Review: Back in 2016, Ed Banger main man and nu-rave scene stalwart Pedro Winter AKA Busy P delivered a particularly excitable DJ mix that was affixed to the front of copies of Mixmag. Now the long-running magazine has decided to make it available as a paid-for download, with a big chunk of sales revenue going to the producers and remixers who feature. It remains a hugely entertaining excursion, with Winter quickly charging between glassy-eyed synth-pop (Breakbot, as remixed by Fatima Yamaha), mangled electro-pop cheeriness (Justice), contemporary French house (Mr Oizo, Cassius and Pharrell Williams), cowbell-sporting acid house revivalism (Playgroup, Kiddy Smile), Middle Eastern headiness (Acid Arab), and the raw Sheffield sleaze of Crooked Man.
Review: This is not the first compilation to drop whose sole aim is to raise funds for NHS Chartities Together - R&S Records and Bass Agenda both delivered similarly epic sets - but "Care4Life" may well be the strongest and most diverse. As you'd expect, each one of the 45 tracks is previously unreleased, and the cast list reads like a who's who of dance music culture. Notable highlights include an ultra-deep, saucer-eyed number from Daniel Avery, an unheard rework of the Chemical Brothers' "Catch Me I'm Falling", a superb revision of Harvey's Locussolus project by Kiwi, Matthew Herbert in jazzy broken beat mode, a rare solo outing from Optimo's JD Twitch, a rip-roaring rave workout from Jas Shaw, and thumping peak-time bangers from Dusky, Eats Everything and Patrick Topping.
Review: While frustratingly overlooked by critics, Sheffield veteran Richard Barratt's debut album under the Crooked Man alias was one of the finest house albums of 2016. Here, DFA has asked a bunch of suitably well-respected producers to give their own spin on tracks from the hot-to-trot set. Ostgut Ton types Barker & Baumecker steal the show with vocal and instrumental remixes of "Fools & Fanatics" that gleefully join the dots between Brown Album-era Orbital, vintage electro, early breakbeat, Chicago acid and piano house. Both sound like anthems in waiting. Elsewhere, DFA stalwart Juan MacLean provides a driving, surprisingly murky rework of nostalgia-driven sing-along "Happiness", while fellow NYC veterans WhateverWhatever give unlikely Northern Soul cover "I'll Be Loving You" a dark, machine-driven, acid-flecked makeover.
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