Rush Hour Holland At Juno Download

Review: After two excellent entries already notched up on their 13-part series, Awanto3 and Tom Trago return to bring more low-slung letters of house music love. "Hell Of Samba" is markedly darker than the efforts thus far, taking a brutal techno manifesto and re-shaping it to a slow-house track. The manic, cyclical hats and vaporous drones make for a thoroughly unsettling, and mightily effective, atmosphere. "Too Shy" meanwhile shakes things up further with a staggered beat, baroque orchestrations and what sounds like strange beatbox bass stabs. It's maybe not what you expect from the series, but it certainly spices things up.

Review: Ah yes, whilst Angello, Axwell and Ingrosso amuse all with their 21st century update on Spinal Tap, Rush Hour drop a timely reminder about the real Swedish House Mafia, enlisting Skudge and MRSK to take apart some Frictionalism classics and piece them back together in their own distinct fashion. The ever mysterious Skudge are up first stripping Shakir's classic "Floorfiller" of it's emotive keys and twisting the remains into the sort of highly pressurised, relentless, twisting reverberant industrial thumper you'd expect from the elusive Scandinavian collective. Impressive as that is, MRSK provides an even better take on "Travelers" transforming the future abstractions of Shakir's original track into something dark, sensual and pulsing with an intensity that's comparable to Robert Hood at his finest.

Review: Kyle Hall aside, it’s hard to pick two up-and-coming producers better suited to the task of giving Anthony Shake Shakir’s off kilter Detroitisms a contemporary tweak than FaltyDL and Space Dimension Controller. In the first of two Rush Hour-curated releases, Belfast youngster SDC, fresh off a stunning EP released on resurgent Belgian imprint R&S, turns his intergalactic remixing hand on the seminal "Detroit State Of Mind", first released in 1998. He slows down the tempo here, opting for slo-mo, bubbling synths, claps and a vintage analogue electro-disco funk melodies that are fast becoming the SDC signature sound. FaltyDL (real name Drew Lustman) meanwhile remixes "Assimilated". Despite being based in New York, Falty’s sound has its roots in the UK, with his releases displaying a clear affection for dubstep, funky and old-school garage as well as house. On this effort he goes for a dense, layered approach, with snare hits busily chopping and changing direction amid a flurry of analogue squiggles, with a bassline groove that is slowed down, tweaked and generally messed with in an insouciant manner that would no doubt make Shakir smile. More than merely a nice idea for a remix project, this release serves as a neat snapshot of what electronic music is all about in 2010: a fertile breeding ground between genres, eras and continents, with one foot respectfully planted in the past and the other holding the door open for the future.

Review: The second vinyl sampler for Rush Hour's essential Anthony Shakir retrospective finally comes to download, and again it's an essential purchase for fans of high quality house and techno. Lead cut "Arise" - originally released way back in 1998 - is particularly inspirational example of Detroit techno at its rich and emotional best, all touchy-feely synths, tumbling riffs and star-gazing beats. There's more soft centred piano love on the shuffling "Simpatico", while "The Fake Left, Go Right Plan" pushes the groove into the red in its pursuit of stripped-back perfection. Then there's "Mr Gone Is Back Again", as melancholic a Detroit techno track as you'd wish to find.

Review: The third part of Rush Hour's essential Anthony 'Shake' Shakir retrospective comes to digital download. As with previous instalments, it's an impressive collection, and one that brilliantly demonstrates the breadth and depth of Shakir's musical palette. There is, of course, some pure Detroit techno - in this case the sublime galactic funk of "For The Lamanted" - and something a little rougher ("Frictionalized"). But there's also some delicious old skool house bump (the wonderful "I Get A Feeling", which will send shivers down the spine of punters of a certain age) and, most impressively, a tech-jazz wig-out that sounds like early Recloose given the Shakir treatment ("Assimilated"). Essential as ever.

Review: Rush Hour's trawl through the back catalogue of the irreplaceable Anthony 'Shake' Shakir comes to an end with a final three-track romp. As with the previous three releases, every track is nigh on essential. This time round, there's a much more obvious funk swing to proceedings, with all three tracks displaying clear soul and disco influences. The relentless military snares and Rhodes riffs of "The Other One" particularly impresses, but there's also little to call between the Detroit techno meets NY disco pomp of "Plugged In" and the simple pleasures of "The Floorfiller". In many ways, it doesn't matter; like the rest of the series, the whole EP is an essential purchase.

Review: While somewhat shadowy in their backstory, B.D.I. return to Rush Hour after a release two years ago, and bring with them a serious degree of dense, pumping goodness for this industrial strength DJ sets. While the metallic clunking may be laid on thick, there's also a palpable heart at the core of the machine on 'Decoded...', which makes it all the more magnificent. 'New Robotics #17' is more jagged and sparse, with a tricky kind of swing, but still strides confidently into its own nasty space between functional tool and wild expression, making for a daring party rocker in the process.

Review: Having released his Plastic World album just earlier this year, BNJMN spoils us with another sizable package in the form of this 9-track treat. There's something pleasingly arcane about the way he uses the tried and tested 4/4 formula as a secondary backbone to the rich layers of textures. At times he can be gentle, at others quite manic, in the way that he triggers the elements in his tracks, but the harmonious tones always reach a sweet-natured conclusion. 'Wisdom of Uncertainty' is a prime exponent of the fairy tale sound he has cornered in which to express himself.

Review: Rush Hour's Direct Current series has already struck gold on several occasions - most notably the back scratching endeavours of FaltyDL and Cosmin TRG - however a shift upwards in ambition and a swerve in focus towards these shores has delivered a truly startling full length album from BNJMN. The latest alias of Ben Thomas, a young UK producer whose work has featured under a variety of names for labels such as Svetlana Industries and Tirk, Plastic World could feasibly be conceived as Thomas finding his true musical identity. This is an album that's covered in a glistening sheen of utopian futurism; from the grinding amphibian machine funk of "Wheels In Motion" to the more upwardly mobile jacking acid melodies of "Tunnel Flight", BNJMN seems to posses an innate and auspicious talent for creating music that's just as suited for the floor as your headphones. Whilst "Blocks" has been most commonly claimed as the track that will draw you in, it is perhaps "See Through The Stars" that leaves the most lasting impression, throwing together frosted soundscapes with throbbing bass and tingling percussion and washing them with rich sounding shafts of upwards electronic melody with jaw dropping results.

Review: Rush Hour's mission to dig through the archives of Chicago House music and re-issue forgotten classics continues apace here with the focus squarely on Boo Williams. The Dutch imprint concentrates on the productions Williams put out via Residual Records, the imprint run by Titonton Duvante, with the four best tracks from his three late 90s EPs handpicked and presented here. Rawness abounds throughout with vintage Chi town atmospherics submerged beneath solid kicks and ever so intricate synth melodies on "Mortal Trance". Hypnotic chords pervade the driving deepness of "Eternal Mind" with the expertly arranged long drum breaks a third of the way in proving an excellent way to break the trance. On the flip, the pulsating acid squelch of "Day & Night" provides the highlight of this release as tough kicks snap through deep stabs for a track that sounds just as relevant on today's floors. The scattergun drum patterns and melancholic synth action on the future retro sounding "Teckno Drome" make this another essential release from our friends in Amsterdam.

Review: In recent times, Rush Hour's Direct Current offshoot has been a constant source of inspirational, dancefloor-baiting material. Seemingly designed to offer a retro-futurist take on house from producers perhaps better known for their more experimental material - see the thrilling, head-warping releases from Cosmin TRG and BNJMN - the imprint has rarely put a foot wrong. This two-tracker fits neatly into the RH DC template: Braille is a new pseudonym for Praveen, one half of post-dubstep visionaries Sepalcure. In true Direct Current style, the tracks presented here offer a cutting-edge take on house music that gives classic Chicago jack and the melodic futurism of Detroit a fresh new twist. "The Year 3000" opens with a delay-laden vocal snippet from Sterling Void's Chicago classic "It's Alright", before sprinting off on a woozy journey into 21st century Euro-jack. "Leavin' Without You" treads a similar path, but offers more basic, straightforward thrills; a heartfelt vocal sample nimbly dances round a ricocheting rhythm of off-beat 4/4 percussion, densely layered chords and mind-altering FX. Like its impressive A-Side, "Leavin' Without You" is off-kilter late night house music of the highest order. Essential.

Review: The town of Mildura in Victoria probably doesn't rate on any global lists of disco hotspots, yet it was here that the Carter Brothers story began. Having relocated to Adelaide, South Australia, the Carter Bros fell under the global gaze of Rush Hour, who snapped up their latest single "Full Metal Jacket". There's not much to either the original or the dub version - in this respect it brings to mind Kerri Chandler's "Bar A Thym" - because what it does, it does brilliantly: locking into a loop and riding it along for the tracks' duration with uplifting synth sweeps and divine horns dovetailing insouciantly. Nebraska meanwhile does a sterling job on remix duties, chopping up the beat, filtering it and adding in some vocals and brass farts for maximum value!