COMPILATIONSQUICKIES 6.0 Dale Howard
Prime Cuts 01 Lost My Dog Prime time
Liverpool jock Dale Howard drops this first album in what will be a new series of mix collections for Pete DaFeet’s Lost My Dog label, the concept being the plumbing of the imprint’s back catalogue, and throwing in a few additional new productions. Howard’s own efforts are classic, garage-heavy, like ‘Make It Count’ and the sashaying groove ‘Inner City’, alongside the big room business of ‘Focus’. Elsewhere, he drops Huxley’s so-so mix of ‘Believe In You’ by Jon Delerious and Dominic Martin’s ‘Homage New Jersey’, which is much as it sounds, all chopped diva and b-boy vocals, organ stabs and high, hanging strings. Milton Jackson’s take on Demarkus Lewis is angular and hyp- notic, while Pete DaFeet’s own ‘Rush’ and Moodymanc’s ‘D-D-Drum Dub’ of ‘Stutter’ wind things up. The world won’t shift from its axis, but lovers of things deep and soulful will lap this up. Ben Arnold
Various
This is How We Roll Keysound Keep rollin’
Inspired by blogger and Keysound boss Martin ‘Blackdown’ Clark’s polemics, ‘This Is How We Roll’ finds Clark’s ideals for London’s underground made real- ity. Darkside garage, grime MC patter, funky’s tics and skips and dubstep’s solemn low-end — all get carefully criss-crossed like an experiment in rave genetics. Studied but highly effective, newcomers Visionist, Beneath and Wen’s co-created ‘New Wave’ is a mis- sion statement of analytical physicality, with the trio’s individual tracks cut from similar cloth to old Horsepower Productions or El-B. Past the midway mark, things get a lot more diverse in both range and quality, though the stark bass plunges of Rabit’s ‘Satellite’ get ‘TIHWR’ back on track. As a reorder- ing of post-jungle scenes, ‘TIHWR’ is a welcome reminder of the capital’s club history, yet it’s also oddly insular and cautious. London-watchers itching for a true-blue replacement for funky will have to wait. Sunil Chauhan
7.0
Ruede Hagelstein
Watergate 13 Watergate 8.0 Just the ticket
Aside from Solomun’s sterling effort last year, the Water- gate mix series has struggled to live up to expectations in recent times. Efforts from dOP, Lee Jones, Lee Curtiss, Tiefschwarz and Marco Resmann all failed to deliver the promise of the name on the sleeve. Ruede Hagelstein, however, has bucked the trend, delivering a balanced journey into disco- informed house. Lisa
Loveday Various
Sandwell District Fabric 69 Fabric
69-er?
Ill-fittingly taking on the most salacious numerical title there is, Sandwell District’s ‘Fabric 69’ mix is a slow-building stomp into the post-indus- trial dystopian abyss. Dark, brooding and opaque throughout, it’s expertly crafted, cut and pasted out of 30 sooted mechani- cal techno parts. Not something to slip on to “loosen” the mood. Adam Saville
Tectonic Plates Vol. 4 Tectonic
Pure and simple Though reliably solid as a whole, the most memorable, novel tracks on Tectonic’s fourth outing are those which either dump old dubstep formulas or really stick to them with pride. In the former camp, there’s Mumdance & Logos’ Baltimore club-inspired ‘Drum Boss’. In the latter, there’s Kryptic Minds’ ‘Convoluted’. Sunil Chauhan
Various
Cadenza Records
New Blood 013 Hospital
The Med School graduates
6.0 Various
Grime 2.0 Big Dada Grime II: the Grimening
Grime’s had a rough few years: its cousin dubstep gobbled up all the media hype, while many of the genre’s strongest talents irreversibly watered down their sound in an attempt to gain Dizzee/Wiley-style mainstream acceptance. But grime has stead- fastly refused to die, and a whole new generation of teenage producers and MCs have stepped in to replace their predecessors. This 35-track compilation focuses solely on the exciting new wave of grime pro- duction, with 35 chilly, bone-breaking rhythms from the scene’s new stars (Preditah, Royal T), old hands (Wiley, MRK 1) and international contingent (America’s Starkey, Japan’s Pret- tybwoy). If you’ve not heard grime for a few years, you’ll be amazed at how dramatically production standards have improved — the awkward Casio riffs of old are gone — but ultimately, without MCs adorning them, many of these tracks feel impressive but oddly empty. Joe Madden
Various 7.0
Overdose of the Holy Ghost Z Records Good God that’s funky!
Another refreshing comp idea from Joey Negro’s Z label, this one has Dave Hill collecting disco ‘n’ funk made in the name of the Lord. God is the subject, gospel music is the drive, but for the secular-minded there’s much to enjoy. This funks hard, with plenty of great obscurities, basslines and in particular, voices, honed from church choir sing- ing. The Young Delegation’s ‘He Lives’ is clearly indebted to Bernard Edwards and Chic, with its elegant, lissom bass groove, while Linda Evans’ ‘I Am Gold’ will have boogie completists in raptures of their own, its smooth, jazzy vibe the kind of thing Gilles Peterson or Norman Jay would give their eye-teeth for. The title track kicks it with a Parliament feel, and sounds downright dirty — if it wasn’t for the religious overtones of the lyrics. It’s not perfect, with several fillers, but well worth investigating. Ben Murphy
Hospital continues to nurture new talent with the latest in its annual newbie show- cases, featuring 14 tracks of astonishingly accomplished drum & bass, dubstep, down- tempo and experi- mentalism from such next-big-things as Bakai and Etherwood. Hospital’s big guns better watch their backs. Joe Madden
Argy & Andrea Olivia Vagabundos 2013
Inclusive grooves After label boss Luciano’s tech house- focused ‘Vagabundos 2012’ mix, Argy & Andrea Oliva cast the net wider. Staples like Radio Slave and Dan Ghenacia sit happily next to Plastikman, KiNK and newcomers like George Fitzgerald over two mixes, mak- ing for a bass-tinged addition that’s stylish and slick. Tristan Parker
Various Philadelphia Inter- national: the Tom Moulton Remixes
REPEATTHE LPS WE CAN’T LEAVE ALONE...
Vinyl Edition Harmless
Philly your boots
A leviathan of a box- set, with eight slabs of delicious vinyl packing in all of master disco remixer Tom Moulton’s versions of classic tunes on the seminal label. Disco — and vinyl — lovers will adore this. All 31 mixes in one place, housed in a plush box. This is
big.Ben Murphy
Jozif
Balance Presents Balance 8.5
Jozif’s emotional tribute to Martin Dawson is brilliant.
www.djmag.ca
Various Rebel Rave 3: Mixed
By Subb-an Crosstown Rebels 8.0
Crosstown celebrates 10 years on this earth with Subb-an’s super triple-CD mix.
Various
20 Jahre Kompakt Kompakt 9.0
Cologne’s Kompakt rejoices 20 micro- genre-defining years.
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