Back Catalogue

Review: A young producer from Brooklyn, Obey City makes a confident debut for the B.Yrself label with this set of five new tunes, which mine a Scuba-ish, glacial house sound perfectly on "Who Buggin", a more ghostly ghetto lilt on "Percalatin" and a chaotic crunk on the icy 808 tricks of "My RVM".

Review: Having wowed the world with his first two records, Objekt's arrival on Hessle Audio is a logical and welcome move. The wobbling bassline of "Cactus", premiered on Ben UFO's Rinse:16 mix, recalls Mala's savage productions, tweaking the oscillators just enough to make the bass scream whilst keeping things tasteful, despite its crazed metamorphosis into a raygun at the halfway point. Flipside "Porcupine" meanwhile is militant techno with all the purity and focus of Jeff Mills' best productions, a maelstrom of pummelling beats and swimming chords with a diamond-like beauty despite its pneumatic ferocity. In a word: essential.

Review: Continuing the nascent Bleep Green series of releases, Warp's faithful online arm draws on two surefire success stories that in many ways define the crossover between techno and dubstep, albeit in different ways. Objekt is in limber form, firing off ricocheting electro drum patterns in a densely realised soundworld of subtle hum and cell-quaking sub bass. Cosmin TRG is in a slower 4/4 driven mood, but there's a continued embrace of dystopian tones that matches Objekt's own malaise. As the acid slowly edges its way into the song structure, it's clear there is no light at the end of this particularly dank tunnel.

Review: No prizes for getting that it's house o'clock round Odessa towers (it's always house o'clock round there). This EP features five incarnations of the aforementioned house; all different but assertive in their own way. The three originals take in delirious, jackin', frenzied piano house ("Get Right"), filthy warehouse, bassline-y hip-house ("Put You Down") and (best of all) minimal and techy after hours darkness ("Tell Me"). Winning the best remix of the package award is Artefact who delivers a totally out there deep and brooding remix that features some the deepest sub bass we've heard in ages!

Review: OH91 (aka Omari Champagnie) is the latest in a long line of fierce new young producers hailing from Bristol. Following on from the hype of his track "Yellow", he's back with a newie, "NoGo". It's a bouncy slice of retro early 90s house with a techy edge - totally infectious. Carlos steps up to the plate with his remix that takes in more obvious retro synths, hard tribal breaks and some pretty deep subbass. One to watch!

Review: Given Unknown To The Unknown's wide ranging remit, including bassline garage, Detroit electro and Chicago house, it was perhaps inevitable that a genuine 90s house record would find its way onto the label at some point. Originally released in 1992, OHM's "Tribal Tone" was supposedly the first tune to use the Korg M1 sound that was later immortalised by Robin S' "Show Me Love", and had considerable impact at the time, being championed The Shamen frontman Mr C, being licensed to R&S sub-label Global Cuts and US label Vibe, and finding itself remixed by the Sabres of Paradise trio. Here it finds itself with three similarly great remixes, a stripped-back, raw groover from Marquis Hawkes, a horn-heavy piece of 90s action from Capracara and a thundering mid-tempo effort from Northern Souls. Essential!

Review: Hailing from Detroit, you wouldn't necessarily expect Oktored to be making bass music with such a global flavour, but the Golden Zinc EP shows him to be an able producer of such material. Opening track "Bang" combines deep subs and skittish UKF style rhythms with rippling chimes, while "Cry" continues along the same path with a rich slice of future garage. "Heads Up" takes things in a moombahton direction, though with Oktored's own restrained style, letting its percolating synths build up gradually through the whipcrack snares. Despite this there are moments when his Detroit heritage comes to the fore; the minimal analogue ripples of "Push" recall the futuristic tones of Robert Hood, while the jazzy funk of "2,4,6,8" recall the sci-fi moods of early techno.

Review: London based producer Om Unit returns with next release "Aeolian" on Reso's Civil Music. Never restricted by genre, he traverses juke, dubstep, R&B, hip-hop, garage and all shades of the "bass music" spectrum, with a jungle influence sometimes creeping in. Opening with the esoteric "Ulysseus", this one is all about the rippling, rain-dancing rhythms and steady, stomping beats. Moving on to "Dark Sunrise (feat. Tamara Blessa)", we are treated to a storming dubstep banger with super sweet vocals in a dark, thunderous soundscape. "Fumes" is a more sparse and spaced out little number with dreamy, ethereal synths; while "Lightworkers Call" brings in the talents of Kromestar for another dark, nocturnal venture. "Slowfast Matrix" brings in a flurry of quirky rhythms to the equation before "Ulysses" is given the remix treatment twice over. Essential, no question.

Review: The Spam Chop EP on Mimm Recordings was an early 2012 highlight in the Juno office and the Nottingham based label returns with more genre defying material, this time from Bristolian producer Ooko. No stranger to Mimm, having contributed a track to the label's free compilation from last year, Ooko truly delivers on his cheekily titled full debut Sex Sells. Lead track "Downtown" sets the tone, chopping recycled jungle breaks up to fit a pitched down rhythmic swing that is ever present whilst the titular vocal loop and pressurized bass shift back and forth in stereo focus. Complementing this, the title track comes across as a more viscous slant on the current house vogue in Bristol, with the low end seemingly so thick it's stopping the drums from attaining their groove. Watch out for the fizzing synth line which belatedly arrives to crank up the heat, whilst fellow Bristolians My Nu Leng do a splendid job in shifting the track into broken techno territory. Don't know what you call it but this is good!

Review: Make way for Lithuanian Ophex who, after a respectable stretch of remixes, has finally delivered his virgin debut single. Naturally it's been worth the wait; "Appetite Appeal" sits comfortably across a range of styles thanks to its hip-swinging Afrobeat, old school house references, infectious groove and substantial bottom end. The remixes have been very wisely selected too - each one highlighting an aspect of the original and twisting the elements to create an entire unique reversion. Boogaloo's version pitches down the original, adds more Reese flavoured basses and comes out sounding very similar to a DirtyBird joint. DJ Kiff's "Jersey Club" mix rides roughshod with just a smidgeon of Baltimore badness while Lucid finishes the set with the most oddball of interpretations that includes all manner of found sounds and wild twists and turns.

Review: Out on Decarhythm, Orphan 101 gets dubby on this new five-tracker, which features the beautifully spooked techno of "Oven Cat", the equally impressive and moody stomp of "Dit Dot" and the tasty fusion of dubstep expansiveness and tech drive that is title tune "Patcher".

Review: Regular Hyperdubber Ossie comes back with this delectable single of neo-soul goodness on "Ignore", providing the perfect backdrop for Tilz's smooth delivery. In between the bluesy key stabs and whip-cracking drums, there's a perfect mixture of club dynamics and pop sensibilities, seemingly typifying the current tone that Hyperdub seems geared towards. "Find It" lets Ossie off the chain into a purely instrumental cut that gives him full scope to zoom in on those razor-sharp drums and bolster them with further layers, while the musical elements veer between chunky Moog basslines and plucked mandolins, and a whole lot more besides.