Review: Mella Dee has described this EP as his take on 'Tech-House'. While all four tracks do feature house beats that roll along at a house tempo, it's a far more fun, forthright and hook-driven affair - as you'd expect from the master of "heaters and panel beaters" - than 99.9% of purist tech-house EPs. In other words, it's a club focused Mella Dee record, and all four tracks are bangers. For proof, check the bassline house, organ bassline-driven sweatiness of 'Cutting Snakes (Keep On Moving)', the deliciously sleazy analogue bass and crunchy beats of 'Bumps (You Say)', the broken house dirtiness of 'Cutters (They Don't Get It)' (a track that recalls the similar SoYo filth of Ross Orton and Winston Hazel's SuPaFiX project), and the Mood II Swing-meets-UKG flex of 'Pay No Mind (Who Am I)'.
Review: Next up on Trust is Mella Dee with a raw, analogue release. "Static Movement" is a stripped back affair. Led by a wiry rhythm and microscopic bleepy tones, it's redolent of 90s minimal house. Remaining in that vein, "Niche" is built around a clanging groove and insistent, rasping percussion. It wouldn't sound out of place in Minus' pre-mnml catalogue. "Live Inside The Ride" sees Dee pick up the pace. At the heart of the track is an insistent synth stab, with the arrangement powered by rasping percussion. Rounding off the release is "Groove One". Underscored by a rolling groove and deft filters, it's a subtle but impactful techno tool.
Review: Warehouse Music boss Ryan Aitchison aka Mella Dee has previously stated that the early days of South Yorkshire's rave scene in the '90s - particularly around his hometown of Doncaster - has had a lasting influence. It is this dedication to preserving the zetigets of UK electronic music's heyday which has found him a fitting home on current 'it' label Shall Not Fade - the London based operation being absolutely obsessed with all things retro. For the Not Here To Make Friends EP, Mella Dee channels the spirit of Jeff Mills seminal early releases on the banging techno of "Heavy Coupla Weeks" and particularly The Wizard's Waveform Transmissions series on the strobe lit energy of "Spring" (420 mix) while "Run That" heads further south by looking to Birmingham's influence (namely that of Regis and Surgeon) with its pounding cyclicality.
Review: Owain Kimber's Innate imprint may only be a few releases strong, but its split EPs mean that it has become a go-to label for soulful electronic music. This fourth edition is no exception, and it starts with the atmospheric downtempo soundscapes of Aroy Dee's "Leegte". Frequent Innate contributor Gilbert impresses with the esoteric, acid-soaked electro of "Furthest Planet", the kind of track one would expect to hear from Cignol or Lost Trax. Meanwhile, on "Venusian Surface", Jonski serves up free-flowing, emotive deep techno, and DJ Guy closes out Innate 04 with the dense drums and atmospheric tones of "Aphelion Orbit".
Review: It's always an exciting moment to see a new Lobster Theremin drop land in the store, with this latest catalogue addition proving once again why the label holds so much respect from within the breaks community. Jai Dee is on production duty with a killer intro on 'Coming Up Again', a vibrant display of distant drum slides and windy synthesizer sweeps, before euphoria sets in with 'Tears In Your Voice', a homemade to hardcore, stuffed full of electric chord progressions for good measure. From here, the rave feel only intensifies as 'We Can Have It All' unveils more feel good harmonic structure and glittering drum design, getting even the sturnest party-goer up and onto the dancefloor, before 'Hold Love By The Hand' puts the final touches onto the project and rounding it off with a colourful, expressive bang. Lovely work!
Review: Perc Trax launches a new split release series with a difference. All of the tracks on Forever 1 have been tested in clubs by label owner Ali 'Perc' Wells', and it shows. Manni Dee's "Gulabi Gang" is a ferocious stomper, led by concrete weight kicks and wild metallic riffs, while on Rebekah's "Diamond in the Rough", visceral drums, noisy percussion and white noise riffs prevail. The label has also tapped Scalameriya for a track and "Slobodna" resounds to broken percussion, noisy betas and a searing central riff that fades in and out, causing a sense of disorientation. Last but not least is John Heckle's Head Front Panel project with the aptly named "Furious", a malevolent slice of early Mills-influenced, dense techno.
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