Review: As the title suggests, this epic collection gathers together a bumper selection of remixes of tracks from Damian Lazarus and the Ancient Moons' sophomore set, "Heart of Sky". There's naturally plenty of floor-focused fare throughout, with highlights including Emanual Satie's moody, rumbling revisions of "All I Need To Get High", Butch's shuffling tech-house versions of the same track, Serge Devant's analogue bass-propelled peak-time take of "Feedback Loop" and La Fleur's urgent, faintly foreboding and wonderfully percussive Dub of "Five Moons". There are further high quality "big name" revisions courtesy of Black Coffee, Jamie Jones and Luciano, while Mad Professor's ludicrously heavy dub reggae re-makes of "Feedback Loop" offer intriguing, sofa friendly diversions.
Review: Given his track record and impressive credentials, we were rather surprised to discover that the "Worthless EP" marks Argy's Crosstown Rebels label debut. The title is, of course, tongue-in-cheek, because there's nothing worthless about the killer cuts on show. In fact, the title track is one of Argy's most instantly ear-catching workouts for a while, with the action focused on a crunchy, distorted drum track, rubbery bass guitar, whispered spoken word samples ("I feel worthless... I'm living on the edge") and just the right amount of dystopian noises. Elsewhere, "La Vida" is a crusty chunk of lo-fi jacking funk, while "Get Ready" is a low-slung early morning Warehouse roller.
Review: We've always been big fans of Delroy Edwards, something which you've probably picked up on given the man's storming podcast for us a few years back. But, we don't only rate his music; we love his attitude and the way in which he's gone about releasing material through his own LA Club Resource imprint. Whether it be grainy, maladjusted techno or noise and distorted juke, he has managed to build a concrete sound aesthetic for himself. Moreover, we love the fact that he's waited until now to drop his debut album instead of going in too early and risking to dilute his talents because of pressure from the scene of which he's part of, a scene which expects instant gratification and albums from the start. Hanging At The Beach has been described by Edwards himself as the most personal work he's done to date, and it truly sounds like the artist has space to play and get his mood across correctly throughout its thirty cuts. These range from his signature house sound, through to lo-Fi drum machine sketches and fine segments of power electronics. This one comes hugely recommended, so just hit that DL button.
Review: Hungarian producer Sunny Lax is one of Above & Beyonds great discoveries, signing him up many moons ago to the Anjunabeat empire, and staying a firm fixture in their ranks ever since. Labels like Monster, and AVA soon followed and for the latest he joins the Black Hole camp, via the Songbird imprint. 'Viva La Revolution' is as epic in sound as the title would suggest, with a plethora of soaring melodies filling the soundscape and lifting the euphoria levels to a whole new dimension. The fidgety percussion and rolling bass-line give it plenty of drive to stand out even in a tech trance set. The deeper and more downbeat 'Something Is Broken' on the flip is less obvious, yet still carrying musical depth to turn heads.
