Fortified Audio At Juno Download

Review: Scottish label Fortified Audio is the latest home to Atlanta producer Distal, a man who's been prolific over the last 12 months with a host of remixes and originals - most notably "Grape Donut" which appeared on Soul Jazz's huge Future Bass compilation. Here, Detroit tech rubs shoulders with tropical funky on tunes like the effervescent title track, with its wayward and off-kilter strings proving to be a real highlight, alongside the minimal funk of "Love A La Venturo". Things get taken into hyper mode though for "Africa To Mars", with astral pads and relentless rhythms marking it out as an early favourite, as well as the soft dub of "Novocaine Blonde" which recalls his previous footwerk excursion, "Coke Bottle".

Review: Dundee's Loops Haunt drops four tracks of skilfully mutilated and beat driven heavy electronics with "Rubber Sun Grenade" on Fortified Audio. He uses meticulously programmed rhythmic structures and sheer attention to sonic detail to create the malevolent industrial sound that reigns on this EP

Review: Any Seinfeld reference always raises a few smiles here at the Juno office, and this latest EP from Nightwave has already earned a special place in our hearts with its name and artwork. The music itself may not have anything to do with the sitcom, but the music is as good as it's ever been from the producer, showing her production skills and ideas to be coming on in leaps and bounds with every release. The title track combines fluttering melodies over booming bass and solid 808 kicks, whilst "Jeff The Dolphin" takes a rapid arpeggiated synth line, gloopy bass, delicate organ notes and woodblock percussion to create the perfect fusion of Detroit and London bass sounds. "Jazz312" meanwhile combines Rhodes and trumpet samples with drawn out vocals and a fast juke flex, while the EP closes with "Heart Bit", a slower machine-funk number with rough, glitchy textures that recall Drexciya. This is undoubtedly Nightwave's most consistent EP to date, and comes highly recommended.

Review: It's been a long time coming but Fortified Audio finally deliver the goods and VVV drops his debut album. The Texan producer may not be at the epicentre of the bass music zeitgeist physically, but his sound captures quite succinctly where garage informed beats are at right now. R&B vocal rips get sliced and scattered across punchy, well-polished productions heavy on the crafty edits and diverse sound sources, delivered with such panache it's hard to find fault with this highly accomplished set. Well worth checking out.