...written and compiled by spank.
danmass drugs and hospitals e.p. (dust II dust)
Dust II Dust prove themselves as one of the finer breakbeat tinged labels with this Danmass twelve. Every track worthy of being an A-side, ‘Black Box’ kicks hard with reverb and a dirty guitar riff, ‘Gotta Learn’ takes it back to the old skool complete with dated yet timeless vocal snatches and freestyle scratching while ‘Drug’ is a funk fuelled monster with a mass of fine samples that you just can’t quite place. Outstanding. 10
jeepgrrlz smokin’ daughter (orchestra galactica remix) (el chocolates)
Over the summer Jeepgrrlz have been making a bit of a name for themselves due to their deeper than thou Sunday sessions at the likes of Bar Rhumba. From the first bar of ‘Smokin’ Daughter’ you lose yourself in space and time before a disco-ago-go guitar riff and horn section causes instant escaltion and the risk of hands in the air action, albeit in a suave and sophisticated manner! 9
mekon phatty's lunchbox (les rythmes digitales remix) (wall of sound)
Jon Gosling’s incarnation sees a re-release of ‘Phatty’s Lunchbox’ with a full work out courtesy of of the French impostor Jacques le Cont. Dragged screaming back into the 80s with fine effect. Sounding vaguely like Whitney Houston’s backing band circa ‘Wanna Dance With Somebody’ with the added bonus of quite literally the widest, chunkiest and phattest bassline ever likely to enter your aural cavities. 8
roni size heroes (basement jaxx mix) (talkin’ loud)
Basement Jaxx return the remix favour to their mate Roni and to be sure he isn’t left shortchanged. Coming on all carnival to begin with, the inspiring vocal is gently laid down, the pace cuts in half with a jazzy guitar break, before the party momentum is regained and an array of noise and distortions. Listen carefully, you can almost hear the whistles! 8
boris dlugosh presents booom hold your head up high (julian jonah mix) (positiva)
One of Dlugosh’s weaker efforts mercifully saved thanks to Julian Jonah’s speed garage reworking. Trademark big bassline, layered chorus and timestratch vocals. Accessible enough so that your Ritzy’s quota will be dancing aroung their handbags to it, but still in regular rotation in the sets of speed garage stalwarts Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont & Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown. 6
dave clarke shake your booty (deConstruction)
Not as dark and scary as the Red series but every bit a Dave Clark tune. Hard and fast, a punching beat but with a shade of mutant disco as effects are filtered in and out. Flip it over and ‘Break Cover’ takes a nineties electro direction with squidgy analogue squelchiness. 7
daft punk burnin’ (dj sneak, slam, ian pooley mixes) (virgin)
Towering inferno! It’s a whole host of Daft Punk remixes but disappointingly they are not really much cop. Sneak does his usual stuff but never really gets the track to reach full heat and Pooley never really gets off the chopping board as sections are carelessly cut ‘n’ pasted together. Slam’s are more successful in their attempt, but when it comes down to it you quickly realise it’s the original bassline that holds these mixes together. Verdict - stick to Real McCoy. 7
kinky roland brazil e.p. (more protein)
You can’t really go wrong with a 4/4 beat, soKinky Roland plays safe on the title track with the odd percussion breakdown to boot. ‘Biatha’ throbs slightly more encouragingly with gentle tinklings, ‘Blast’ most definitely has a harder techno edge, but still tends to overuse predictably boring percussion breakdowns. However, the downfall of these tracks is also the saving grace of the electro-inspired ‘Bounce’, the only track in which sounding dated works to its advantage. 6
2K & jeremy deller fuck the millennium (blast first / mute records)
Imagine the scenario. You’ve just buried your grandma then not ten minutes later she pops around for a cup of tea. So is it with the KL ‘We’ll never make another record’ F. Admittedly, it is only a rehash of an old track but when the KLF release something it should be fantastic. People should sit up and listen - one thing it shouldn’t be an old tune with a few more breakbeats whacked over the top. However the Deller brass and horn take on ‘What Time is Love’ should raise a smile or two. 6
bedlam a go go flat 29 (mekon, glamorous hooligan, overseer mixes) (sony)
It’s not quite clear quite what this track’s trying to do here. The beats are fair and on the flip-side ‘Step to the Bedlamite’ have some depth. So why on earth employ some 80’s shouty shouty unemployed Leeds indie singer to do your vocal? The only mix that has beats big enough to drown out the majority of the singer’s moaney drivel comes from the relatively unknown Overseer. What vocal that are left actually are given some context even if you do expect the the “Lager, Lager, Lager” line of ‘Born Slippy’ to pop out at any moment. 5
luke slater freek funk (novamute)
The electro funkiness of Planetary Assault Systems and the dream like quality of 7th Plain collide on ‘Freek Funk’, Luke Slater’s first track under his own name. And heh, the guy’s entitled to be proud enough to put it under his own name. It starts with a groove, a sub frequency bassline kicks in, the track filters itself to the point it inhales itself before indecipherable vocoded vocals move in and the groove continues its path. As an added bonus the flipside ‘Stomp’ is the best track Daft Punk have never released. 10