Review: Over the last few years, Martin 'Atjazz' Iveson has spent a fair amount of time mentoring Peacey, a young producer with oodles of talent. That much is proved by the rising star's expansive debut album, a superb 16-track set that combines sizzling colo cuts with a string of inspired collaborations. The Edinburgh-based artist sets his stall out via the luscious horn arrangements and immersive ambient electronics of 'Play It By Ear', before drifting between head-nodding R&B loveliness (Oveous hook-up 'Love In The Forest'), sensual and seductive, soul-flecked deep house ('Hold Me Back' with Clyde and Atjazz), mid-tempo boogie-soul ('Playground' with Rona Ray), dubby and dreamy downtempo grooves ('Last Night's Dream'), deep and techy, spoken word-sporting dancefloor workouts ('Culture Bandit' with Vanessa Hidary) and jazz-funk influenced excellence (LaRoye collab 'In The Distance').
Review: Monty Luke's Nightdubbing project on Rekids was designed to showcase the Black Catalogue boss's deep love of dub-infused house and techno. This 13-track album combines previously unheard cuts with nine tracks previously showcased across a pair of EPs of the same name. It's a fantastic set all told, with highlights including the smacked-out electro-dub headiness of opener '40 Acres and a Terrabyte', the extra-percussive deep dub-house hypnotism of 'Bob Molly', the after-hours friendly minimalism of 'Star Storms', the Detroit-goes-dub techno pulse of 'New World/Old Future', the classic dub techno warmth of 'Dark Paradise', and the dub-wise deep house dreaminess of 'Avantgarde Dancehall'. Throw in a handful of tidy ambient and digital dub tracks, and you have a genuinely superb long-player.
Review: Ed Upton has long been one of British dance music's most prolific producers, with his latest album on Hypercolour - the typically vibrant Spiral Dance - marking his 24th full-length excursion as DMX Krew since 1996. Its' 13 tracks are typically vivid, inventive and entertaining, with the Bedford-born producer rushing between intergalactic electro ('Always Hats'), sub-heavy UK techno futurism (the bleep-influenced 'Bathtime Bobby'), house-tempo dancefloor IDM ('Spiral Dance'), Spacetime Continuum style ambient techno (the chill-out room friendly 'Back To '92'), synth-laden analogue cheeriness ('Is This Normal'), heady beat-free soundscapes ('Hammer Slowly Forming'), early Autechre style electronica ('Ankle Grinder') and sweaty acid house ('FM Assembly').
Review: Dombrance has spent the last few years making music inspired by imaginary French politicians of the 1960s, '70s and '80s. To round of the project, he's pitched up on Discolypso to share the final two tracks - and a wealth of remixes. 'Bayou' is a certified throb-job in which alien-sounding synths and heady vocalisations rise above a pulsating, Italo-disco groove, while 'Cope' is a darker, techno-tempo workout rich in analogue electronics and driving grooves. There are too many remixes to mention them all, but our picks include Lindstrom's breezy, electrofunk-influenced Norse disco take on 'Bayou', Baldelli and Dionigi's hybrid dub disco/Afro-cosmic take on the same track and Francois K's suspenseful, stretched-out, slow-build revision of 'Cope'. Throw in a deliciously druggy, Italo-disco-goes-rave revision of the same cut by Diskjokke, and you have a genhinely brilliant package.
Review: It's been slowly drip-fed to us over a 10-month period but now here at last is the full album. On 'Something Like That', Jalapeno bosses Skeewiff celebrate 25 years in the game by paying tribute to some of the music that's inspired them, delivering generally very faithful but also very accomplished reworks of classic tracks by artists ranging from The Winstons and Jimmy Smith to Dick Dale and Herb Alpert. New additions to the roster on this final version include Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made For Walking', Muppets 'Mah Na Mah Na', Mel Tormé's Mod club standard 'Coming Home Baby' and, just to prove they're not taking themselves TOO seriously, Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax' - better known to most as the 'Benny Hill' theme.
Review: Acid house in sound but punk in nature, the title of Paranoid London's new album is a reference to "the cavalcade of c***s we find ourselves surrounded by". However, while there is despair there is also hope, and this long player is testament to the power of underground music. Arseholes...also demonstrates the importance of collaboration. Bobby Gillespie croons his way through the gentle tones of "People (Ah Yeah)". At the other end of the sonic spectrum, Joe Love and DJ Genesis feature on the gnarly, 303-led grooves of "Love One Self" and "Up Is Down" respectively. Somewhere between these polar opposites sits the evocative Chicago house sound of "Start To Fade" with Josh Caffe and Mutado Pintado's sonorous vocals on the pulsating "The Motion". Paranoid London proves yet again that when confronted by a***holes, music really is the only answer.
Review: Joseph Price has been serving up solid (and sometimes sensational) fare as Third Son for the best part of a decade, showcasing his wares on labels including Cajual Records, Unknown To The Unknown, Stil Vor Talent and 17 Steps. Here Price makes his belated bow on Lost Palms via a mini-album containing eight tried-and-tested treats. Check first the sparkling, melody rich title track 'If You Remember The 90s You Weren't There', a bouncy fusion of vintage progressive house cheeriness, sun-splashed deep house and nods to the classier end of mid-90s trance, before admiring the joyous melodic techno of 'Wisdom of the Crowd' and the warehouse-ready headiness of 'Posing For Pictures When It's a Video'. We also recommend the 'Erotic Discourse'-esque wonkiness of 'Descartes Before The Horse'.
Review: This 2024 reissue of an all time and much love classic Raumgleiter by Der Dritte Raum presents an exceptional concept trance album that remains ahead of its time, defying the stigma once and sometimes attached to the genre. Highlighting tracks like "Hale Bopp" and "Polarstern," which made waves in big rooms at the time, the real gem lies in "Lava," transitioning seamlessly from acid builds to progressive trance, which then leads perfectly into "Hale Bopp." Der Dritte Raum's hypnotic beats and catchy melodies went far to transport listeners to other dimensions back in the day, and a fresh 2024 re-up does the same thing- groundbreaking stuff for trance enthusiasts.
Review: Twenty-three years since he initially released Dispatches on his own Geophone imprint, Mike Parker's debut album gets a timely reissue on Field. Listening to his debut album is a reminder of how it remains the corner stone for much contemporary techno. Parker's use of sparse rhythms is audible throughout, as is the cavernous, at times all-encompassing sound scapes he designed. While there are references to some previous techno canons - a hint of Plastikman acid in places, or echoes of Sahko's repetition - Dispatches really is in a field of its own. That it manages to still sound not just relevant but also revelatory is testament to Parker's unique talent.
Review: Seb Zito has touched down with a truly fiery collection here as he unveils this brand new Dialled In LP, coming to us courtesy of the fantastic Seven Dials imprint. Featuring 9 original thumpers, we get to explore a wide range of garage and underground dance flavours here, from the nostalgic 4x4 bass notation of 'Back Again' and glittering synthesiser sweeps of 'Magic Arp', to the more abstract ideas contained in and around 'Who Created House' For us, the highlights across this top quality collection have to include both the ecstasy inducing synthesiser runs of 'Want More', along with the fidget-like bass designs of 'Take It Easy'. Top stuff.
Review: Murder He Wrote straight out of Manchester brings a second version to his self titled 'Murder He Wrote' collection of tracks and bangers. Where the first compilation took in some production highlights that dated back to 2016, part two brims with two brand spanking new originals in "Tweet" and "Frozen", while the six others have all been lifted from the guy's massive Roska Kicks & Snares back cat. It provides a step back from the vocal heavy tunes from the producer of late, with the MHW returning to his roots in sub-bass, drums and percussion fully designed for the club.
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