01: ZINC & MS DYNAMITE
‘WILE OUT’
(BINGO BASS 12”)
“Meanwhile Crack House’s ‘Blunt Edge’ returns, recast with a more memorable vocal from Dynamite as A-side ‘Wile Out’. Effectively a sequel to ‘Get Low’, her vocal of Geeneus’s ‘Crackish’, it’s another deadly appearance from UK garage’s first lady, sounding sweet and spitting hard in equal measures.” – full review here
02: FANTASTIC MR. FOX
‘SKETCHES’
(BLACK ACRE 10”)
Frazzled circuits and stuttered pistons ascend dangerously close to Heaven in one of the maddest – and most brilliant – electronic tracks of the year so far. Superb Sbtrkt remix on the B-side, but it’s hard to fail with source material this ecstatic.
03: RICHIE DAVIS
‘LEAN BOOT’
(UNITY / HONEST JON’S 12″)
Having previously released Watch How The People Dancing, an essential compilation of 80s tracks from Unity – “the world’s greatest digi label”, this month Honest Jon’s gave several of its strongest riddims well-deserved 12″ single pressings. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but Richie Davis’s sweet, swinging and almost infuriatingly catchy ‘Lean Boot’ is the one we can’t turn off.
04: PATRICE SCOTT
‘DISTANCE AGAINST TIME’
(SISTRUM 12”)
clips here
High-velocity soul from Detroit house producer Patrice Scott, a sleek, forward-thrusting groove offset by phased sci-fi synths and piano notes reflecting off its surface like moonlight off dark water.
05: KRYSTAL KLEAR
‘ANTEATER’
(DOWNLOAD)
“With a debut release coming soon on All City – a label that have put out material by Hudson Mohawke, Mike Slott, Dabrye and more in recent years – Krystal Klear combines heavy analogue bump with amazing, light-headed melodies that will appeal to fans of Dam-Funk, Gosub, Kyle Hall and James Pants” – download here
06: D1
‘PITCHER’
(DUB POLICE 12”)
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“B-side, the brilliantly named ‘Pitcher’, is even better. Faster than ‘Jus Business’, it’s again defined by that incredible sense of drive, but it’s faster, higher and woozier – little samples whizz through the air like stars around a dizzy cartoon character’s head.” – full review here
07: SANDRA ELECTRONICS
‘IT SLIPPED HER MIND’
(DOWNWARDS 10″)
Now that he has the Sandwell District imprint as an outlet for his more “straightforward” techno tracks, Karl ‘Regis’ O’Connor is favouring ever more exploratory releases for his long-running Downwards label.
Here, he teams up with Sandwell’s Juan Mendez (AKA Silent Servant) for an ominous but open-hearted drum-and-drone excursion that variously recalls The Velvet Underground, Amon Duul II and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but nonetheless has an assured and irreducible identity of its own.
08: KUEDO
‘STARFOX’
(from DREAM SEQUENCE EP, PLANET MU)
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“Lead track ‘Starfox’ pummels out dangerous shards of bass energy and synth sweeps as it gallops along angularly. It’s like a hyperfunked John Carpenter soundtracking an assault on a video game arcade. Or, imagine the opening sequence of Bladerunner, careering into a carnival of technicolour.” – full review here
09: THESE NEW PURITANS
‘WHITE CHORDS’
(from HIDDEN, ANGULAR LP)
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“On a micro level the stuttering swing and snap is bolstered by cable flexes and 8-bit punctuation, but pull away and the song gradually builds to a fluid piece of dramatic pop music, Barnett’s flair for abstract-profound lyrics coming to a head with lines like “X marks the spot but also means no.” – full review here
10: JOY ORBISON
‘THE SHREW WOULD HAVE CUSHIONED THE BLOW’
(AUS MUSIC 12”)
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‘Hyph Mngo’ still gives us shivers, and so does this.
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