Review: Black Barrel's been a busy boi! Currently flexing on Dispatch and Headz, not to mention his hyperactive Leo Cap dubstep alias, this man's a machine and has been for some years now. The best thing is that the quality is always consistent. Four more cases in point: the hurricane soul and eerie emotion of 'Side That You Can't Hide', the rattling airy drums and subtle rave references of 'Love Line', the deep smouldering soul of 'New Era' and the timeless Soul:r style finale 'One Day'. There's no hiding from vibes like these.
Review: This is a proper dubstep release coming for your ears from Sub Audio, as they've gone down the always entertaining route of having two remixers do a rework of each track on a single. The originals this time around are from Soukah, who has crafted up two stunners. The first, Life Without Meaning' is built upon a gentle rise, a moonlit walk, up the mountains and into a world of fireflies and celestial arpeggios. It's a seriously vibey tune and it's done justice by Kodama on the remix, who stretches things out and gives it all that extra oomph in the kick drums. 'You Can Run Much Faster' is equally spooky, with eerie ambience coming from its whispered sample and stretched out piano notes, a vibe taken to extremes on Ourman's awesome, loping remix. Top work from the Sub Audio crew.
Review: Tristan Hallis brings his "progressive traditionalist" DJ Boring project to Running Back for the very first time. It's a big look for Gerd Janson's label and Hallis has duly delivered a quintet of treats in his now trademark style. 'Beautiful Strangers', a dreamy, tactile and bleeping chunk of pitched up vocal-sporting dancefloor bliss, kicks things off, before Hallis opts for a bouncier, piano-sporting vibe on the rushing peak-time joy of 'Can't Fix a Broken Heart'. There's more of a sub-heavy, garage-influenced swing to 'When I'm With You (featuring Jasoer Tygner)', while 'False Attraction' is a locked-in treat that boasts two lengthy, saucer-eyed breakdowns. Hallis rounds off another rock-solid EP via the lo-fi breaks of 'Memories Fade'.
Review: Given his productivity over the last four years, it's rather a surprise to find that "When You Find A Stranger In The Alps" is Mautits Verwoerd AKA Nachtbraker's debut album. Predictably, the sometime Heist Rand Dirt Crew producer is in fine form throughout, serving up an expansive, 13-track set that effortlessly flits between sparkling, melodious deep house floor fillers ("Flambo", "Randy"), reggae-tinged club tracks ("NSFW"), bouncy techno ("You Can't Run"), soul and disco-inspired mid-tempo shufflers ("The Dream Sequence", "Just Doing My Thing"), funk rock smashers ("Aliens") and a surprisingly large number of ambient interludes and MPC-driven beat-scapes. In other words, it ticks a lot of boxes whilst remaining enjoyable and entertaining throughout.
Review: Armada Music 20 Years Classics pays homage to dance music's rich history and aims to educate a new generation of fans about the artists who shaped the genre. There's classics galore on this one as you'd expect, with several bangers by label chief Armin Van Burren, in addition to seminal anthems such as Joe Smooth's "Promised Land", Inner City's "Good Life" (remastered), Chez Damier's "Can You Feel It" (New York extended dub) and Olav Basoski's "Waterman" (extended mix), as well as appearances by newer artists like ANOTR, Patrick Topping and Jan Blomquist.
Review: Mousse T's perennially popular German house label are containing their current compilation release frenzy with this new installment in the series that explores the deeper end of their tastes. Or, to be more specific, the tastes of Deepwerk who selects the album's pleasingly diverse tracklist. It's quite a journey, taking in stoned jazz-hop "Cosmic Surfin", the sublime deep house synth-fest of "Burn Baby Burn", soulful G-Funk (Warren G's "I Need A Light") and even Roachford, who returns from Alan Partridge-aided exile with "Work It Out".
Review: Katakana Edits first compilation, 2017's "Crate Diggin", was an epic collection of high-grade re-edits, mash-ups and reworks packed to the rafters with tried-and-tested dancefloor treats. This belated follow-up is even more epic, with the popular label squeezing in no less than 50 tracks that variously touch on riotous disco-funk, dub disco, new wave, disco-rock, deep funk, Afro-boogie, swamp funk, Latin beats, boogie, pitched-down chuggers, boogaloo, hip-hop and everything in between. You'd expect that standard to be high - it is a "best of" collection after all - and it is. If you need an instant armoury of scintillating club cuts, look no further.
Review: What a monsterous collection of creations we have here as we explore the full range of breakbeat influences, from slower, more clunky original creations, to garage inspired rollers and everything in-between. The sheer mass of this collection is one of it's immediate charms as we are gifted over 50 originals and remixes, each one bringing something unique to the table from a supporting cast including the likes of Origin8a & Propa, Benton, MKII, Deekline, Samurai Breaks and more. The constant changes of direction and expansionary sense of sonic inclusion are both big yesses from us, with our favourites including 9Trane's nostalgic bubbler 'Thuggish', next to the housey piano drives of Herve's 'Live Together' and the old school garage flavour of Matt Jam Lamont, Echelon & Tuff Culture, who join focus for 'Massive & Crew'. Tidy work indeed!
Review: The ever-dependable 'Katakana Edits' series rolls on, and while this latest installment might not win PECOE any deep diggin' brownie points, it does pack some very serviceable dancefloor-friendly reworks of classic cuts from days gone by. Leading the charge for this reviewer is 'Ice & Snow', which does unspeakable but very satisfactory things to Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song', but elsewhere you get a fresh take on 'Jingo', 'Grandmaster Mash' fuses 'White Lines' with chunks of the rap from 'The Message', while 'Bold Sister' revisits James Brown's 'Bold Soul Sister' - leaving only the 60s deep funk source for 'You Can't Hide' unidentified.
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