Review: Some six years after debuting via a deliciously angular and energetic EP from Jaquarius and Mono-Enzyme 307, the Acid Avengers imprint notches up release number 20. Like most of the label's EPs, it's a multi-artist affair. Sometime Balkan Vinyl and Bass Assault artist Acidulant handles side A, bouncing between rushing, piano-sporting 1992 hardcore revivalism ('Super Rave'), sub-heavy deep electro haziness ('Save The Last Rave') and throbbing, arpeggio driven trance/breakbeat techno fusion ('Hauz Trax'). Voiron, who last graced the label back in 2016, takes over on the flip. The Paris-based producer first fuses glistening, spacey melodies, twisted acid lines, post-electro beats and dirty bass on 'Bon Kick Voiron', before opting for deep acid house on 'Digital Voiron Workstation' and atmospheric, Orbital-meets-'90s tech-house on 'Sugar Voiron'.
Review: OHM is quickly becoming a quality imprint you can count on for techno and dub techno. The ninth addition in the series, it calls for an excellent blend of composers to balance this EP out. Veteran Jamie Anderson collabs with the brilliant Owain K on opener. The 'Aqua Dub' builds a euphoria for late night smiles. Smooth is an understatement on this linear gem. One artist on here that's been making strong appearances on many dub techno labels is the ever-talented Francisco Aguado. 'Balance' is a great tribal transition track for any DJ who can it creatively to build the means to an end. On the second side, Star Dub offers the very addictive and techy 'Forst'. Ending on a high note, the brisk and flighty 'Ever Growing' by Volpe completes the ninth edition in a rapturous mood. If you like deep techno, the OHM series is a must to collect.
Review: Talented Italian collective Aura Safari features well known Italian house producer Nicolas amongst other fine musicians. They have released a fine album on UK label Church but now head to their homeland's Hell Yeah for a debut EP full of magic. 'Lagos Connect' fuses afro drumming with house beats, lush synth work and glowing melodies to make for something beautifully grown up and musical as well as danceable. After the reprise and dub comes 'Morning Rivers,' a super slinky and seductive jazz-funk number with glowing, golden chords and subtle cosmic rays of light.
Review: Having previously tried their hand at podcasting, the Paris and Lille-based La Boomerie crew has decided to launch a label. To kick things off, they've delivered a multi-artist extravaganza featuring four decidedly different takes on the house and techno templates. Bitterjazz kicks things off with a chunky slab of spacey, organ-rich retro-futurism (the rock solid and ear-catching 'Run 'N' Hide', before Aymeric peppers a squelchy synth bassline and crunchy machine drums with spacey pads, wriggling synths and tight acid lines. Over on the reverse, Jos opts for heavy bass and star fall synthesizer melodies on the driving 'Black Sun', before Vivies captures the spirit of early UK bleep & bass on the deep, starry and far-sighted 'Seek and Find'.
Review: New label Taf Kif kicks off with this classy VA package from some cool cats who know how to lay down a slick groove or two. First up on this distinctly 80s-styled package is Axel Boman, who brings some of his signature sparkling melodies to a synth-pop indebted jam entitled 'Oasis'. Meanwhile Velmondo follows up with something a little more trippy and adventurous on 'Echo Welt', before MLiR inaugurates the B-side with the sultry tones of 'It's Baby Time'. Lusille completes the set with the hazy Afro house deviations of 'Une Longue Route', riding a swung groove that offers something different from the everyday cookie cutter house we know so well.
Review: Drum & bass giants Hospital Records get involved with this year's Record Store Day by serving up a limited white vinyl that also serves as further 25th anniversary celebrations. This is on top of the huge 25 rack album that came back in March and features a load more essential remixes, reworks, VIPs and covers of NHS drum & bass classics. Together they serve as a fine snapshot of the label's past, present and future with Camo & Krooked, S.P.Y, Kings Of The Rollers, Lynx, Think Tonk, Kessler, Villem and The Caracal Project all coming correct.
Review: Statica's debut release, 'M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly', showcases the label's dedication to serving up diverse techno sounds. This split EP, STATICA001, opens with two intense and dancefloor-ready bangers by the prolific Central Intelligence on the A-side, and both are packed with visceral drum energy and synth unpredictability. The B0side features Madrid-based Victor Reyes, who delivers two reflective but also emotionally charged 4/4 workouts that create a compelling contrast that embodies Statica's "Forces in Equilibrium" ethos. Inspired by the unique butterfly-shaped nebula Minkowski 2-9, this release is a fresh and impactful fusion of power and sensitivity.
Review: Blissfully layered jazzstep from DJ Fokus and Voyager, two titans of the style whose deft abilities have rightfully nailed them a spot on the brand new label Eternal Soul for their second release. Working in filtered yet booming bass on the A-siders 'Online Recorded' and 'Inteliquo', the tracks work in minimal and downtrodden moods, allowing for more rapid-fire drill n' bass elements to occasionally peek through. The B tracks pick up the pace, 'Aurora' suspending our ears on flos of sonic slush - the 'remastered' version, meanwhile, is much more than a remaster.
Review: The cultured ESHU label has pulled other some more tasteful talents for this four track 'Conrexture' EP. It opens up with Julien Fuentes's 'Jah Justice' (Klaridub Ambient mix) which is a nice atmospheric opener with some conscious dub mutterings and sci-fi pads. Jocelyn & Yasin Engwer then kick on with some watery, sub-aquatic minimal dub tech bliss in the form of 'Sticks & Stones', Voal gets even more dark and dirty with some grubby dub basslines on 'Eight Ball' and Ivano Tetelepta/Christine Benz layer up watery droplets, melodic whistles, static electricity and rubbery rhythms to mind-melting perfection on 'Supreme.'
Review: Be Strong Be Free debuts a new series here, Mellow Magic Worldwide, which will offer up a series of DJ weapons that have been produced by "worldwide studio buds." The first one opens with some superb tackle from Gold Suite whose brilliant 'Crush' is a slow-burning 80s jam and emotive rollercoaster that has made a real impact during road testing experiments. On the flipside is the mysterious Mancunian Visions Of Eden who debuts on vinyl with a lush deep house jam 'When It Has Past that has a subtle Balearic charm. Lastly comes Murrin who heads up the Puca Sounds label and co-runs Berlin party Fandango. His 'Maybe Tonight' is a late-night cosmic delight.
Review: Joseph Lalibela's collaboration with Vibronics and the Mafia & Fluxy Band delivers a powerful fusion of roots reggae and dub. Lalibela's vocals, rich and commanding, blend seamlessly with Vibronics' immersive production, while the rhythm section from the Mafia & Fluxy Band keeps the track grounded with a steady, hypnotic bassline. The track's balance between deep, atmospheric soundscapes and spiritual lyricism creates a captivating experience, offering listeners both groove and message in equal measure. This is a must for those who appreciate the timelessness of reggae and the expansive nature of dub.
B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
Stereo Love (extended mix) (5:23)
Stereo Love (radio edit) (3:08)
Stereo Love (Molella remix) (5:04)
Stereo Love (Mia Martina extended remix) (5:26)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
Way back in 2008, Romanian dance-pop producer Edward Maya scored a global hit with Vika Jigulina hook-up 'Stereo Love' - a slick, hooky song (complete with obligatory noughties auto-tune vocal effects) wrapped in jaunty, turbo-folk influenced accordion motifs and various nods to the EDM end of the house music spectrum. This reissue boasts three versions first released in the late noughties - the superior extended mix, radio edit and Moella's tougher, tribal house-tinged interpretation - and what appears to be a previously unreleased Mia Martina 'extended remix'. That boasts some swirly effects and slightly chunkier beats, but otherwise sticks closely to Maya's chart-bothering original mix.
Review: Your latest acid extraterrestrial jive comes in the form of this four-track EP V/A from Planet Orange. With tracks by Velvet Velour, Mitch Wellings, Tom Frankel, and Planet Orange boss Pete Melba, this second release retains all major aspects of the label's signature sound. Bursts of alien percussion pepper luminous beats, textured by light and shade as fleeting melodies wax and wane.
Review: There's no stopping Possession when they get on a roll, and so their second various artists series reaches release number four with another grip of devastating techno bombs for the harder floors of the world. Randomer is up first, throwing down the hard trance-licked thumper 'Shiver' before Somniac One's subtly dreamy beast 'Midnight Intruder' comes marching into earshot. Charlie Sparks kicks off the flip with an unrelenting hard techno assault before Vizionn brings some hard house sass to bear on 'Dream'. It's a fun and feisty selection which tells you everything you need to know about the current wave of hard dance.
Review: Paling Trax 5 is a new record by TAFKAMP and Vromo, two techno artists from Rotterdam and Amsterdam respectively1. Paling Trax, meanwhile, comes as a new sublabel of renowned club pushers Self Reflektion, focusing on the comparatively rawer and groovier. Four tracks appear: 'Trakpad #1' and 'Ghett-hoes', courtesy of TAFKAMP, establish dub-tecchy and retro, MPC-style NRG respectively. Vromo's 'Clarity' and 'Pump The Rhythm' , meanwhile, both puslate in different ways, one locking in a serious respiratory mood, and the other sounding like a Bop-It jailbroken for the club.
Review: Almost a year to the day on from the release of the first release from their hush-hush Pezzate imprint, dusty-fingered Italian crate diggers Twice and Volcov with more must-have re-edits of suitably little-known gems. Check first the untitled A-side, where one of the two producers (we're not sure who edited what) successfully takes their scalpel to a sparkling slab of synthesizer-heavy jazz-funk brilliance full of two-step drum machine beats, squelchy acid-style electronics, comforting chords and kaleidoscopic lead lines. There's a more deliciously Balearic feel to the flipside edit, which boasts extended jazz guitar solos and elongated synthesizer chords riding a Latin-tinged fusion groove.
Review: A quick piping of ultrafast space-techno comes as a six-track aural electro-techno drip, courtesy of Berlin's Mechatronica Music. The second in their 'Constellations' series of V/A EPs, this is an exodic exultation, charting top farings from the likes of Umwelt, Ben Pest and Viikatory. Umwelt's opening charge 'Stellar Oscillations' is a warpsped drive back to the retrofuture, with punctured stabs and fractal chord efferents propelling a lengthy trance crissing 'cross the milky way. Pest's 'Shodan' takes a detour, recharging at an interstellar traction substation specialising in sputtery, kilowatted electro. And 'Be Scared Of Clowns' is the titular highlight by Prz & Ori bringing a different spaceship to the same docking bay; it is the comparative Borg cube to the A3's Romulan craft, lessening any residual humanity for a shocking laserdesign B cut.
Review: V2A is a brand new alias from one of electronic music's most storied studio sorts, '90s progressive house producer turned in-demand mastering engineer Gordon Pohl. The "Rodarte EP" is typical of his 21st century releases, sitting as it does somewhere between lo-fi slowed-down techno, off-kilter IDM and hazy ambient techno bliss. While some of the tracks could entrance the right dancefloors - see the sparse, hypnotic minimalism of spaced-out opener "Eins" and the slow acid pulse of "Drei", which includes a rhythmic element so distant you'll think one of your neighbours is doing DIY - it seems designed primarily for maximum immersive impact in a home listening setting. That's particularly true of closing cut "Vier", where rhythmical pulses underpin long, drawn out chords.
Review: A year after dropping his acclaimed album 'Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth' with Flying Dutchman and Acid Jazz Records, Billy unveils a fresh take on a soul classic. Recorded at LA's prestigious Henson Recording Studio, alongside producer Bob Thiele Jr. and a stellar band including Larry Goldings, Pino Paladino, Jeff Parker, James Gadson, and John Philip Shenale, he introduces three new tracks. His rendition of Gil Scott-Heron's 'Lady Day & John Coltrane', debuted on Gilles Peterson's BBC6Music, mesmerising live audiences. This special edition 7" includes a unique edit of 'Home Is Where The Hatred Is', not previously available on vinyl.
Review: 'Girassol' has long been one of the hardest-to-find gems in Brazilian great Marcos Valle's vast catalogue of sun-drenched musical treats. It was initially recorded and released as a promo-only seven-inch, with copies being handed out to customers of a Brazilian supermarket chain. This, then, marks the track's first ever commercial release. In its' original form (side A), 'Girassol' is a lusciously short, soft-focus affair - a two-minute chunk of laidback, jazz-funk influenced South American boogie bliss with the kind of high production values that you'd expect from Valle during his successful post-disco period. As with the original 7", it comes backed with the slightly more elaborate 'Playback' instrumental mix, where gentle, eyes-closed saxophone solos come to the fore.
Review: For the latest volume in their ongoing Brazil 45s series, Mr Bongo has decided to change tack. The two tracks showcased here are from the golden age of Brazilian boogie. On the A-side you'll find Marcos Valle's "A Paraiba Nao E Chicago", a largely overlooked cut from his 1981 full-length Vontade De Rever Voce. While not as instantly as infectious as some of his better-known singles, it's still superb; a breezy, blue-eyed soul cut full of rising horns and sweet Portuguese vocals. On the B-side, you'll find Don Beto's 1978 disco-funk jam "Nao Quero Mais", a superb track that was seemingly inspired by the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running".
Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti - "Aleluia" (3:52)
Review: Two silky sides of Brazilian disco soul on Mr Bongo's perennial Brazil 45s series. First up, long-haired lothario samba fusionista Marcos teams up with Leon Ware for a pristine polished piece of early 80s disco funk. Golden harmonies, staccato vocals and a super juicy bassline; it's not hard to see why it was his best selling single. Flip for the equally smooth "Alleluia" from Brazilian boogie gospelist; this one is all about the percussion heavy breakdown. Proper sunshine block party business.
Review: Two premium Latin funk documents on one limited 45, Mr Bongo deliver once again: Marcos Valle needs no introduction to Brazilian music enthusiasts. "Mentira" is a self-cover as Valle takes his 69 classic "Mentira Carioca" and develops the dynamic with a vocal style that's highly reminiscent of Donovan. Flip for Toni Tornado's Black Rio anthem "Me Libertei". Fusing sleazy rock n roll with jazzy Latin soul, madly this is the first time it's ever graced a 45!
Review: The Valley and the Mountain aka TVTM aka Josh Dahlberg makes a bold return with 'A Number of Northwests', an EP which tells the tale of an artist in transition. Quite literally, that is, as he moved from Detroit's westside to the very far edges of the Pacific Northwest. Musical this is a stylistically diverse offering with four cuts starting with the mid-tempo smooth grooves of 'Bretton Drive' and glistening synths and pads of the cosmically minded 'Grand River Slide'. The chugging 'Ramps to Nowhere' is a dubbed out afters classic and then the one and only dusty deep house don DJ Aakmael remixes it into another cuddly classic.
Review: A powerful exploration of dynamic techno. Side-1 kicks off with 'On Point', featuring a stomping beat paired with jazzy techno elements. The track is loopy and hard-steppin', bringing a fresh energy that's both invigorating and hypnotic. On Side-2, 'Request Another Dream' takes listeners on a trip into a sci-fi techno realm. The track's eerie, alien atmosphere builds a sense of mystery, creating a vivid soundscape. Closing the EP, 'Open Sea' delivers a melodic, Detroit-inspired groove with deep, soulful beats that push the track to the next level. It's a smooth, introspective journey that adds depth and complexity to the release. This blend of hard-hitting beats and emotive, melodic elements, shows Van Orton's ability to balance raw energy with thought-provoking soundscapes and we're sure experimental and deep techno fans will really enjoy this.
Review: Cold Busted ventures into downtempo and Balearic territory here with Vanilla offering up a limited but 7" full of hazy and lo-fi beat sketches that make you ache for a sun lounger and a warm day. The gentle beats of 'Pointbreak' are offset by wonky and detuned chords that bring a sense of irreverence and 'Surfin' Summer' then casts you adrift on nice lazy sax motifs. 'Remember' keeps the grooves slow and low and 'Breeze' shuts down with another cathartic and open-skied sonic excursion. A perfect accompaniment to some mental escapism, then.
Review: Daniela La Luz is no stranger to Rawax's stable of labels - she's previously released on most of them at different points over the last decade- though Global Transformation marks the first time she's appeared on any of them as Vanilla. The Berlin-based artist sets her stall out with the raw, punchy and occasionally sparkling title track - all woozy keyboard riffs, weighty electro-meets-house beats, tipsy chords and heavy bass - before opting for a deep, druggy, acid-fired and percussively propulsive vibe on 'The Last Window of Time'. Elsewhere, 'Animal Queendom' sees her wrap echoing, dubbed-out and reverb-laden synth riffs around a tough and locked-in beat, while 'All Together' is built around the twin attractions of sturdy, slightly off-kilter machine drums and jazzy electric piano motifs.
Review: Austin's Vapor Caves enlist funk heavyweights XL Middleton and E. Live for a powerful remix release that brings plenty of dance floor goodness. On the A-side, XL Middleton, who is rightly dubbed the 'Modern Funk King', delivers a high-energy boogie-blast that elevates the original track to new heights. Flip to the B-side and you will find E. Live crafting a smooth, jazz-infused remix with a relaxed, soulful vibe that's sure to win over any right-thinking dancefloor. Star Creature is on a winning streak at the moment and here delivers yet another essential joint for fans of modern funk.
Review: Greek producer Stelios Vassiloudid has been making techno moves since the turn of the millennium under a range of different aliases. Here he appears as himself with four supercharged dub techno cuts for Dubwax. 'Lie In Wait' is a really tight, taught affair with pinging kicks and icy hi-hat ringlets. 'MIA' is more warm and vibes with a soulful core and underlapping bass waves. There is a more minimal and abstract sound to the curious dub bumps of 'Reverse Engineer' that encourage you to be at your most fluid. 'Grains' shuts down with grainy lo-fi pads, vinyl crackle and sparse kick that soundtrack an underwater jaunt. There is plenty of subtle variation to these rhythms which makes it a dead handy dub EP.
Review: Midway through 2021, Sven Vath delivered his first single in well over five years, the squelchy, warming and melodious goodness of 'Feiern'. Here he begins 2022 in style via a two-track missive that's every bit as rushing whilst opting for a more abrasive, angular and foreboding sound. 'Mystic Voices' is particularly potent, with its combination of panicked TB-303 acid motifs, throbbing electronics and emotive chords recalling the majesty of Orbital circa the Brown Album. Flipside 'Butoh', meanwhile, is a much more hushed affair, with long, atmospheric ambient build ups dropping into dark techno grooves, pots and pans percussions and more high-register, Orbital style electronic flourishes.
Review: Vaudou Game returns with a funky Afro Cumbia workout that marks the first single from their fifth album. The French Afro-funk band expands its influence here by blending high-life guitars with Cumbia rhythms and crossing into Afro-Latin sounds, especially elements of Colombian music. 'Raler' features the captivating vocals of Spanish-English singer Clara Serra Lopez and is a mix of fresh funk and traditional rhythms while 'Koliko' pays tribute to West African street food, particularly sweet donuts found in Lome and Cotonou. Delicious.
Review: Pomelo is one of the longest serving pillars of the ever inventive Austrian techno/electronica community and the fact It's never had the profile of a Cheap or Mego doesn't mean it's not responsible for some of the country's most exciting and most maverick material. Austria's trademarks are a general and laudable ignorance of current fads, an irresistible groove-ability and an indefinable flair in executing their ideas and the four cuts have all three of those properties in heaps. The newest addition to the Pomelo roster is Spanish talent Vedelius, who delivers the late night burner 'The Crypt' here before turning it over for a rolling breakbeat version by Phosphene, jacking techno by Lodig/Dibek and a dubbed out electro-techno stepper by Lok44.
Review: Louie Vega's Expansions In The NYC album remains a classic of the house master's vast ouvre. It was an all-star affair from the Masters at Work icon which same him pay homage to New York disco, boogie and house with fantastic musicianship, arrangements and vocals from a superb cast which includes Peech Boys main man Bernard Fowler, Honey Dijon, Cindy Mazelle, Moodymann, Kerri Chandler and his son Nico. Two of the cuts from it now make their way onto this 12" on Nervous in the form of the soulful delights of the sooth a-side 'Another Day In My Life' and the jazzy, piano laced dancer that is 'Deep Burnt' (feat Axel Tosca) on the B-side. Life affirming stuff.
Review: Featuring sister funk paired with a beautiful ballad, this release is a true gem for aficionados of 1960s indie soul music. It comes from The Velvet Vettes via Tramp and is a limited pressing so don't sleep. A-side cut 'Give Me A Little Bit Of Time' is a lively one with plenty of Northern soul energy as well as lung busting vocals and great backing harmonies full of soul. Flip it over and you will find the much more slow and sentimental sounds of 'I'd Like To Know' which is a real heart melting crooner.
Review: Another Face launches with a fierce various artist affair here that showcases some of Italy's finest production talent. Luca Vera kicks off with 'Feel Better', a raw and texturally rich cut that brings angst and energy to the dancefloor. DJ Rocca explores a much more horizontal and heady house groove steeped in classic dreamy Italo melodies on 'Epsylon Club' then Rame's 'Bow Down' carries on with colourful synths bringing to mind a sunset dance by the Med. Luca Distefano shuts down with shuffling, dusty, jazzed-up deep house funk on 'Be Kind' to close out a diverse first EP.
Review: Originally out in 1970 on his own self-titled album, Arthur Verocai's "Sylvia" is a peach of a song, one of those sweet and bubbly percussive tunes that blur the lines between modern civilization and the jungle. The Brazilian composer's music has been heavily sought-after in its original format, and Mr Bongo delivers here in fine style with another killer from the LP, "Na Boco Do Sol". Fans of Marcos Valle will appreciate this one for the slow magnetic waves permeating from just about every angle on the record.
Review: Boris Bunnik's Versalife alias continues to be a productive outlet for his electro-techno fantasies, as he follows swiftly on from the Chronoception album for 20:20 Vision with this varied 12" for Natural Selection. 'Overclock' layers up the lithe, punchy rhythm section with some outstanding modulated pings and pongs to create a widescreen, high-definition kind of electro. 'Luminous Idle State' takes a deeper dive into ambient pads and warm, strafing baselines, while 'Ghosting' has a more taut, nervy feel to it. 'System Shock' completes the set with a striking lead line which sounds like it's been run through a vocoder to give the sense of the machines finding their own voice.
Review: The Versatiles were a Jamaican reggae group whose expression hardly matched the stereotype of a musician working in the style nowadays; they wore matching white suits and bow-ties, and worked in a more jubilant, clean-cut style than what we're used to. 'Lulu Bell' is a rare and much-sought-after original from the band, released in 1969 and not released on a single reissue since. The B-side on this reissue from Harlem Shuffle, 'Long Long Time', is similarly rare, and it lyrically urges generational communities to come together in song and dance.
Review: First popping up on our radar in 2020 - or rather hurling itself onto it with all the subtlety punk can muster - Common Sense gets a reissue and not before time. Outspoken but never outgunned, Swedes Viagra Boys rightly courted some serious praise with 2022's album, Cave World, so it makes sense to revisit this epic EP in a bid to get newcomers acquainted with what came before. Opening on the title number, things may not sound quite as you'd expect. While known for their ability to wield bloody-lipped chargers, 'Common Sense' owes as much to shoegaze and synth rock as it does punk variants, immediately marking the outfit out as something not quite so easy to define. Nevertheless, 'Lick the Bang' is straight up topless sweatbox material, and 'Sentinel Island' centres our brains on wonderfully distorted and frayed riffs. Closing on the slow, nostalgia-hued 'Blue', it's quite the collection.
Review: Vibez 93 returns to the fore with a prime quartered cut of meatiness and freshness in equal measure. The 'Gorilla' EP opens with a reappropriation of Drake's 'Fair Trade' - on which the Canadian rapper denounces every first-world rapper's qualm from false equivalences to fake friends - pairing these with cleansing liquid breaks, musical Rhodesy ghost notes and quaking 808 basses aplomb. 'It's Love' recalls Orca with its fricative breaks and a barely filtered-in but effective vocal sample, while B-siders 'Mug Ya Self' and 'Gorilla' rework choice cuts from The Streets and Little Simz respectively, proving the UK's enduring efficacy on the now global d&b scene.
Review: No production outfit keeps a pace of output quite like Vibez '93. The latest four-track record from the shadowy d&b profuser now hears them summon sampled echoes of A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets respectively, culling choice acapella selections from the debut albums Low End Theory and Reachin', exegeting the former's titular theory for a hard transpose into sheller drum & bass. 'Electric Relaxation' and 'Check The Rhime' are blown out across a two-side jazzstep liquescence, while 'Cool Like That' and 'All Night Long' make for finer-brushed summer steps.
Review: The latest EP from Rotterdam drum & bass outfit Vibez 93 is a peaking roll-tastic high. 'Tokyo & Paris' spatters four liquid d&b tunes of various shape and size, with 'M38' opening on an anthemic note to contrast the dynamic liquid sub squirms of the A2's 'Green Eyes'. The B1 hears a sampled verse breezily cruise the Italian Amalfi Coast, before its foil emerges on the hip-d&b title track closes on a stoner-step homage to European travel, soundtracked by the sounds of a concrete jungle.
Review: It's never easy keeping up with Vibez 93 and his all-out assault on the D&B scene, from the roughest jungle cuts for the underground through to canny crowdpleasers like this record right here. 'Video' is a no-nonsense flip of India.Arie's 2001 soul classic, with a righteous lyrical message which sits perfectly atop some fresh and funky breakbeats. 'Westchester Circles' meanwhile doffs its cap to Adam F's none-more-iconic 'Circles' and its source material, 'Westchester Lady' by Bob James. No prizes for guessing the reference material on 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine '23', but this is a different version to the Roy Ayers classic which is going to be peak festival fodder this season. Then cap it off with a perfect slice of sunshine rollage in 'Brasilia' and you've got a record primed for tonnes of fun wherever it gets dropped.
Review: Vibez '93 has established itself as an essential destination for anyone interested in modern jungle iterations, not least the deeper end of the spectrum where ambient atmospherics meet with sharply-sliced breakbeats. Just check this new 12" on the label, credited to Vibez '93 itself and diving into some pitch-perfect amen juggling dreamscapes across four tracks. The pads are richly melodious, the beats rolling, the subs massive - sure, you might well hear the sound Bukem and co. pioneered back in the 90s on the likes of 'Affluence', but who could ever tire of that immaculate sound when it's done so right?
Review: Vibez 93 veers heavier than usual on their latest almost weekly jungle top-up, released again on their eponymous label (it's been so long, and yet it's still so not clear, as to whether Vibez is one person or many different "unknown artists"). So too is 'Brain Storm' an ironic name, since most brainstorming is usually done in silence, whereas this is just utterly cyclonic, flaunting an equally apt potential to the compel the body. On the A1, a suspenseful set of whodunit piano plinks pepper an otherwise industrial-strength dose of breaks shreddages. We're barely afforded any time to 'Cool Down' neither, not least since Vibez' idea of downtime amounts to little less than a further set of gnashings by the same backbeat. Only do 'Amigo' and 'Vulkaan', on the B, meanwhile, fully wrangle the listener with the ragga influence that was only teased so flirtatiously on the A, with straight-up taped-and -elaid soundclash samples, and lesional rapid-echo breaks, aplenty.
Review: The mysterious Vibez 93 returns to their white label series with more timeless breakbeat treats. Having moved away from the big bootleg styles, Vibez is now finding their own vibe with these powerful jungle-influence broken funk bombardments. Each cut sitting round that mid-late 90s era where both techstep and jungle were both dominant styles, highlights include the Moving Shadow style grace and breezes of 'Ripples' and the big dark booms of 'Self Aware'. The horn-heaved party power of the finale 'Blue' can't go without a shout either. Vibez by name, vibes by nature...
Review: UK drum n' bass producer Madcap's production credits extend all the way back to the early 90s, when LTJ Bukem was heralding him as a fledgling, yet time "fantastic" DNB visionary. Now a fledgling no more, 'Saxon Street' is his latest jungle offering for Rotterdam's Vibez' 93, and is a nonstop EP of fluffless breaks cruisers ('Fall Down') and impeccable, Brandy-sampling bouncers ('Combination', 'See Her').
Review: A cheeky new haul of waspish, sampleholic drum & bass from Vibez 93, the jungle producer-outfit whose exact articulation as an artistic identity, we can never quite place. But this is one of the exact reasons we've warmed to his craft, aside of course from the sparsely calculating yet vasodilatory ecstasy emissive from their music. 'Never Say Never' coolly samples the eponymous Brandy song - a morbid fixation of the jungle and 2-step garage scenes, to name but one - to the point of hardly even needing to quantize it to the breaks-grid, and yet it still works. 'Believe' complicates matters with boxier breakbeat blisters and emphatic "mashup!" jeers, while 'Touch' makes a subtler series of contacts, tacitly stroking both lobes with no less aggro beat clutches and high-reg plucksynths. We end on 'My Luv', another cool reprieve from the fatally unrelenting grind of breaksweight.
Review: From deep within the Fokuz empire, Vibez 93 continues to bring the fiercest blend of old-skool junglism and nu-skool production flair to utterly essential cuts for the widest of raves. On 'Midnight Owl' the pads spell out a smoky, immersive atmosphere, but that doesn't mean there's any hold back on the rolling breakbeat science. 'Violet' is a bit breezier in its demeanour thanks to some mellow chord licks and 'Forgotten' plummets into dank surroundings for a proper slice of breakbeat science as we've come to expect from this essential modern jungle label.
Review: Vibez '93 is on a roll, as we recall several of the Fokuz Recordings sub-outlet's best works through a throng of EP reissues. The 'Execution' EP is on the moniker's dirtier and rawer side, launching the listener's fledgling pirate voyage with 'Wheel Up' (its breakdown driven impeccably forward by acapella vocals from A Tribe Called Quest's 'Scenario'), followed shortly by the atmosfear-strikers 'Skazka' and 'Execution', and finally coming in to land on the axe-touting 'Execution', recalling the earliest of dark LTJ in its messy-hazy breaks, tribal calls and wiggly sound effects.
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