Ten Thousand Yen At Juno Download

Review: Returning to Doc Daneeka's Ten Thousand Yen after a two year absence, Chesus delivers four tracks of throwback house with a contemporary twist. "Goodfoot" sees a diva vocal and hands in the air piano riff go hand in hand with snappy percussion with a rippling flex, while "4am Dub" and "3am Dub" offer subtly different combinations of heavy 909 kicks and deep organ chords. The standout track is perhaps "Feelings" delivering a Kerri Chandler style, dubbed out house cut with voval manipulation from the contemporary bass school of thinking. One to file alongside Bicep for an impressively modern take on the 90s house revival.

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: "He'd rob his own gran" says Ten Thousand Yen in the press release for this long awaited drop from Mickey Pearce. Although we can't verify on the sociopathic tendencies (or otherwise) of Mr Pearce, we can say that "Tempted (F+ck Tonto edit)" is even ruder than his recent Swamp81 missive, hitting hard in the rhythm department and coming complete with one of the best one note melodies of the year so far. "Softly, Softly" on the other hand is a slowed down percussive workout with subtle Afropop undertones but no less ferocious. Big stuff indeed.

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: XXXY can do no wrong right now. Hot on the heels of his Rinse release comes this wonderfully understate double header that sits comfortably somewhere between 2020 Soundsystem and Damu. "Progression" is tech-laced, steppy and textured with twinkling arpeggios while "Thinking 'Bout" nods more towards a housier soundset while maintaining a lucid, skippy funk the breakbeat rhythm.

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.