Review: Jappa is in this game to do serious damage to the eardrums of those who listen and this single seems like it was made with that objective in mind. The first tune, 'Keep On Movin' is clean and sparse in the drums which lends extra clarity to the bassline, an elongated expression of moodiness with a quality injection of additional bounce. 'Back To Life' strikes a similar chord but does so with more vigour, a haunting sample fills up the highs whilst a driving back end pushes the track forwards with pace and momentum. Big EP.
Review: Born On Road roll into a new decade in style as Lupo & Jappa join the fray with this savage slab of darkness. Groaning basslines, soundsystem vibes and subtle MC chatter; "Nuff Girl" hits every spot you need it to. It's backed by more heavy artillery: "Flee" now comes in VIP form with its trippy staccato bass burps, Lupo goes solo on the super-spooked out "Minefield" while Jappa closes down the show with M-Tek on "Tuff". Absolute murderation.
Review: Nuusic are a fairly new label that really don't mess around and their output tends to land on the tougher, more dancefloor orientated end of the spectrum. Akuma by Teej and featuring Jappa, Disrupta and Riko Dan continues that trend, with four big cuts that are definitely set to blow up the dance. 'Akuma' has a distinctly Serum vibe to it, with a stuttering jungle break and a warped, stabby bassline that contorts itself around every corner of the range. 'War Cry' takes things more rolling with a wicked, snapping snare and a wobbling wall of sine basses to back it up, bringing a lovely clean feeling that's also on '16 Speakers'. Wicked.
Review: Jungle Cakes always tend to put out music that rests on the foundations of UK underground, the cross-over influences of soul, reggae, jungle and D&B. it's always a fresh sound and it always brings up connotations of Boomtown, free parties and sunny afternoons. This is a monster album curated by Aries and Kelvin 373, who have taken tracks both old and new to form a banging compilation. Bou nails it on 'Music Takes Me Higher', a rustic revisit to classic jungle sounds; Aries and Nicky Blackmarket roll things out in a tight way on 'Champion'; and Chimpo slams the brakes on 'DidDieDoThat'. We don't know the answer to that, but we do know this is fat. Big ups.
Review: Bag it, tag it, tell you mum about it; the B&T massive put together this 15 track collection to celebrate the label's 15th release and it's an all-out showcase of tomorrow's finest talent. Highlights fire from all sides; Ben Snow's 'Fire Iron' is a grunting staccato session of pure savagery, Refracta brings NFM-style melted bass to the fray on 'Embrace', Dunk & Teej get all mobster on us with 'Soprano', Parallel does his old school slap-about thing on 'Communications' and KL's 'Tension' is strong enough to blast us into the 23rd century. Pack your bags and your tags, you've pulled m8.
