Review: South African Warrick Sony is a ground breaking composer who was behind the Kalahari Surfers project which now gets a vital spotlight courtesy of Emotional Rescue. This compilation shows how effortlessly eclectic his sound was, from jive rhythms to jazz, tabla to political speeches and much more in between. A Hindu pacifist who was once conscripted into the South African Defense Force, he founded this group as a way out getting his ides out there, calling on other musicians as and when he needed them. It was the first radical white anti-apartheid pop in South Africa and as this vital collection shows it explored polyrhythms, slow motorik, dub sound collage and even a goofy cover of Nancy Sinatra.
Review: If you're worried about producers spending too long in their studios and not getting enough fresh air, or producers inappropriately dressing for an occasion, then save those thoughts for another artist as Agro is most definitely okay: he's currently out on the piste and he's most definitely wearing the correct gear as 'Ski Mask' will get those cheeks nice and warm with every slope-bound slap. Elsewhere 'Murk Nothing' wriggles and rants with the energy and mischief of a young Tyke, 'Porridge' will heat you up with its sludge, warm oaty vibes while 'Scum' closes on an ice cold vibe. Wrap up warm from face to foot.
Review: Vibe Chemistry applies the science once again as his Make Your Era laboratory welcomes another chemical solution: Medicine. Having broken through on Diligent Fingers' Spynal in 2022, Medicine has since gone on to smash it on Kingdom and Gorilla Warfare and is now already at debut album level with 'The Line'. Hitting all the right spots, the album is a full trip into the heart of the dancefloor with naughty ravey numbers like 'Take Me Up', big vocal cuts such as 'Let Me Go Now' and sexy, sweaty weapons like 'Make It Rain' and plenty of heaters in between. High recommended. Follow 'The Line'!
Review: The most prolific man in drum & bass, Conrad Subs returns to Ray Keith's Dubplate Dread for the first time since 2020 with a humungous wedge of wallopers. Seven cuts in total, each one of them tailored for those magic 3am moments, big moments range from the gruesome growls and grizzles of 'Octavirus' to the pure raucous shreds and slaps of the title track 'Real Dread', a cut which really does live up to its name. Oh boy, this could well be Conrad Subs' mightiest EP so far, which is really saying something. Real talk.
Review: Selecta! Sub-liminal bossman Agro rolls his sleeves up and gets stuck into his label vaults, drawing out persys and reminding us just how on it his label has been since morning. Ranging from the twisted bass bubbles and trippy warped sounds of Warhead's 'Tread Carefully' to the interplanetary bleep drama and sweet bubbling subs of Kumo's 'Trick Shot', Agro is explicitly telling us how versatile and timeless his label has always been. With some of these cuts going back to the 2016/17, he's proved it. Get stuck in!
Review: Calling all 90s RnB and hip-hop heads! Following amazing deep dives into the works of Keith Sweat and scores of films like Friday, US jungle OG 6Blocc continues to writhe in Cali chams of BT&H with this second volume of Amen flips. Maintaining the soulful flavours and feels of the originals, while giving them a good old gully boost, highlights include the slick funk and golden grooves of 'Thuggish' the big disco feels of 'BNK' and the biggie fronted finale 'Notorious Thugs'. What a collection!
Review: Serbian disco fruit from Tonbe, a producer releasing candy-heeled dance wares for some 15 years now. For Disco Fruit yet again he brings the heat, with the title track kicking off heavy and deep before those righteous chords roll in. Heavier and dubbed out still is "Weekend Fever" with its thick filters and French house sampling twist. Funkier numbers come from "Too Far Away" next to a minimal '70s electro cuts in "Robot Drivel" and '90s R&B via "Groupie Love". Get your west coast sh*t from "Turn It Up" next to the solid states of "Unchained". When life gives you lemons make lemonade.
Review: In a musical landscape that's drowning under a sea of often quite lazy re-edits, it's refreshing to find a producer who's made the effort to pay musical homage in slightly more inventive fashion. Step up Beatconductor, who here serves up another motley collection of covers, mash-ups, sample-based tributes and yes, the occasional straight-up re-edit that draws on sources as varied as Teena Marie ('Chemical Flashbacks' bites the vocal from 1980's 'Square Biz'), the Human League ('Human Emotions' marries a Mariah vocal to the 'Don't You Want Me?' riff), Fleetwood Mac ('Dreams (Again)', obviously), The Beatles ('Fixxin A Hole'/'I Can Fixx A Hole'), Hall & Oates (ditto), The Who ('Who R U') and Gladys Knight & The Pips ('Goodbye' reworks 1973's 'Neither One Of Us').
Review: Never a dull moment on this eight-track, 10-mix collection from Sweden's Ture Sj?berg, AKA Beatconductor, which finds him in a re-edit/mash-up frenzy as he reworks a range of classic cuts in often highly unexpected style. Donna Summer's 'Love Is In Control' gets a 60s lounge jazz infusion on 'Finger On The Trigger', Beyonce's 'Crazy Is Love' is given a reggaefied makeover, Angie Stone goes head-to-head with the Steve Miller Band on 'Fly Like A Stone', and so it goes on. Along the way you'll find nods to Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones, before the album's completed by three different mixes of 'Good Vibes' - the Beach Boys if they'd formed in Kingston, JA rather than Hawthorne, CA!
Review: El Paso has become quite the Katakana regular of late, having helmed vols 115, 116, 122 and 129, and now he returns for a fifth instalment with four funk reworks in tow. 'Ms Fine Brown' revisits Syl Johnson's 'Ms Fine Brown Fame' from 1976, while James Brown's much-sampled 1973 classic 'The Payback' becomes 'Revenge'. The sources for 'Baila' and 'Tutu' - both featuring Spanish-language vocals - will sadly have to go unidentified, but the former has a Nu Yorican, boogaloo/barrio funk kinda vibe about it while the lower-tempo 'Tutu' is much more tropical and lounge-y in feel.
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