Jack Johnson (Byron The Aquarius remix) - (5:26) 124 BPM
Illegal Love - (3:33) 120 BPM
Unforgivable Blackness - (3:51) 101 BPM
Review: A few months ago, Shall Not Fade teased Jaymie Silk's arrival at the Bristol-based imprint by chucking one of his tracks on its' fifth anniversary compilation. Now the popular West Country imprint has gone a step further a served up an entire EP from the fast-rising Montreal producer. It's an accomplished outing all told, with Silk bouncing between extra-percussive broken beat/breakbeat funk ('Knock You Down'), sub-heavy jazz-house brilliance ('Jack Johnson'), piano-sporting, soul-flecked analogue house haziness ('Illegal Love') and heart-aching electronic soul ('Unforgivable Blackness', where he sings of 'doing his best to stay alive'). The obligatory remix comes courtesy of Byron The Aquarius, who smartly re-imagines 'Jack Johnson' as a more strident slab of jazzy deep house excellence.
Review: While it may have been designed to reflect the evolving nature of the label's sound over the last half-decade, Shall Not Fade's fifth anniversary compilation is nevertheless packed to the rafters with previously unheard treats. It begins with a techno-tempo blast of garage-influenced deep house warmth from DJOKO and ends with the dark, squelching and ghostly bounce of Dart's 'Transformations'; in between, you'll find 19 more reasons to be cheerful with plenty of serious dancefloor chops. Undisputed highlights include the crunchy, head-nodding pleasure of GVRL's instrumental hip-hop jam 'Love Game', the angular and acid spiked tech-breaks of Harrison BDP's 'The Powerful Play', the drowsy deep house dreaminess of Mutual Attraction's 'MPC Live Track 1' and the rushing rave revivalism of Baltra's killer re-fix of Earth Boys' 'I'm Not Afraid'.
