For the week ending 16/03/09

The 130bpm tempo and soca drum beats on '2 Far Gone' are further evidence of Kode9's continuing move towards the fertile new soil of (UK) Funky (house). However the word 'funky' is not helpful here, at least not as an adjective, and as for 'house', well there is a 4x4 kick drum in there somewhere ... underneath a lopsided snare pattern and a what sounds like a distorted Space Ape vocal sample. It really is a tough one to describe by comparision simply because, like much of his other music, it is so brilliantly unique. 'Black Sun' on the other hand undoubtedly sounds like the soundtrack to a psychotic episode: fidgety drum patterns support relentless synths that bend up/down/sideways to amazing but nauseating effect. I'll call this one paranoia-step, I think.
Kode9 - Black Sun / 2 Far Gone

Eyes and ears will probably be drawn to the Shackleton mix here but collaborator DJ Maxximus does the flip side more than enough justice with two great tunes. 'Israhell' particularly is worth your time, incorporating two key elements of dubstep in the big snare on the 3rd and that ol' wobble bass, but reducing the tempo to a lowly 120. Smart percussion fills the gaps nicely but more to the point this is probably my favourite use of the old wobble bass since Vex'd did 'Angels':
DJ Maxximus / Shackleton - Neo / Israhell / Neo [Shackleton remix]


And finally a brilliant 12" from the creative minds of Appleblim and Geoim. 'Shreds' on side A is a simply awesome: constantly evolving drum patterns splattered with all kinds of dub-inspired time delayed effects which eventually arrives at some simply stunning piano keys. Puts a smile on my face every single time. Side B on the other hand throws the dubstyled delay out the window and goes straight for punchy 2-step energy vibe:
Appleblim & Geoim - Shreds / Flame Tree

For the week ending 09/03/09

Martyn AND Surgeon remixes of Shed:
http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?Track=OSTGUT020

Dubstep from Kryptic Mind's on Loefah's brand new Swamp81 label:
http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?Track=SWAMP001

For the week ending 22/02/09

Either I'm slacking or the last two weeks have been pretty dry. Only one for this week and it's another one from French label '7even recordings':

Likhan - Redlight / Quiet Riot

Not much to say except I think it's probably an early contender for 12" of the year.

For the week ending 01/02/09

Mount Kimbie to start with this week. Something very Mogwai-esque about these tunes, particularly the title track:
MOUNT KIMBIE - Maybes

T++ and Peverelist remixing for Shed on this one. Peverelist predictably brings a relentless energy to the tune, while T++ gives it a soakdown in his characteristically dark, paranoid techno:
STP - The Fall (remixes)

And lastly some largely synthetic hip-hop grooves from Harmonic313, one half of the Global Communication duo who featured on Warp's Detroit-techno influenced 'Artificial Intelligence' mix tape from way back in 1994. The Detroit influence persists, and not just in the form of Cybotron and Drexciya inspired techno, but also in the form of late Detroit hip-hop legend J-Dilla. You can feel Dilla's presence from the first snarling bass synth, which makes for the almost eerie moment on track 8 when his vocal sample comes in and Phat Kat (another Detroit head) drops his name. All in all a carefully constructed homage to the last two decades of Detroit, but not the least bit derivative because of it.
HARMONIC 313 - When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence

For the week ending 18/01/09

First up is another shuffly, technofied dubstep outing from 2562. This one out now on Martyn's 3024 label:
Embrace / Hijack

The new Math head 12" is one for the dancefloor if you can handle the metal as fuck guitars. And if not then the final track ('last') takes it down a notch with a kind of plodding, oriental sounding halfstep affair. Other samples are available on his myspace:
Stab City

Worth a mention is the latest Earth616 sampler. The First track named 'License' by Rapid comes with both vocal immitations of gunshots and actual gunshots and is, expectedly, murderously dark. Having said that it's probably not worth the 7 quid fee alone:
Earth616 sampler Vol. 3

For the week ending 11/01/09

I think just about everyone has shaken off their festive malaise and started releasing music again so here we go...

7even Recordings coming out of France continue to build up an impressively consistant catalogue with this one from F. Both sides are great but side 2 is the real killer, bringing almighty bass hits and echos (no pun intended) of Basic Channel, which drift through the track like some kind of German ghost:
F - The Untitled Dub

From dubstep-techno to... dub-techno, here's a really nice 12" from Intrusion. The second release on the Intrusion imprint (a sublabel of Echospace). One for the Rhythm & Sound heads:
INTRUSION - The Seduction Of Silence

Accompanying that last one from Intrusion and also released this week is the CD of the same name:
INTRUSION - The Seduction Of Silence CD

And lastly a really nice minimal house joint from Max Cooper. Harmonisch Serie is the one to check on this one:
COOPER, Max - Harmonisch Serie

A few for the week

Every Sunday/Monday on a weekly basis I am going to post the new releases that I'm feeling from the week gone by.

Nice dubby remix of an L-wiz tune by Rusko:
RUSKO/L WIZ - Girls From Codeine City

Spacey 2-step riddims from some bloke called spatial:
80207 / 70810.
Better samples on his myspace page

More classic shit from Mala:
Miracles / New Life Baby Paris

The latest Applepips bringing more deep techno business (running at a dubstep tempo this time) from T++:
Audio 1995#8 / Audio 1995#8_2