Review: Earlier in the year, A-Trak paid tribute to old-school house and rave-era breakbeat hardcore via the 10 Seconds Volume 1 EP. The Canadian turntablist-turned-big room headliner opts for a similarly retro-futurist vibe on this sequel, first opting for a bouncy, loose-limbed and warming, Chicago "boompty" kind of sound on 'Keep On' before charging away on a surging, filter-sporting French Touch tip (think compressed, chopped and looped disco-house) on 'Maximum'. Arguably more potent - and certainly less in-your-face - is 'Limbo', where acid bass, bleeping melodies, spacey electronics and snappy drums catch the ear, wile 'Cortez' sounds like vintage, late '90s Caassius with added jazzy samples.
Review: A-Trak has been on a run of collaborations of late, delivering bold, energetic, club-ready cuts with everyone from Todd Terry and Baauer, to Friend Within and Jamie Lidell. In fact, this four-tracker marks the long-serving Canadian producer's first solo single in six years. It's a typically funky, driving, weighty and peak-time-ready selection, with A-Trak first offering up a mutated riff on the heavily cut-up, disco-bass-driven insanity that many associate with the late '90s French Touch sound ('Split'), before dropping a more filter-heavy, sample-rich take on disco-house ('Bubble Guts'). His ability to create killer grooves out of savagely cut-up stabs, samples and beats comes to the fore on techno-funk stomper 'Sling Shot', while closing cut 'Be Bop' sits somewhere between the synth-laden goodness of Metro Area and dreamy deep house.
