Eight Weeks

Review: When 123MRK's Noname EP dropped in 2011 creating waves all around the dubstep and bass music scene. Moulding the sound of his generation into a style all his own, the Frenchman suddenly found himself held aloft as an innovator as well as simply a producer of sounds. This remixed release of his seminal EP was a lofty undertaking and the finished item features remixes from some of the future dubstep scene's brightest young stars alongside long-time innovators. From Liar's metalic, lo-fi flavours to Troy Gunner's understated clicks and swirls; ViLLAGE's heart-pounding house remodelling to Heblank's old-school twist, even the likes of Pixelord and ReSketch play their garage-influenced hands to create an all-new modern-day canvas of what exactly bass music is right at this moment. It can never be truly defined, but this is a pretty good encyclopedia.

Review: Bristol's DJ Die has gone one better than signing Addison Groove to his Gutterfunk imprint, he's only gone and collaborated with him on both tracks here as well! The footwork-influenced side project of Headhunter, Addison Groove assumes charge of "Keyhole" - a stripped back excursion into sultry voodoo beats. Meanwhile on "Hydropump", DJ Die takes the lead steering this ship into breaky hip-house waters in the process.

Review: Having made his debut on Prime Numbers earlier this year with his titular contribution to a split release alongside Truss and Massimo De Lena, Adesse is granted a full release with this all killer no filler Untitled Love EP. For someone who came to the fore with a version of Theo Parrish's "Sky Walking, it's unsurprising that the title track here has a rugged charm reminiscent of the outspoken Sound Signature boss - it's all about that thumping snare son! Meanwhile "Supernal" veers into deep steppers territory and contains some ingenious looping of a Laurie Anderson standard, whilst "Metachemistry" highlights Adesse's talent for loose, freeform arrangements.

Review: Alex Barck has achieved a lot over the last two decades - pioneering nu-jazz blends with Jazzanova, helping set up Sonar Kollektiv, a fine album with Christian Prommer - but he's not released many solo records. In fact, his debut solo album, Reunion, is due later in the year. This taster gives a glimpse as to what to expect, a dewy-eyed blend of electronic soul, bruk-influenced deep house and unbridled positivity. The EP's two original tracks are predictably sublime, with Pete Josef collaboration "Re-Set" - an exercise in effortlessly soulful, heavily electronic deep house - just edging out the more obviously anthemic Jonathan Backelie hook-up "Don't Hold Back". Elsewhere, Marlow's deep acid rework of "Re-Set" is also superb.

Review: If you judge a producer by their ability to successfully apply a winning formula to a variety of styles, Alix Perez is a master. While drum and bass remains his forte, there's enough on Chroma Chords, his second album, to suggest that he's growing as a producer. This EP discards with the synth-laden head nodders featured on the full album, though the four tracks here do still demonstrate the versatile nature of Chroma Chords. Thus the grimy hip hop of the Metropolis featuring "Blue Print" shares space with the soulful stepping action of "Playing Games" whilst the the excellent vintage Timbaaland does halfstep of "Shadows" (featuring breakout Eglo talent Strange U") joins up with the vicious "Burnout".