Review: Rockstar Games presents the next EP release from their collaborative record label project with nightlife icons CircoLoco. NEZ has garnered a reputation for his unique sound that draws inspiration from his hometown of Chicago with the sounds and style of L.A, blending house, hip-hop, R&B, and electro elements into his sound. This EP includes a trio of tracks that Grand Theft Auto Online players might recognise, such as the bass-driven house shuffle of "You Wanna?", the urban beats and lyrical flow of "Let's Get It" featuring ScHoolboy Q (who he collaborated with on "Man of the Year") and the deep, down and dirty groove of "Freaks" featuring the legendary Moodymann and Gangsta Boo.
Review: CircoLoco Records is a new record label forged in partnership with the iconic video game creators Rockstar Games. After four editions of colour coded releases, we now have the entire collection of 20 tracks compiled here in one package. From the Black edition there's the tunneling techno of Adam Beyer's powerful "Break It Up", from the Violet edition you have Margaret Dygas' majestic broken beat journey "Wishing Well", TINI with the neon-lit disco of "What If, Then What?" featuring Amiture (Green) and Sama Abdulhadi with the steely and hypnotic techno of "Reverie" taken from the Blue series - plus many more.
Review: 14 years have passed since Benji B and Judah established their monthly Deviation parties in London. This fine compilation celebrates the club's legacy and sound, which famously touched on all manner of soul-fired musical styles whilst keeping one eye (and both feet) on the dancefloor, with Benj B selecting cuts that never failed to rock the party. Expect a mixture of skewed, bass-heavy beats (Dorian Concept, James Blake, 00Genesis), heady instrumental hip-hop (Waajeed, Damn Funk remixing Baron Zen), Afro-funk (K Fimpong), peak-time UK bass mutations (Pearson Sound, Martyn, Mala), high-grade deep house (Gilb'r remixing Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish) and a smattering of genuine scene anthems (Detroit Experiment, Maurice Fulton's remix of Alice Smith, DJ SPen presents DJ Technic).
Review: It would be fair to say that Studio K7 has pulled off something of a coup in getting Kenny Dixon Jr. to agree to compile and mix the latest installment in the long-running DJ Kicks series. It is, somewhat remarkably, the legendary Detroiter's first commercially available mix set. This triple-vinyl edition features a whopping 19 cuts - all in unmixed form - from the 30 track mix. Musically, it's a blazed, jazzy, soulful and groovy as you'd expect, and contains a mixture of downtempo beats, nu-jazz and hazy house cuts from the likes of Flying Lotus, Dopehead, Peter Digital Orchestra, Nightmares On Wax, Soulful Session and Lady Alma.
Review: Vibes New & Rare Music 2 reaches its conclusion here as Rush Hour drop the second and final helping of the Rick Wilhite-curated compilation with a suitably high profile cast of contributors involved. If you checked Part One which dropped earlier this year, you'll know Wilhite has expanded the remit to include producers from Chicago and New York - and if you didn't check it what's wrong with you! Any compilation that starts with an exclusive cut from Moodymann is gonna be good, and the dusty, disjointed "Momma" sets the tone quality wise for what follows. The Godson himself delivers a thunderous, stripped back take on "A Matter of Honour" by Sean Tate and this dukes it out with the apocalyptic electro of DJ Stingray and the rugged beatdown of Orlando Voorn as our favourites from this great collection.
