Youngunz At Juno Download

Review: First debuted on a recent Sound Pellegrino podcast, Bambounou's "Alpha" has been hotly anticipated for a while now, and it's definitely been worth the wait. The French producer and Youngunz star loads some compressed kicks and heavy-gliding synths into the mix on "Alpha", while "Dock Request" rides an ever-changing bass arpeggio and some brilliantly disjointed drum patterns. "Heroic Requests" brings out a heavily nocturnal, stripped-down Detroit sound into play and "Divided By Zero" rounds off the EP with a dubby, ghost-house rouser that's simply gripping and hugely addictive. This release comes replete with mixes of all four tunes from Teeth, Lunice, Darling Farah & Ikonika.

Review: Having previously made their name by mixing deep house and bass music influences, Auckland-based brothers Chaos In The CBD continue their evolution with an EP of sweet, sultry deep house. There's something particularly enjoyable about the drifting vocals and warm melodies of "Pale Moonlight", while vocal cut "Never Ending" is bold and beautiful without reverting to anthemic cliches. The woozy synth melodies and down under charm displayed on "So Proud" is very likeable, too. Of the numerous remixes present, it's the deep garage vibes of the Mak & Pasterman and Doctor Jeep versions that most impress. As a package, though, it's all pretty good.

Review: A producer who's been slowly toiling away for a few years now and steadily impressing with every new release or mix, 2011 should hopefully be the year French Fries collects some well-earned props. It all comes together on the excellent Laquisha EP, with the title tune leading from the front with singer/MC Taiwan's auto-tuned vocals nestling among hyped soca beats and a chorus akin to L-Vis 1990's recent "Forever You". However if vocals aren't your thing, Youngunz have thrown in a very useful dub into the release. By contrast, "Charlotte" is a fruity Latin/tropical banger that relies on smart arrangements, tight and addictive piano loops and some hybrid mainroom/funky beats to really make its point, but on a more aggy tip, the pounding bass punch of "Merel" is pure Joy O meets Bok Bok - a dreamy set of pads mixed with a distorted punch and some riotous hats and snares. A perfect choice of remixers underlines the quality of this EP. Buraka Som Sistema's J-Wow makes "Laquisha" his own by adding blurry, tear-stained organs and a crisp carnival beat to the tune, before expertly dropping the tempo down to around 100bpm for a rowdy, head-nodding moment of genius. Just as incredible is man-of-the-moment Canblaster's electrifying version of "Charlotte" - almost a complete overhaul that truly needs to be heard to be believed. Lil Silva is just the right man to tackle the funky beast that is "Merel" and he takes it on with aplomb - adding some freaked-out organ stabs and some liquid distortion to the already chaotic kicks.

Review: An incredibly impressive selection of remixes on this fun and fruity single from French producer Manare. A relative newcomer, he's managed to capture the current trends for tropical, snare-led beats and jazzy samples perfectly on "Speakeasy" with its '30s, Cotton Club-style trumpets billowing over a perfectly balanced beat. The much-praised duo Renaissance Man work up a thrillingly intense and minimal beat that builds with filtered up shivers of the original's trumpets, joined in turn by choir samples at one point. As more and more is added to the mix, it becomes a jacking treat and one well worth checking out. Lorcan Mak uses the choir vocals as the main melody, albeit side-chained to within an inch of it life. DJ Beware & Motorpitch take things down on their mix, employing a deep house groove and peppering it with horn stabs as they build the vibe step by step. With another Manare original, the ferocious electro monster "Pirog" included as well as a Dubbel Dutch mix, this is a very classy, utterly cool EP that really represents the best of 2010.

Review: Youngunz drop a new compilation entitled Sinterklaas Society, featuring seven slices of jagged deep and funky joints from Coni, Manare, Bambounou, Chaos In The CBD, French Fries, Alan Gay and Lazy Flow. The oven warm chords and classic house vocal snippets on Coni's opening track "Sunday" stands tall above the deluge of digital deep house on the market; likewise Manare's "Boomerang" executes a stripped back, stuttering vibe with masterful precision. From here the compilation takes a neat twist from deep house flavours to stripped back dubstep-tinged head nodders, with French Fries' genre-dodging "Crushin On Me" and Alan Gray's baroque-tinged "Deaf Moonlight" leading to the hand-sup finale "Blue Jets" by Lazy Flow and featuring Girl Is Tough. Top stuff from start to finish.