker sounds, with off kilter drum drops at the core surrounded by gut punching sub bass undulations, bubbling sonics and pitched out vocals with punching throwback house riffs giving the track rhythmic impetus.

Review: As one of the younger breed of Detroit talents, Jason Fine is still just starting to get a foothold, despite having a good few years of releases behind him. His Kontra Musik relationship has proven to be the most fruitful, and this remix package capitalises on that with two top shelf commissions. A Made Up Sound brings his unmistakable broken house swing to bear, with warming subs and thick swathes of pad and melody twisted to Dave Huismann's crafty designs. Heinrich Muller brings the Drexciyan vibes in abundance with his punchy electro stance that remains peerless after all these years.

Review: Chicago's Jesse Boykins is back with a new slice of future-soul on Ninja Tune. "I'm New Here" is a dreamy exercise in vocal production with layer upon layer of velvety vocals woven together with the smoothest synths in the western hemisphere. Did we say this record was smooth? On remix duties Jacques Greene turns "The Perfect Blues" into crystalline synth soul with digital harp melodies being plucked in heaven. Machinedrum live up to their name by piling on the drum rolls and claps. "Better For You" is yet more R&B dripping in arpeggiated synths, providing further reason for grabbing this EP quick smart!

Review: Berlin-based operation Leisure System score a big hit with this, their fourth release, premiering the partnership of Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum in a holy matrimony of refined modern electronics. Opening track "In Her City" has the sheen of Edgar all over it, but the ravey chops have a Machinedrum cheek to them. What's most striking though is that as a whole, the result is wonderfully fresh. On the clipped funk-dream-pop mash-up of "Sin Love With You", or the jagged intricate wiggle of "Meu", this is the sound of two artists meeting perfectly in the middle without any battle of egos and instead creating an excellent new whole.

Review: Arriving on fledgling UK label Good Years, Jim E-Stack's debut EP arrives on a flurry of internet chatter following the release of a bootleg remix of A$AP Rocky's "Purple Swag". It was a reworking that mixed the woozy quality of The Weeknd with the lush analogue textures of Jacques Greene, and quite rightly pegged him as one to watch. "Come Between" opens the EP; combining staccato piano stabs and purple-tinged pads with a clattering rhythm, tumultuous snares and a keen sense of snap, it's nicely complimented by a smooth male vocal sample that keeps just the right side of the current zeitgeist for R&B sampling. "3rd Soul" is similarly rich, combining a taut synth line with steel pan melodies done in a way that recalls Jamie xx's "Far Nearer". Closer "Lemme" opens with a sparse drum beat and insistent vocal snippet; it's certainly the most dancefloor focused track of the three, but no less bright, climaxing with an elastic neon synth that gives the production the required amount of warmth to make it as memorable as the others.

Review: Though the enigmatic Joe may not be the most prolific of producers, having released only a handful of singles for Hessle and Apple Pips since 2009, productions like "Claptrap", "Grimelight" and "Level Crossing" remain some of the most singularly unique club tracks to come out of the UK (or anywhere) in the past few years, utilising a threadbare rhythmic precision that manages to come across as organic rather than sterile. This EP for Hemlock sees him combine this approach with that of the slower, jazz tinged approach of the 116 & Rising compilation highlight "Twice". "MB" is a mere 110BPM and a loopy trip into a collage of old funk samples, while "Studio Power On" is an uptempo "Level Crossing" style oddity with samples including what sounds like someone sawing through wood, and described by the label themselves as "the sounds of 94 Jungle smashed to bits, thrown around a studio and taped back together for 2012". Joe is one of our favourite producers here at Juno HQ, and we can safely say this is one of his best records yet.

Review: The third single of Chapter One exclusives sees Hemlock regulars Joe and Randomer deliver two quite different takes on contemporary bass music. "R.E.J. Bit" is like a companion piece to his recent "MB" for the label, a jazzy piece of broken house interspersed with off-kilter sound effects. Randomer's "This Train" continues along the acid breakbeat house path he's been cultivating for the past year, combining clattering hi-hats, concrete drums and heaving bass in a chugging package that more than does justice to its name.

Review: Paradise Club regulars Juno Sutton, MTD and Dutty Dan are back with a new split EP. Firstly all three join forces for the driving UKF anthem "Block 123", which features a rolling bassline that destroys everything in its path. Sutton goes solo for the melodic and dreamy electro-house of "Get You" and the other two opt for the slammin' diva house-meets post dubstep of "Seeing Thoughts".

Review: This guy has settled in with Reading UKF label Soulserious like a comfy pair of old slippers. Why not when they totally support his sound, to the point where his EPs are now bordering on mini-LPs! "Speeding" features six new joints all revealing his finely honed production skills. He blends slick, jazzy pads with shuffling garage beats that often veer into a sleazy tech-house side of town, and there's always a few retro nods to the good old 90s.