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 reading this then you will know that Instinct is one of the UK's powerhouse garage labels. Run by Burnski aka James Burnham it deals in serious tackle for rude boys and nasty girls. The drums hit hard, the reversed bassline burn goose old school cool and there gun finger salutes come thick and fast throughout this EP from Mance. 'Checkpoint' opens with the dusty drum shuffles and bulbous bass, then 'The Going Is Rough' is a little more soulful and sweet with its rolling basslines and silky pads. 'Beat 93' closes down with a seriously OG garage sound that takes you back to the mid-90s.
Review: Belarusian producer Four Walls is back - this time around he finds himself on the new Ultraworld Records imprint from DJ Craft. This one kicks off with the lush prog house and silky synth arps of 'Mind Charger' which soon takes you to the stars. 'Metamorphosis' is a more raw-edged and acid-laced techno stomper for peak time action and 'Summer Nights' is a bubbling, elastic tapestry of new age overtones, thudding kicks and trance-tinged pads. A remix by Toronto-based Pletnev adds another dimension to this club-ready EP.
Review: Chicago house producer Tai Davis - who made his name with a series of 'Classic Chicago House Remakes' EPs over a decade ago - pays homage to the Windy City's musical heritage with four tracks that prove there's plenty of life in the old acid dog yet! Up first is 'Brain Dead', which ain't much more than a throbbing, pulsating groove underpinning some serious cut-off and resonance abuse. 'Whop' rocks slightly more straight-up, harder-driving 4/4s and gets bleepier and bleepier as it goes on, 'That Acid' brings the tripped-out, Adonis-like vibes and finally 'Fusion' merges acid with Larry Heard-style deepness to play us out.
Review: Next up from eatmybeat, a vibrant collection of percussive-driven rollers from the one and only D-Nite, showcasing his crazy ability with some top level production skills. We open up with 'Ominous Arrival', a fluctuating combination of high energy rhythms and subtle vocal samples, followed by both the industrial synth thumps of 'Sine DNA' and arpeggio-lead soundscaping of 'Circular' to follow. From here we then move into the highly unique title track 'Ai Amor', a glorious roll through samba-style drum patterns and catchy vocal slices, followed by the bleeping synth sweeps of 'Amargo' to close off. Awesome work!
Review: Coming up next from the Soulserious crew, a feisty four track collection from Sunday Roast, exploring the more experimental edges of the garage spectrum with some fiery original flavour. First up, the stripped backed, haunting sub sweeps and gnarly bass tones of 'Blur', which as the title track, kicks off the project with just enough mystery, whilst also packing a bass-heavy punch. This is then followed by the more high-ended percussive runs of 'Lama',a subby sweeper that leads cleanly into the more grizzly sub pulses of 'Scapes'. Finally, some tidy chord work as 'Void' fuses chilling vocals with icy pads and clunking drums for a unique final bounce.
Review: Baby Ford's Trelik label is as revered as they come in underground circles. Ion Ludwig is not far behind when it comes to his productions and so the two are a perfect match who reunite once more here. Things kick off with the brain cleansing minimalism of 'A Beladen Date 4 Ever', a silky groove doused in harmonic chords, with swirling pads and rubbery bass all tightly intertwining. 'Transport Fighter' is a more punchy cut with thudding kicks and heftier bass, but still a nebulous eco-system of pads and melodies swirling around up top. Two killer cuts. no doubt.
Review: Portuguese producer Alkalino has been relatively quiet of late, at least by his own prolific standards, so it's hardly a surprise to find that his return to action is an album-length collection of tried-and-tested re-edits with a firm focus on the dancefloor. He begins with the bass-heavy Afro-disco bounce of 'Superstition', before variously serving up post-punk disco throb-jobs ('Warp'), guitar-laden disco-rock ('5 Letters'), percussion-laden global disco excess ('Kingston Town'), tooled-up Zimbabwean excellence ('Lion of Zimbabwe'), what sounds like a synth-laden William Onyeabor revision ('Be My Angel'), filter-heavy Afro house-not-house ('Just Begun') and colourful highlife reworks ('Oh Deus').
Review: A reissue that minimal house fans will have been waiting for - an expanded version of Baby Ford & The Ifach Collective's Sacred Machine album. Originally released in 2001, it's generally accepted to be the high watermark for minimal, and here's it's been lovingly remastered by Dubplates & Mastering and comes blessed with two unheard-until-now corkers from the same sessions - Mark Broom's mix of 'RTDC' and 'In The Bag'. What are you waiting for?!
Review: Number three in a series whose title was self-explanatory to start with, so you should have a pretty good idea what's going on here as re-editor par excellence Alkalino makes free with 11 more nuggets from days of yore. Getting the treatment this time are Prince's '1999', Michael Jackson's 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough', Dire Straits' 'So Far Away', Rocksteady Crew's 'Hey You', Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing', King's 'Love And Pride', Visage's 'Move Up', The Smiths' 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', The Stranglers' 'Always The Sun' and a couple of unidentified cuts (one of which sounds like it might be The Human League while the other has a Front 242/Meat Beat Manifesto-like feel)... some surprising sources there for sure, but they're all handled with Alkalino's trademark aplomb so listen with open ears!
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