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Review: Julio Bashmore & Kowton Mirror Song EP
Label: Broadwalk

In an exciting move for the irrepressibly active Bristol music scene, two of its chief proponents are bringing their distinct styles into one whole. Matt Walker (a.k.a. Julio Bashmore) has been one of the leading lights of the UK club scene's mass embrace of house music, rising to a level that verges on the mainstream while maintaining the integrity and quality of his music. Kowton (a.k.a. Joe Cowton), on the other hand, has been working steadily within more underground—though still conspicuous—routes, releasing his own pioneering techno-grime crossovers on a variety of labels and collaborating with Peverelist on Hessle Audio and Livity Sound. Pulling Walker's and Cowton's ideas together seems like a feat in itself, but on "Mirror Song," the pair's first collaborative tune, each producer deposits his clearly identifiable cargo in simple and effective ways. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/13/2013

Review: Various Artists Grime 2.0
Label: Big Dada

In truth, grime must be beyond its "version 2.0" by now. During the decade-plus gulf between the pirate-radio and SoundCloud eras, dance music has undergone all sorts of developments, yet grime has kept its sound as looming and vertiginous as the Brutalist tower blocks casting shadows over the London neighborhoods which spawned it. Still, it has always made room for growth and permutation—not just inside the East End core, but also throughout the UK, Europe, Australia, and North America. Semantics aside, Big Dada's Grime 2.0 compilation—assembled by Joe Muggs, a longtime advocate for grime's continued relevance and vitality—is a valiant and successful effort to reveal just how far the style has come, even as it maintains the genre's own distinct characteristics of wild-out basslines, anthemic hooks, and transatlantic hip-hop signifiers reconstructed for its own purposes. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/10/2013

Review: Champion "Hydra Island" b/w "Prince Jammy"

Label: Formula

While its place at the center of attention in the dance-music world was fleeting, UK funky's effect on modern club sounds is important, and too often disregarded. Perhaps it was the genre's unfiltered energy—one of the elements that people seemed to fall for from the start—that caused it to burn out as quickly as it did. Or maybe it was because of the way it re-opened our perceptions of garage, grime, and house that it became more of a bridge to new ideas than an endpoint itself. London's Champion is one of the few producers who are still valiantly, faithfully flying the UK funky flag, as demonstrated by his new white-label 12" for his own Formula label. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/10/2013

Review: Various Artists Eglo Records Vol. 1
Label: Eglo

Alexander Nut's and Sam Shepard's Eglo label is an enterprise that truly deserves to showcase itself on a compilation like Eglo Records Vol. 1—a collection which encourages listeners to feel the breadth and cohesion of the label's aesthetic and discover the common thread which connects each affiliated artist. Across two discs, the musicians working with Eglo's unique blend of organically ripe funk and machine-built dayglo shine, and common pool of influences—boogie, house, jazz, soul, and J Dilla-school hip-hop—are explored and organized in a way which gives a well-rounded impression of one of the most reliable labels to emerge in the last few years. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/09/2013

Review: Vedomir Marcel Dettmann Remixes
Label: Dekmantel

There was a time when the suggestion of Marcel Dettmann remixing Mikhaylo Vityk (better known as Vakula, or Vedomir) sounded about as a odd as, say, Surgeon remixing Theo Parrish, but here we are. As much as the ultra-prolific Ukrainian producer has made his name on disjointed, soul-sampling house, he has lately been making moderate strides into the straightforward techno arena. There's hardly a better label to marry him with the Berghain mainstay than Amsterdam's Dekmantel, which has an established reputation for diverse offerings. The two tracks on the outpost's latest 12" appeared in their original forms on Vedomir's self-titled album from last year, and are subjected to Dettmann's reliably deft touch this time around. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/09/2013

Review: Graze Graze EP

Pick
Label: New Kanada

Over the past few years, both Adam Marshall and XI have certainly shown themselves to be talented producers in their own right, but the pair's first EP together as Graze—a project which was profiled in our Bubblin' Up series earlier this week—quite effortlessly contends that the producers may actually have the most potential when working together. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/08/2013

Review: Dean Blunt The Redeemer
Label: Hippos In Tanks

The duo formerly known as Hype Williams has long been dominated by a theatrical streak. Focusing on their respective solo work, Inga Copeland's efforts have been fairly straightforward, while theatricality remains Dean Blunt's focus. The Redeemer, his latest LP, builds on last year's The Narcissist II, at least in terms of its emphasis on relationships (particularly abusive ones), its elliptical sense of narrative, and the psychedelic balladry of the music itself. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/08/2013

Review: Various Artists Tectonic Plates Volume 4
Label: Tectonic

With a label as central to the last decade of dubstep as Tectonic, there's a temptation to frame its releases in terms of the genre's chronology and merely view each new offering as something that's looking ahead, glancing behind, or creating a parallel present. It's the latter possibility which makes the fourth volume of the Tectonic Plates series such an exciting proposition. While the Bristol record hub has always delivered the goods, it does so with less hype and crossover potential at stake than many of its more fashionable counterparts. The imprint's relatively low profile could perhaps be traced back to label boss Pinch and his ear for dense, overcast, techno-inflected sounds that hold true to dubstep's darker, moodier roots. That said, there's something a little more complicated at work on the label's new compilation, Tectonic Plates Volume 4, which breaks up the imprint's inherent darkness with a few rays of sunshine—namely, by putting an extra focus on artists who have loosely redirected what it means to be a part of its esteemed roster. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/07/2013

Review: Clouds Man Out of Dubs EP
Label: Fifth Wall

Fledgling Brooklyn imprint Fifth Wall's third release sees the record hub branching out beyond the work of label bosses Divvorce and Hound Scales for the first time, adding Scottish production duo Clouds to its roster with the Man Out of Dubs EP. It seems a logical fit: Clouds is one of the so-called "New Jack Techno" artists affiliated with Tiga's Turbo label, and deals with a dark and oddly playful type of club music that has a lot in common with both of the Fifth Wall owners' output. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/07/2013
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