Review: Second State drops the latest instalment of their SUM compilation series, with this eleventh volume featuring music from established and emerging artists alike. Camea, who has released distinctive minimal techno on Bpitch and Upon You, ventures down a tripped out path on "Higher Power", while on "Dragon Dynamite", another veteran artist, Harvey McKay, combines a peak-time percussive rhythm with a splurging, ebm-style bass. The contributions from the newer producers are just as impressive. Live act Komfortrauschen deliver a deep but driving banger in the shape of "Jamal", while Larry Cadge's "Lost The Way" teems with menace thanks to its repetitive organ stabs and twisted hi hats.
Review: Next up on Marco Faraone's Uncage label is Harvey McKay with an intense club techno release. The title track centres on a streamlined rhythm and niggling bursts of percussion, with these elements providing the backdrop for searing metallic riffs. On "Stranger", the veteran techno producer adds some detuned synth lines, but the central groove is still hard as nails, with bruising kick drums paired with insistent snares. Then there's "Scran": once again, it sees McKay draw from the minimal canon, but the breezy synths and snappy hi hats mean that, like the rest of the release, it has a distinct identity.
Review: Next up on Reinier Zonneveld's label is a 303-heavy dance floor compilation. The label owner sets the ball rolling with the pile-driving rhythm of "I Can't Sleep", which features wild rave stabs and repetitive vocal samples populating its pulsating acid lines. Roberto Capuano's "A Ray of Light" is more epic, with trance hooks accompanying an ominous bass, while there's also a trance influence on Beico's "Dear Loneliness". Meanwhile, the mood darkens on Harvey McKay's "Circular Dimension", a steely jacking affair that's inspired by 90s Chicago techno. Uto Karem's contribution ventures farther down the intensity route, with the Italian producer deploying pounding kicks and a growling bass on the relentless "Zero Gravity".
Review: Harvey McKay follows last year's Black Horse release on Filth On Acid with this excellent peak-time EP. The title track is a jacking affair that features a combination of epic synth builds, snare rolls and the well-known "something for your mind" vocal sample. On "Drugs", McKay opts for a different approach: dense tribal drums support piercing steely riffs that build and build throughout the arrangement, while "Indigo Girl" sees the Scottish producer choose a different approach. Underpinned by tough kicks and ticking percussion, McKay drops dubbed out chords and repetitive vocal samples that create a hypnotic effect
Review: This is your 2020 edition of Toolroom House Party! Included in this red hot package are 20 brand new and exclusive cuts from the likes of: KC Lights who serves up the funked-up tribal groove of "You & Me", boss man Mark Knight once again heralding the return of good ol' fashioned funky house on "If It's Love" featuring Laura Davie & The Melody Men, legend Sharam Jey with Andruss & Bob Musella on the tough rolling tech funk of "Rise On My Soul" and man of the moment Shiba San getting deep down and dirty on "Runnin' Roll". Elsewhere, Saved head honcho Nic Fanciulli teams up with Black Circle on the spiritual afro house epic "Leap Of Faith", rising Berliners Mat.Joe give us the neon-lit energy of "Off Ma Mind" and you can bet that the ever reliable D. Ramirez makes a contribution (alongside label chief Knight) on the euphoric "Colombian Soul" which is remixed by label staples Sllash & Doppe. Plus, three super-hot DJ mixes from Dombresky, the aforementioned KC Lights & Ben Remember.
Review: Glaswegian techno hero Harvey McKay has released on a who's who of labels of late, not limited to
Drumcode, Intec, Cocoon, Bedrock and Soma but appears here for Barcelona imprint Suara with the Never Forget EP. The title track really channels that raw peak time energy that he has had going for Adam Beyer's label; particularly on the furious title track in all its pounding/tunneling glory, complete with early '90s rave aesthetics. The breakdown on this one is really for the nostalgic and will appeal to fans of Special Request, Alan Fitzgerald or of course Shed. "Use Me" is even more fast faced but funky, with its steely drums, loopy vocals and grinding stabs: reminded us of classic Marco Carola and the Neapolitan sound, turn of the millennium. Finally "Stolen Forest" hammers the message, home going all guns blazing on this peak time monster: Let those dub chords before the drop hypnotize you before he unleashes the power: this one is a lethal weapon.
Review: While the Arches has sadly closed, that other great Glasgow institution, Soma, keeps on putting out great music. The label's latest project is Transmissions Glasgow, a compilation of 15 tracks from the city's producers. It is executed in much the same way as one of Slam's flawless DJ sets; beginning with the serene ambience of Edit Select's "iN1" and the fractured, slow-motion beats of Puddledub's "Circling", it moves into the deep, trance house of Dextrous "Station to Station". It wouldn't be a Soma compilation without some techno and this is provided by artists like Deepbass and the brilliantly named Complex Emotional Response, but as always, Slam's take on the form is deeply soulful and emotive, demonstrated here most impressively by Edit Select's percussive but mournful synth-led "Resurface".
