Review: Hassler is a recently launched alternative alias of COYU, a producer who has long sat towards the top of the Spanish techno pecking order. There's plenty to get the blood pumping on his first two-track outing for Catz N Dogz Pets Recordings label, not least breathless and pumping tribal house opener 'You Got Me', where densely layered percussion, restless sub-bass thrusts and wickedly chopped and effects-laden female voca; samples catch the ear. It's a guaranteed all-action winner all told, but arguably that track that follows, 'Samba Love Boat', is even better. Re-wiring his beats to include samba style Latin percussion while reaching for a deep, addictive bassline, it's the kind of sturdy and sweat-soaked tribal workout that was once the preserve of fellow 'Iberican' producers Chus & Ceballos.
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.
