FUNKY/GARAGE REVIEWS Spatial
The Slammer Niche & Bump
6.5
Niche & Bump as a name is pretty indicative and it doesn’t take a trained mathematician to correlate just how a release on the label might sound. The duty of defining it falls to Spatial, who lays down three skeletally swung productions in his typically skewed style for the imprint’s debut release. Primed for DJs, with kick-drums coming hard compressed, it’s not an overly emphatic statement; aimed at the niche that will undoubtedly feel out the bump.
Thefft
Distronet EP Fulcrum
8.0
Damu’s Fulcrum imprint follows its debut heater from Paleman with a four-tracker from relative newcomer Thefft. On it, Thefft does a lot to set himself aside from the techno- minded producer crowd, with tracks like the jaunty prohibition-era piano-led ‘TenTen’ and the warble-guided ‘Jungle Out There’ leering all over the shop like that po-eyed drunk in the back of the ale house who just grumbles menacingly whenever someone dares meet his gaze.
DANCE
Still/Ha Blank Mind 8.0
James Brown’s drum breaks are pretty fucking legendary, so it takes tremendous tackle to try and flip something like ‘Funky Drummer’ in a new and interesting way. But that’s exactly what DANCE does on ‘Ha’ — half of his debut 12-inch for Blank Mind — and when he stutters through the break to hit the stab part he really does make his point felt. It’s a trick he repeats on ‘Still’, re-purposing familiar drums to a techno pulse and making the funk flow more like a rave.
Hodge
Dusted Deadplate 8.0
Jacob Martin’s showed a lot of promise with releases on Immerse under the Hodge name and releases for Idle Hands as part of the duo Outboxx, and the original tracks on Dusted make good on these early ideas in different ways. ‘Tonda’ is tribal grime,
108 Tickles
Short Fuse EP RKS
5.0
all flammed poise and intricate percussion, and ‘Dusted’ is machinistic techno with ‘Turmoil’ standing as the middle ground between the two, fusing the bass palette of the title track with the swing of the other.
Metrist
Argent Nineteen89 8.0
‘Argent’ seems to want to fall in line with a few of the current trends, namely its producer, Metrist, using acid-touting basslines on top of that overly familiar 4x4 pump. But the whole package is properly well laid out, so just when you think you’ve got it sussed and your expectations locked, it twists into a track like ‘Theorum’ that uses all the current rave conventions but sounds exceptionally current. Eye opening.
South London Ordnance
Witch Hunt TEAL 7.5
Oscar from the South seems like the type of guy who thinks things through to the nth degree. A lot of people would’ve ridden the hype and adulation he’s received naively, but SLO’s kept his eyesight low and simply released a slew of pulsing records to quell the expectation. His latest 12-inch on TEAL marries stoic 4x4 rhythms with a distinctly British take on chord progressions and low-end theory; a neat encapsulation.
Roska’s Kicks & Snares label still personifies the restless and jumpy energy of the funky movement but Tickles’ latest EP for the label takes the sound somewhere harder. Still built on that familiar clipped snare shuffle, there’s a lot of taught energy on each track — on ‘Ironhide’ especially — and the three tracks end up sitting somewhere between mid ‘00s electro and that deviant London house shuffle as a result.
Typesun feat Guido
Heart Maths Root Elevation 6.5
One side typical Bristol bombast, packed full of big, heavy-handed drums, Guido’s perfected jagged synth lines and timely timpani rolls, the latest transmission from the Root Elevation label, is decidedly split. Where the A-side is a hard and chunky melodic stomp at 140bpm, Peverelist’s remix on the flip is a gorgeously linear and diminutive technoid production, unfolding itself graciously for maximum effect when those splashy rides come in.
Visionist/Last Japan
Control This Signal Life 7.5
Teeth and Desto’s fledgling Signal Life label looks to London for their third 12-inch, with young blood producers Visionist and Last Japan each lending a track to the cause. Although both producers come with a completely different sound set there’s an easy similarity here, buried in the percussion and rhythmic arrangement. Visionist’s purpose- built grimey mutilation, ‘Control This’, is the highlight but Japan’s ‘Storm Trooper’ nails a certain wanton flutter very well.
www.djmag.ca Artifact
Burst Rebirth 6.5
Artifact’s robust 4x4 kicks and background atmos make way for a shoulder-dancing lead cut ‘Burst’ on his latest plate, his first for Rebirth. ‘No Grip’ is the highlight of the 12-inch though, all sinewy grime shuffle and simple leads.
Elsewhere
Mindset012 Mindset 7.5
Overlooked darkstyle from up Manchester way, the latest plate from Mindset comes brutal with ‘Trippin’ showing the world exactly how to use a vocal refrain. The rest never quite overcomes that initial peak but then, that’s why ‘Trippin’ is on the A-side, eh?
OLI MARLOW,
info@sonicrouter.com
QUICKIES Maribou State
Scarlett Grove EP Southern Fried 5.5
There’s nothing ingenious about the way Maribou State work melodics around sample sources and the sort of drops made to spill drinks — it’s all very... nice. Even when they rude it up a notch on ‘Summerfolds’, it’s still kind of innocuous.
Venice Calypso
Trapezoid EP Senseless 7.5
Senseless’ first offering from Venice Calypso mirrors their previous output neatly, all stringent grime poise and angular rhythms that’ll bounce neatly off the brickwork of a warehouse. Unrelenting in places, there are real moments of rush on the eponymous track.
HODGE DEADPLATE
01. HOTLINE RECORDINGS ‘001’ Hotline Recordings “Call voicemail for info: 07980 988-905.”
02. OCTOBER ‘Singularity Jump’ Tanstaafl “Sure to be an absolute classic in years to come.”
03. JAY L ‘Looking Up Part 1’ BRSTL “So addictive, real deep with some serious groove.”
04. ALEX COULTON ‘Bounce’ Livity Sound “Amazing stripped-back rhythms with an incredible Peverelist remix.”
05. 1991 ‘Open To The Dark’ Astro:Dynamics “An amazingly decayed release of haze, can’t get enough of this.”
06. RACHAEL ‘Kung Funk’ Idle Hands “Leftfield dystopian soundtrack vibes.”
07. KAHN + NEEK ‘Percy’ Bandulu “Grime anthem. Too too much.”
08. BENEATH ‘No Symbols 001/002’ No Symbols “Still can’t get enough of these releases, reach for them in every set.”
09. MGUN ‘The Upstairs Apt. EP’ Don’t Be Afraid “Detroit’s Mgun’s second solo release. The whole EP is amazing.”
10. HODGE ‘Turmoil (Kowton Remix)’ Deadplate “Absolutely loving Kowton’s remix.”
MONEYSHOT!
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