Review: Fresh from a first appearance on Weapons, Space Jump debuts on Pets Recordings. The Birmingham producer hits the ground running with 'Make It', a driving, funk-fuelled tough house romp full of undulating bass, squirrelly synth stabs, kaleidoscopic melodies and early 2000s flourishes. Liverpool newcomers Matrefakt re-cast the cut as a swinging, sub-heavy blast of boogie-house badness before Space Jump returns to round off proceedings with 'Take Me Back'. This one is a touch darker and moodier than 'Make It', with driving beats and weighty bass topped off with restless riffs, cut-up samples and the kind of foreboding spoken word samples that reminded us of Sound Factory-era Junior Vasquez.
Review: When it comes to effervescent, exciting, party-starting club cuts, few producers can match the track record of Chrissy Shively. The San Francisco-based Chicago exile is at his energetic best on the So Electrifying EP, his first outing for Pets Recordings. The title track is a high-grade disco-house jam that's as celebratory as they come, while 'Aww Baby' sees him cunningly combine sleazy analogue house, rave stabs and disco samples to devastating effect. Accompanying Shively's original versions are two remixes: a stomping, harder-edged, acid-powered disco-house rework of 'So Electrifying' by VONDA7, and a wonderfully sleazy, pitched down acid-disco revision of 'Aww Baby' courtesy of the Carry Nation. Terrific stuff!
Review: Fresh from releasing his first single of 2021 -the rather good 'Looking Through Windows' on Sounds Good Sound - Leeds lad Last Magpie pitches up on Pets Recordings with arguably his highest profile EP to date. He gets things started with 'Clocks', an attractive chunk of woozy, warm and shuffling deep house sunshine, before reaching for even hazier chords and sparkling, sunnier synths on the similarly opaque and enjoyable 'Lessons'. 'Seconds' sees him subtly doff a cap to both contemporary tech-house and Snivilisation-era Orbital - all echoing melodic elements, chunky bass and dubby house beats - while closing cut 'Reality' is the kind of picturesque, piano-laden delight that we'd normally expect to hear from the All Day I Dream label.
Review: Drum and bass fans unite with the inception of Nowheretobefound on Pets Recordings who welcome the Arrival EP from Polish drum and bass producer turned dub techno, house and percussive progressionist, Nowheretobefound. Across five-tracks the producer delivers a pop, UKG and trance-like sound with deep arpeggio numbers shining like stars in "Existence" next to the dubby and minimal groove train that is "Arrival". Breathy '90s pop, UKG, soul and house elements are poured into the trance vocal number "Giving Up", with "Hard Times" installed as this EP's filtered down piano ballad next to the stripped back and ultimate B-side cut "Error". A new direction into the deep for an artist best known for his music on labels such as Lenzman's The North Quarter and Artificial Intelligence's Integral.
Review: When lockdown hit earlier in the year, Catz 'N' Dogz were still basking in the positive feedback that greeted the release of their fourth studio album, "Friendship". With all of their gigs cancelled, they chose to use the quarantine period to record a follow-up. "Moments" is an intriguing proposition, not least because it deftly displays their growing musical dexterity. It features only a handful of dreamy, drowsy, dancefloor-focused cuts (see bluesy shuffler "Memories", the soulful and jazzy deep house workout "Time", and tech-tinged soundscape house closer "Tomorrow"), with the rest of the album mixing up dusty, trip-hop style beats, bittersweet downtempo grooves, slo-mo Balearic house and jazzy, hard-to-pigeonhole inspirations. As a result, it's their most mature and quietly impressive set to date.
Review: 2019 was a massive year for Pets Recordings with an impressive late run of releases from artists like Truncate, Mathias Kaden and Psychemagik. Belgian producer Beton opens the Polish label's 2020 account with this Dockside single, some three years after his debut opus via Pets Recordings back in 2017. Launching his own label Trek U that same year, with a release on Twin Turbo in 2018, too, Beton resurfaces with the sound of breaks and nostalgic rave in "Dockside", with its raw kick drum and liquid bass a super combi alongside playful synths and melodies. "Transmodal" on the flip looks towards old school trance and breaks again with touches of acid and cathedral atmospheres in this snare-heavy trip through the abyss.
Review: Fresh from the release of a sought-after salvo on Poker Flat, Joyce Muniz pitches up on Pets Recordings for the very first time. The Vienna-based DJ/producer is in throbbing space disco mode on ear-catching opener "Glass Mistress", clothing a surging, Italo-disco style arpeggio bassline in snappy drum machine beats, trippy backwards vocal snippets, glacial chords and intergalactic electronic melodies. "Trapped" is a more low-slung, bass-heavy chunk of analogue house/electro-disco fusion blessed with some suitably sharp and foreboding rave stabs, while "Naughty Party" offers a jauntier and cheekier take on synthesizer-driven nu-disco rich in quirky drum machine percussion and robotic vocal snippets.
Review: Dalfie follows last year's Can't Think Right Now release on Pets with another dance floor-primed EP. "FJ" is sure to get a floor moving thanks to its combination of growing bass, acid spirals and what sounds like a sample of a dog barking. Powered by a series of irresistible builds, it's a subtle but hugely effective dance floor bomb. "R Rated" sees Dalfie opt for a somewhat different approach: the groove is straighter and pulsates to the sound of a buzz saw bass. Factor in some subtle drops that provide space for subtle vocal snippets and it's clear that Dalfie's tunes are as appealing as the EP's title suggests.
Review: Shockingly, 19 years have passed since Renato Cohen lighted up dancefloors with his Brazilian techno classic "Pontape". Little he has released since has enjoyed the same level of success as that colossal cut, but he continues to serve up some seriously good music. Here he makes his bow on Pets Recordings with a four-tracker that looks to Giorgio Moroder, Italo-disco and 80s electro-funk for inspiration. He hits the ground running with the rolling, arpeggio-fired Italo-disco funkiness of "Lone Ranger", before wrapping fizzing electronic motifs, Hi-NRG style synth stabs and a squelchy electro bassline around nu-disco drums on "Bismuth". Elsewhere, "Deocleciana" is a delicious blend of crunchy beats, cowbells and warehouse-ready riffs, while Jennifer Cardini's remix of "Bismuth" turns the track into a muscular, Patrick Cowley style slammer.
Review: Kevin Dennis Pierre aka Demuir out of Toronto is a legend of the scene with a discography that dates back 20 years. An OG house gangster, his music in recent times has hooked up with the likes of DJ Sneak and Cassy with other releases making their way to Yoruba, Robsoul, Desolat and most recently in 2019, Hot Creations. Now for Catz n Dogz' Pets Recordings in 2020 he drops the three-track Black Soul + Techno EP. Channelling a hardcore acid and Detroit styled techno edge comparable to the work of Blake Baxter, Demuir's "Something Inside Of Me" delivers a tunneling, bass heavy, grooving techno burner. With an extra dub version to boot, "Black Kids Love Techno" then looks towards trippy touches of bleeps and mind bending synths in a banging b-side alternative.
Review: Since bursting on to the scene in the mid 20-teens, Spanish producer Nicson has only put out a handful of releases. This expansive EP on Pets Recordings is not only his first solo single for two years, but also his most high profile to date. He begins by joining forces with Dixie Yure on the wonky, low-slung delight that is "I'm In Love" - all slack-tuned, live-sounding drums, heady bass, fizzing synth riffs and angular electronic motifs - before layering up samples on the dense and forthright house jam "Destiny Dancer". Elsewhere, "Sampled Soap" is a drowsy, locked-in deep house jam, "Warehousing" is a warm and blissful tribute to turn-of-the-90s Italian house and "No Way Dream" is a lusciously hazy and melodious number underpinned by jacking, Chicago style drums.
Review: Dark, sinuous grooves are the order of the day on this latest EP from Rostock, Germany native Rydim, which comes on Catz N Dogz's Pets Recordings label. 'Fomo' itself starts out with an extended drummy intro, then introduces the slinky, twisting bass synth riff that forms the track's main hook, wihch is joined by some acidic burblings and then mutates into a second, arpeggiated riff. It's a cut that'd work on house and techno floors alike whereas Johannes Albrecht's remix is a more straight-up acid houser, while there's more retro acid flava to be found on 'Fairlight', which comes complete with suitably spangly 80s synths.
