Review:
London producer Louie Anderson's career has been going from strength to strength since his remix of Breach's Jack blew up in 2013. Since then he's signed with Audio Rehab and became a resident in the main room of Ministry Of Sound. Now he's back with possibly his biggest hit to date, "One For Me", a lean and muscular housey roller with retro '90s nods and sultry guest vocals from The Voice UK's Emmy J Mac.
Review:
We all love a bit of mystery, which is no doubt part of the reason why duo Arrogant Guy have shot to success over the past few months. Not much is known on the pair, other than they are pretty handy at making club bangers. 'Golden Ticket' is an uplifting meets progressive affair, with the lead melody sticking in your head after just one listen and the simplistic arrangement with finely executed sounds giving plenty of space for melody to shine. Where this really triumphs, is the remix from Gung Ho signing Luke Walker, who really twists it up with quirky fills, drops, and a techno edge that will keep the crowds rocking.. This is wicked!
Review:
Production-wise 2012 was a quieter year for the once-ubiquitous Bar 9 boys, but it seems they're back. And they're at their most bombastic. "What You Gonna Do" (a rhetorical question, by the way) is a layered tease-up that builds and builds with glitch and savage grace. "Before The Storm" adds a head-turning 4/4 to halfstep vibe as we rock and sway from woozy piano massages to crazed warped riffery. Massive.
Review:
Readers of a certain age will immediate spot the reference to The Neverending Story in this new Dutch duo's chosen moniker, Bastian & Atreyu. The "GEM" part apparently stands for "Generation Evolving Music". While this all may sound a bit woolly and progressive, "I Feel You Near Me" is a much more straightforward affair. Featuring an attractive, hooky melody riding over a stomping contemporary deep house beat, punctuated by occasional blasts of carnival percussion and a woozy male vocal, it has all the makings of a serious club hit. For those who find the vocal a bit much to stomach, there's also an excellent Dub, which makes more of the sweaty percussion builds and trance-like melody.
Review:
The latest instalment of Modeselektor's peerless 50 Weapons project sees two US producers going head to head on this seventh single. LA's Elan lays down some sparkling instrumental hip-hop, in the vein of his previous Mdslktr-approved "Pussy Posse" track, but this time the beats are slower and raw, while the melodies come via some brilliantly wonky chords and gorgeous floating pads. FaltyDL however continues his recent run of NYC-meets-LDN future garage, with "Large Flash" boasting some seriously impressive snares and heavy subs a la SBTRKT or Bok Bok. Two more highly essential tunes.
Review:
Hooking up with East London grime collective Ruff Sqwad, here represented by Fuda Guy and chart-straddling Tinchy Stryder, Blame drops a smooth summer anthem with "On My Own". With the original marrying the rhymes and choruses sung by Alex Mills to an electro tempo beat, it's both catchy and likely to make you shake on a dancefloor. But even better are some tight mixes - a stomping D&B mix by Blame and also a fiery dubstep mix by the legendary Drumsound and Bassline. Expect to hear this played out in all its different guises very soon.
Review:
Broken Youth are poetic in their origins- claiming their musical ethos draws on many influences, which is what you'd expect when half of them (DJ Benz) moonlights in the excellent Hot City. Together with production partner Sam Tee, the Broken Youth style is unveiled in suitably boisterous fashion with a bassline update of 90s classic "Dreamer." Already getting plenty of airtime on Miss Annie Mac's Radio One show, it's likely you will be hearing this throughout the Summer. Welcome Broken Youth
Review:
According to London label New State, Paul Harris and Steve Smith of Dirty Vegas have really enjoyed the process of putting together Days Go By (The Retrospective). They have gone back over their work and picked out some of their favourites over the years - a whopping 18 tracks, 19 remixes and a continuous mix by Harris. Speaking of the remixes: the Dumont & Wagener remix of "Human Love" gets onto an emotive and Balearic tinged trip, the remix of "Electric Love" by NYC house hero Eli Escobar remix gets well funky, and the always impressive Parisian Fred Falke delivers a typically neon-lit rendition of "Emma" from several years back. Along the way, while searching through music, video and photographic archives it has brought back lots of memories for the duo - and given them new energy and inspiration for their future music plans.
Review:
Bristol talent Dr Meaker has been rising through the D&B ranks for some years now, but this exhaustive package on New State looks set to be one of his finest moments to date; featuring the soulful vocals of Romaine Smith, "Don't Think It's Love" is a piece of rolling D&B fit for the top 40. The remixes accompanying (all nine of them including instrumentals!) are comprehensive to say the least; we have screface D&B from Mind Vortex, bassy house from Real Connoisseur, deep house inflected dubstep from Typesun, neon UK funky from Jus Now, a 90s house style rerub from TS7 and peak time electro house from Bitrocka - pretty much something for everyone!
