Critical Sound Vol. 1 EP – Critical Critical come correct once again with a diverse double pack with a nice mix of styles. Highlight of the EP by a country mile is Loxy and Naibu’s “Hajime”, a deep half tempo excursion into the sort of dub territories Breakage made a name for himself with. Break drops the long awaited VIP mix of “Timeline” off the All Things Electric CD, adding some funky break edits and twisting the bassline up into a slightly techier flex than the original. Lomax and Kasra’s “Warrior is a bubbly little stepper that’s a bit like a Commix b-side but not quite as good; Inside Info’s “Bog” is a dreary piece of overcompressed shite that unfortunately has much more in common with the contents of a ceramic bog than it does with the splendid wetlands of county Offaly. Should have been a single 12”. 7/10
Fracture & Neptune – Time Will Tell / Sky Song / Medschool London beatsmiths and snack merchants extraordinaire Fracture and Neptune drop some science on Hospital’s increasingly essential sub label for all things innovative; “Time Will Tell” pulls off the seemingly impossible task (and if it’s so damn easy why don’t more people bloody well try and do it?) of marrying intricate break-work with an admirably oversized bassline that goes from “rumbling” to “trouser-browning” and back as swiftly as the breaks switch. “Sky Song” is engaging little roller with a headnodding break scattered with flute samples rolling over a skanking sub bass that switches up to a restrained but grizzly snarl about half way through. Ace. 8/10
Sabre – “Riverside” (Zero T Remix) / Data “Blowpipe” – Lucky Devil Great release this – Zero T does wonders with Sabre’s sleeper hit from a few years back, easing you in gently with smooth chords and handclaps before jazzing the whole thing up with Ritalin-stuffed Amens shattering the breathy dubbed-out female vocals to pieces and beefing the low end up to near Dillinja-esque proportions. One of the loudest records of the summer so far. Data flips the script completely for the b-side, settling into a spooky half speed stomp laced with congas, razor sharp whiplash inducing edits and an assortment of basstones so filthy you’ll want a shower as soon as you hear them. 8.5/10
Klute – Divinity / Hang With Me – Samurai Commercial Suicide head honcho Klute touches down for the second release on this new New Zealand based label, (a rather spiffy blue vinyl 10” in a very pretty sleeve indeed, as it happens – eat that Serato fiends and *spit* CD DJ’s). “Divinity” builds a huge atmosphere from the get go, swirling chords, a grizzly bassline and strings are punctuated by a memorable vocal sample before dropping into a jumbly patchwork of Klute amens and atmospheres, with more variety of musical themes and instrumentation than you’d expect to find in any five tunes by a lesser producer. Sheer class! “Hang With Me” flips the script with some loose-limbed hip hop percussion and some seriously uplifting chords before dropping into cheerfully energetic good vibes and some playfully polyrhythmic euphoria. 9/10
Seba & Krazy - Inkasso - Secret Operations: Secret Operations continue on their quest to give poor Papa Executive some serious trouser-tent-related embarrasment by upping their release schedule to drop this superbly crafted pair of breaky rollers. "Inkasso" brings a pummeling industrial dub feel augmented with crisp, intuitive edits and a rather vague whiff of old Phantom Audio about it. Excellent stuff indeed. Consciousness on the flip is a dreamier deeper affair, with plaintive strings and a bubbling bassline setting the stage for the sort of gloriously crisp, expressive drumwork that rolls out with the elegant flourish of a ninja chick and makes you remember why you
fell in love with this music in the first place. Seriously, i'm choking up here... 4.5/5 EXEC
Paradox - Rivet - Paradox Music: The first solo Paradox 12" in two years, and the title alone has got the heads foaming at the mouth; go ask an older head if you don't get the reference(or your Dad, if you bought this for the trance reviews), but be prepared to sit through a few tales of the far-off days of the mid 90's, when men were men, beats were broken, and Reinforced records ruled the roost from their Dollis Hill Dojo. "Rivet" is an intoxicating storm of scattershot snares deployed with joyful cunning and guile, an admirably chesty sub bass pulse and some tense swirling strings all adding up to an essential release from one of the all-time masters of drum programming himself. One for the beat freaks. 4/5 EXEC
Icicle - Final Stop - Cylon: It's always nice to see a label suddenly reappear after a long slumber! It's been years since I last saw a Cylon release, but if this 12" is anything to go by it's worth keeping
an eye out for more. "Final Stop" has Icicle (in "Broken Fingers" mode) rolling out an interesting and floor-friendly arrangement of pummeling half-time kickdrums, ringing telephones, orchestral stabs and distant snatches of speech. B-side comes courtesy of Rift & Souldrop (nope, me neither) who fall prey to the common schoolboy error of thinking that just because old Phantom Audio tunes had fuck all going on in them that they're easy to copy. Oops. 3/5 EXEC
Instra:mental "Rogue" - Darkestral: Fuck me sideways, this is really really good! "Rogue" is an intensely brooding, minimal storm of dense hypnotic percussion, anchored to the floor by a firm pulse of sub bass, with the occasional glitchy edit and the odd hint of a smooth pad further enlivening proceedings. "Sakura" is a deeper affair, with soaring melodies surging over a wonky undercarriage of expertly edited breaks...aaahfuckit Go and buy this you saps, these guys deserve your money! GO! NOW! 4.5/5 EXEC
V/A - Subtle Audio EP - Subtle Audio: Straight outta Limerick comes a quality double pack of fresh underground wax, as Subtle Audio drop the vinyl component of the Subtle Audio Volume 1 compilation. The five tunes spread across two plates on offer here include Cov.Ops head honcho ASC making his Subtle Audio debut with the majestic "Oceanography" (as good a slice of atmospheric D&B as you're likely to find this year) the intricate ethnic rollage of Soul Delay's "Ustad" and a MENTAL Macc remix of Sileni's already bonkers "Bouncing Octagonal Fragments". Jason OS chimes in with a gloriously measured skeletal composition and LXC remixes man-of-the-moment Martsmans "Some Minimal Business", managing to musically out-minimalise even the most minimal Minimal tunes. Man, music like this is a must-buy. 5/5 EXEC
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