Kora
Flow
Kora hail from the other side of the world, from a small place called New Zealand which is turning out amazing acts at an alarming rate these days. Like one of the other great NZ acts – Shapeshifter – Kora have taken their country by storm and are now set to get global on your ass. This is the first single to be taken from their debut album, also called Flow, which was released in NZ in October last year. It shot straight to number one, and won the crew a bNet Award. This title track is a really sweet-ass, funky hip hop track with great flowing vocals, tight percussion, dub-style bass and a funky guitar rolling in and out. First up on remix duty is Crazy P, who twist the track into a housey beat, adding layers of pianos that build into a crescendo of synths. Amillionsons are next up, and they go all trip hop style, turning up the guitars to take us way back to the Bristol daze of the 90s. 7/10
Shiva Records
Lars Moston
Jack It
This is a straight up 4/4 house stormer that cruises on the dark side. Tearing into your speakers with a storming beat, Jack It is spiced up with a little bit of percussion, a twisted synth and hands-in-the-air, old-skool rave stabs which blow your head off. Then a set of massive drops pile-drive your ear drums to give optimum dancefloor devastation. The remixes come from Daniel Dexter and Nhan Solo (Berlin) and from Acid Jacks (Australia) who both deliver totally monstrous tracks that look set to become peak-time floor fillers. 10/10
Freakz Me Out
Elite Force
Peyote Road Remixes
Yet another release for the Elite Force Remix project with yet another EF archive track getting dusted down and given the once over. Peyote Road was originally released way back in November of 2004 and instantly became a EF classic. Now, almost four years later, it gets a new lease of life through two amazing remixes. First to bat is the Brisbane duo of Hyperion with what they call The Sun And Cactus Mix. This is a huge, bouncing track full of prickly little stabs and lush hypnotic synths which cruise between light and dark. It has one singular aim, and that is to destroy the dancefloor – and with its nagging grooves and tectonic rhythms, it does just that. Every single time i have played this out the place has gone mental. Taking us to second base is Amb who takes the track on more of an atmospheric trip. Flowing grooves build and build with percussive melodies, leading you into a minimal drop that allows you to catch breath before the main mix returns with its teeth out. Both of these do wonders on the dancefloor and take nothing away from the original masterpiece. With more to come in the series – plus an Elite Force remix album in the pipeline – things are looking rosy for U&A Recordings. 10/10
U&A Recordings
Kid Blue
Way Back/Ultimate Orange EP
Kid Blue is like that tin can at the back of the cupboard that’s missing its label – the only way you can find out what’s in there is by opening it, and you know it’s going to be fun finding out. In short, you can’t put your finger on what Kid Blue does. Is it breaks? Is it techno? Every release since his first track on Fat!, Hairy Sambuca, and through the rest on Lot49, Passenger and Sinister have followed the same path. This time the path is even more messed up. 9/10
Fat!
Shimmon & Nixon
Sexy Beast/Brainstorm
After the huge success of their last single Whitenoise/Around The Edge, the sonic duo have been holed up planning their next aural take-over. Sexy Beast is a huge track that builds slowly from an atmospheric opening until the sickest triple beat drops and the track explodes with a mass of solid bass and tearing synths. Brainstorm is a nod to the old skool thanks to a booty-moving beat and a funky synth section that will really get the dancefloor rocking. Big things from Finger Lickin’s newest stars. 10/10
Finger Lickin Records
NAPT
Gotta Have More Cowbell/Heart Of Stone
NAPT have a knack of producing the most funked-up tracks around, full of big, big beats and the most amazing basslines. Gotta Have More Cowbell is a perfect example of this, adding in a very famous vocal sample from an infamous Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walken playing a record producer who just wants more cowbell from his band. NAPT play the roll of that band giving this track a solid cowbell hook while a huge bassline tears down the doors and the most funky of funky beats gets jiggy with yo’ ass. Flip this little bomb over and we get Heart Of Stone, yet another big tune. Full of more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti, this track reels you in with the most amazing bassline while the synths roll from crushed sounds, to siren squeaks, to full-on hands-in-the-air sounds. This release is NAPT at their very, very best. It’s also something no breaks fan should miss. 10/10
Funkatech
The Body Snatchers
Call Me
Featuring the soon-to-be-massive talents of Sporty-O – who has just signed to Lil Jon’s label along with Bugz In The Attic vocalist Yolanda – Call Me is the final release before the Body Snatchers – aka Baobinga and 30Hz – drop their debut album Feeling Good, Looking Nice, Smelling Right. The mixes here include dirty breaks (the original and Backdraft mixes) with massive basslines; four-to-the-floor storming electro from Blende, who drops a heads-down rework with a massive synth line that’s not to be missed; and a funky tech house from Lee Mortimer, whose rerub has the biggest bassline hook since the last Twocker release. This thundering beat’s going to get fans of Switch all in a twist. 9/10
Passenger
Samurai Gunz
Class Of 88/Fuck The Funk
Oh my Christ – tune alert! This is quite possibly the best tune of the year, a 4/4 house rocker that doesn’t take its foot off the peddle. It kicks off with a banging beat, a set of acid builds, sirens and driving synths, before breaking down with the huge old skool: “Aceeed aceeed,” vocal break. After that, it gets all techno on your ass before another cheeky sample heralds a old-skool PE break which drops in for a few bars before we’re straight back into 303 mayhem. What with the screaming acid lines, thundering beats and percussion, this is a history lesson in about six minutes. Flip it over and you get the equally massive Fuck The Funk which again nods back to the old skool with a Kool Keith sample along with that famous sax sample that Public Enemy used in Show Em Whatcha Got, original taken from Lafayette Afro Rock Band. What Samurai Gunz add is a speed garage beat and a wobbling bassline that gives this tune drive and bite. These tracks are real winners – do not miss them. 10 /10
Mama’s Pie
Plump DJs
Snake Eyes/Disco Unusual
The third EP from the massive Headthrash album, and both tracks have been tweaked with whole new sections added that you won’t find on the album versions. Snake Eyes is a monster – a tight beat and a gnawing bass build and build into a Plumps masterpiece, full of heavyweight beats, solid snare rolls, guitar squeals and a space invader sound that is out of this world. It’s a corker of a tune. Disco Unusual is just that – a disco-fuelled tune with a funky beat and an uplifting synth chord sequence that roll till the breakdown. Then it gets all nasty – and a tearing bass-end synth line really adds the knock-out punch. 10/10
Finger Lickin' Records
Groove Alliance
Super Squelch
GA have been test-driving this track – whose title sort of gives the audio content away – around the globe for a while now. Super Squelch has that sort of massive, sawing bassline that will shake a few fillings lose as a tight beat and electro hooks add dancefloor attraction. Macca drop a very fine remix that has a big peak-time feel about it thanks to big sweeps and added hooks and edits. 8/10
Splank!
Sam Hell
Gun Club
Hot on the heals of his Bone Snow release that hit number one in DJ Download chat, Mr Hell returns to his home label of Sinister Recordings, and once again he’s crossing over the house and breaks divide to deliver on all floors. Big, tight hooks come from soaring alarm-like synths while a bruising beat rumbles away underneath like a juggernaut. Flip this over and Hedflux turns in a debut remix that is out of this world. Taking the original bits and bobs, he twists the track beyond anything you’d expect – tight driving beats add the thunder while a set of sawing synths eat away at your ears with a sick evil bass angle to them. Fans of Freeland will love this remix. Badlands step up next with a wobbling remix that has a twist of dark rumbling electro about it due to the main synth hook that hangs around like an axe-welding maniac. Surely a huge, huge track. Redtchordz deliver the final mix that stays close to the original breaks mix but fucks up the synth lines, making them sound like a broken electric saw. 9/10
Sinister Recordings
Karton/Digitalis
Mugstar/Dealing With It
Big, big release for one of breakbeat’s finest labels, Sound of Habib, and with this double A-side, the Habib lot show just how much they have their fingers on the pulse. Karton – a massive act down under who are set to tear it up global stylee in 2008 – open things up with Mugstar, a track full of that funky breaks flava that will appeal to any dancefloor. Shimmering beats skirt around a set of funky keys and a bassline that’s so funky it’s got James Brown dancing in his grave. Digitalis take on the remix and gets all nu-skool breaks on it. Techy beats and smooth synths fire in and out, while a chopped-up, distorted vocal bites at the edges. Fans of Sinister Recordings sound will love this track. The flip sees Digitalis drop Dealing With It – again techy beats open the track while sawing synths cut in and out of the mix. But the real surprise is the twisting, almost-hidden-in-the-mix vocals that have a rock(ish) feel about them. The production on this track is off the hook. Then Karton step up to have a go and remixing Dealing With It, and get all funky with big basslines, cheeky edits and a smooth beat that’s going to get some knickers in a serious twist. Fans of this EP include Plump DJs, Soul Of Man, Atomic Hooligan… 10/10
Sound of Habib
Broke Records Present
The End Of The Earth
If you are any sort of lover of breaks, then you’ll know this label. If you don’t know Broke Records then you really need to get out more – in fact, get down to your nearest record store and buy this record now! Jesus, still here? This compilation features the best of the best of Broke Records, taking in tracks for the UK and New Zealand. The sounds are way more similar than you might think – the label’s output can be found in the bags of the Plumps, Stantons, Fatboy, Freq Nasty, Nick Thayer, Crystal Method, Krafty Kuts – in fact all the major players. Broke has also won a handful of awards – Breakspoll’s breakthrough label in 2006, and best remix in 2008 – and this album must be up there for best compilation. To go in to each track would take hours – there are so many gems on here, I’ve not stopped playing tracks since I got it. 10/10
Broke Records
Meat Katie
Cracks
Last time I saw Mark Pember was on stage at the Wickerman festival – he was holding on to a rather large bottle of Jack doing strongman poses. Crazy man. But if this new release on his and Dylan Rhyme’s label is anything to go by, the strongman moves are on the money. Cracks is supersonic, with a pounding beat and swinging percussion, not to mention a nibbling set of synths which eat away at your ears drums. But the real killer is the bassline – and what a fucking monster it is. It rumbles away at the bottom end of the mix like a demented child on smack. Moguai provide the first mix, taking it all glitchy electro as the synth line from the original takes centre stage, providing the shimmer over a glitch beat and synths. Madox takes a hammer to the track and smashes it into something that sounds totally different. Flat, smooth drums roll along while a thick, mud-like, squelching bassline growls over the top. Massive release from Lot49. 10/10
Lot49
Redux
Diskobreaks
Katorza is a hot new French label which has more vavavoom than Thierry Henry ever had. It’s owned by Maelstrom, who supplies two ripping remixes on this release, backing up his statement that this this label is aimed at really getting the party started. Crossing over house, techno, breaks and electro, he aims to cover all bases. Redux step up with the debut release and turn in a cracking wee number – glitchy tweaks and shimmering, filtering chords give this track some backbone while it firmly has both its feet planted in the house 4/4 beat. Flip it over and Maelstrom delivers two serious remixes. The Candy Mix kicks off all breaks and slowly builds into a monstrous progressive track that tears the speakers apart. The Deadend Mix is another fine example of just how easily this boy can cross genres – it’s a serious, heads-down techno/electro mix that smashes the walls down with rolling beats and thundering basslines. This will be in the DJ bags for a long time. 10/10
Katorza
Michael Morph feat Yo Majesty
Do What You Want
Ahead of his debut long player Micheal Morph drops a massive, massive track, and all of the mixes on here are aimed at getting the booty shaking. It’s one to get the girls in a sweat. The original is a healthy, banging breaks party tune with a sexy vocal, a massive bassline, grooving beats and a smooth, rolling acid line that’s going to get those hands in the air. Deekline turns in three super-tight remixes – one breaks and two house belters. The breaks number reminds me of old Deekline bootlegs that he used to do – building slowly and rising and rising till the whole track takes off. His house tracks are aimed at those smoother, sexy dancefloors that like a good bit of teasing before the big, bad bassline slips into that groove. 10/10
Pure Mint Recordings
Krafty Kuts
Dynamite Love (vs The Freestylers)/Beer Chucka (vs Deepcut)
Krafty once again turns up the heat with a monster mash-up that was one of the highlights on his Fabric 34 mix. Taking Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought’s There They Go and adding it to a instrumental of the Freestylers’ In Love With You, he delivers what has to be one of the festival tunes of the year. Kicking it on the flip we have Beer Chucka, which sees Krafty and Deepcut taking square goes at each other to produce a mutha of a squelchy bassline while the beats come in all funky. 10/10
Against The Grain
Missill
Targets
Missill is a multi-talented woman – DJ, graphic designer, graffiti artist, producer and all round urban punk. Her Dj sets are a mash-up of hip hop, electro, ragga, dancehall, breaks and grime. This was shown in her mix album Mash Up, a sonic assault of 24 tracks in under an hour. This new album, Targets, is another great record. Each of the tracks have been thought out and are constantly turning the pressure up, building the tempo and power till the final track crashes in like a tsunami. The record is peppered with a selection of the finest vocal talents around – Dynamite MC, BluRum13, Junior Red, 9 Lives The Cat, Edu K, Yethz and Chernobyl. It’s a bit like a who's who of vocalists, and they all enhance the album without taking anything away from the production. 9/10
Discograph
Meat Katie
Sessions
Ministry's Sessions series signs up tech funk master Meat Katie for a two-disc journey through techno and tech-fuelled house. What’s best about this mix is that it shows off Mark Pember’s ability to play so many styles with tracks from Presets, Elite Force, Marc Neyen, Andomat 3000, Das Pop and, of course, Meat Katie making an appearance. As the man himself says: “This compilation is about my influences as a producer and DJ.” Disc two heads into more familiar territory for lovers of the Meat Katie sound. Dirty rolling breaks are mashed up against 4/4 beats and rhythms that attack you with every twist and turn. This shows you how this man can smash the floor apart. Look out for a world tour in support of this records, and keep an eye out for another Meat Katie album, as well as a show at Bass Syndicate. 10/10
Ministry Of Sound
Akashic 11
Leave The Area EP
Fresh dubstep straight out of the mighty Raw Records stable. This duo of Ben & Jerry (no, they don’t make ice-cream as well) have know each out for 10 years but have never ever worked together before. This release makes you wonder why the hell not. The EP is simply amazing, and it’s full to the brim with not only quality studio production but also some tight-as-fuck beats and kicks that are designed to snap your head. Added to that, roots reggae star Paul Fox lends his mighty skills to the opening track. Huge EP from both Akashic 11 and Raw Records. 9/10
Raw Records
Splitloop
Pleasure Machine
Splitloop are class, my kind of breaks. So it was a pleasure and a joy to have their new album drop on my doorstep. This album has taken a while to come since their last, 2005's Here On Business, landed, but when you see the boys have been soaking up a whole load of styles, it becomes clear why. As Bren puts it: “You can’t be looking only to the breaks scene to get inspiration for your music.” And never was there a truer word. This album reflects that statement – the CD has a smooth, sexy sound about it that moves easy from track to track. From block-rocking beats to pleasure-seeking grooves, this album is the sound of two guys in love with what they do and in love with all things electronic. 10/10
Against The Grain
Hironimus Bosch
Beta
Aux is a brand-new label straight out of Bristol which has a single aim – to smash the hell out of the dancefloor. This fresh release takes its cue from techno, breaks, house and whatever else, reanimating those sounds like Dr Frankenstein to create a monster. Rolling acid riffs and tough drums bolt on to the monster’s head, an eerie melody line that give this a sort of 90s free party vibe. Taking on the remix is Lot49 boss Meat Katie who does what he does best and applies some serious pressure while taking the BMP down, but turning up the heat on everything else. This is Meat Katie at his very very best. 10/10
Aux
COMING SOON…
September 12: Bass Syndicate Breaks Party @ Bongo Club, Edinburgh
September 30: Split @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
October 14: Split @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
November 22: Plump DJs @ Bass Syndicate, Liquid Room, Edinburgh
Visit www.tribetattoo.co.uk, www.myspace.com/clubbasssyndicate, www.myspace.com/djbelieveednbc and www.myspace.com/clubsplit
