Local Action At Juno Download

Review: Having already marked himself out as a producer to keep an eye on with his EP for Deadplate early this year, Artifact moves to Local Action for another EP of swung UKG influenced techno. Two of these tracks are refined versions of tracks that have been in Local Action sets for the past few years; "Worn" combines a strong but lean rhythm with a wonky acid-tinged bassline, building up the drama with its rising strings to create a unique hybrid of techno and UKG, in the vein of Mosca's killer cuts for 3024, while "Turtle Fight" takes the acid theme full throttle with its combination of fierce squelch and rapidfire vocals. Finally, new track "Drain" combines the atmospherics and vocal trickery of early Joy Orbison with metallic, industrial percussion and warbling sub-bass.

Review: Shollen Quarshie is making no bones about his intentions on this latest release for Local Action, with his formidable production sights fixed on the charts with a helping croon from Louise Williams. This is unabashed pop music for the modern era, even if it is driven by an early 90s breakbeat. The straight-up keys and synths should sit perfectly on drive time radio, while the light touches of trancey stabs are crying out for a stadium-filling remix from one of the Dutch titans. As if baiting such an occasion, the single comes packaged with an instrumental and an acapella for good measure.

Review: It's fair to there's currently nobody in the business making proper garage with the same flair that DJ Q currently does, and his new single, entitled "Trust Again", featuring the vocal talents of Brit School alumnus Louise Williams, is possibly his most classicist piece of 90s-leaning garage to date. Those who heard the producer's excellent vinyl-only track "Brandy & Coke" last year will know what to expect - strong vocals, clipped 2-step rhythms and razor-sharp production. Serious remixes are included too, withthe first remix in some time from from Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown, member of the old school garage outfit Tuff Jam, a bassline remix from DJ Q collaborator TS7, and a 4×4 mix from DJ Q himself.

Review: From the opening bars of opener "Blue Sleet", the influence of grime in Slackk's latest missive for the excellent Local Action is obvious - a precise matrix of thin eski synths, composed into interlocking parallelograms of luminous green, accompanied by salvos of rattling claps. "Fat City" takes a similar formula and inverts it, creating a particularly mournful instrumental with a sluggish beat, inspiring images of a rain soaked sink estate. "Almost Transparent" meanwhile, positively swims with melodic charm, and despite going heavy on the Eastern synth flutes and thin marimba stabs it has enough gravitational pull in the thick low end to keep the whole thing grounded. But the real gut punch is "90 Years", the only track that eschews any kind of melody for sheer dancefloor power - utilising industrial snares alongside some thick cylinders of laser bass that feel like they've been fired by an orbiting death ray. Fantastic stuff - and shows the trad house bass wannabes how it's done.

Review: T.Williams's first release for Local Action finally gets a digital release! The minimal jack flows freely on the thick "Afric", while the Deep Teknologi boss crafts some banging snares and Hammond organ stabs on the rising UKF blast of "Anthem" and jams on an extended house groove (complete with sinister dubby touches) on "Flooring". If you missed this on vinyl, don't sleep now.