Review: New York's Adred returns to Metalheadz with two outstanding cuts right here. Both of which feature some major league collaborations, too. The wonderfully deep "Valley Groove" takes the lead with Commix on board; dreamy, purring and laced with just a smidgeon of hazy jazzy undertones, it's a total lesson in restraint. "Stuck In Loop" (with Ant TC1) maintains the soulful tendencies but with much more of a barbed touch as DRS lays down his lyrical raw emotion. Both are absolutely stunning.
Review: It wouldn't be summer without every house label under the sun releasing an Ibiza-themed compilation. To be fair to Dave Lee's long-running Z Records imprint, they've been delivering White Isle-themed collections every summer for many years. Given that their sound - a blend of funk-fuelled grooves, soulful house, tech-tinged anthems, disco re-edits, boogie revivalism and classic US garage influences - is well suited to sun-drenched alfresco parties, it's little surprise to find that Z Records Presents Ibiza 2015 is rather good. While much of the standout material comes from Lee himself under a variety of guises (check, in particular, the Doug Willis jam "Crystal Lover"), there are also top-notch cuts from Sean McCabe, Opolopo and Fibre Foundation, whose cover of disco/boogie classic "Weekend" is simply superb.
Review: 2020 is likely to go down in history as the year with a summer that never was, but Snatch! is making up for it with this fine four-tracker. First up is Ant LaRock with the techy "HMANL"; peppered with repetitive vocal snatches and powered by tight percussion, it's an irresistibly deep but driving track. Federico Grazzini and Frank Storm's "Otto" is in a similar vein, with deep synths and brittle percussion underpinning robust drums and a stop-start arrangement. Wolfire's "Wanna Do" is more tracky and stripped back, with a focus on dense kicks and looped vocal sample, while this hugely enjoyable summer selection concludes with the rolling, sample-heavy tech-house of "Cold Mind" from Lessone
