Ten Thousand Yen At Juno Download

Review: Fresh from his album with Benjamin Damage, Doc Daneeka is back on the case with the sultry tones of the oddly named "Tobyjug". While no tributes to odd British ornaments seem present, instead we have a thoughtful and heartfelt sequence of piano chords with an arresting vocal turn from Abigail Wyles, while the beat remains thoroughly subtle throughout. By the climax of the tune a whisper of juke creeps into the scattering toms, but still within a downtempo context. Lando Kal does a superb job of jacking the track up with a cool-as-ice chop up job that calls to mind the smoother end of early Spectral Sound releases.

Review: Something of a fresh face, Presk uses just the slightest of touches to make his brand of techno vibrant and singular. "Devour" sports a groove that falls jagged, keeping a tight swing but an insistently funky one all the same. "Love Again" meanwhile ups the ante with a more overtly 2-step beat and a punchy bassline, while matching the opener for melodic richness. "Slick Rick" slows things down marginally but piles on that Strictly Rhythm bump to great effect. Not afraid to makes things a little naughty, Presk has ably positioned himself as a bright young crusader with ear-nagging jams in his utility belt.

Review: Finally getting a release after being a sneaky secret weapon in the boxes of Modeselecktor, Brodinski, Martyn and Adam Freeland amongst others, Venom and Damage's funky destroyer "Deeper" gets four brand-spanking new mixes plus the essential original. With old-skool organ stabs vying for attention with looped and twisted vocals, the original mix is deliciously simple yet 100% frenetic, with punchy snares at the heart of the beat - truly a UK funky classic in the making. With "Deeper" the first release on Doc Daneeka's Ten Thousand Yen imprint, the man himself delivers his own blinding mix, taking it deep with a fleshed-out beat and some sly effects on the vocals. Leeds-based producer Harry Benson (who previously collaborated with V&D on his 'Kudzo" EP) also has a ball on his mix, creating some classic builds with filters and some stacking drums before dropping back into a minimal, stripped-down house sequence. Damage also does a sly re-tweak of the original on his 'Deeper Forever' mix, juggling the anthemic organ chimes into an even funkier blend.

Review: Ten Thousand Yen do it right again with the future flex of rising producer XXXY. "You Always Started" will bear obvious comparisons to early Joy Orbsion - before he went all house - but that's no bad thing as it's drenched in a soulful emotion that builds quite delightfully towards the hair raising crescendo. The guile with which XXXY teases out the vocal sample deserves a golf clap. Equally impressive is the psychedelic house thrust of "Ordinary Things", chopping up the vocal over a skipping deep bump, with a swathe of burning tripped out melodies the backdrop to purple synth flourishes and cheeky whoo samples. There's a simplicity to the production but it's overwhelmed by the thickness of sonic emotion XXXY achieves.