Jack Michael

Review: Robert James already made a splash with releases on Hot Creations and Viva Music before launching Body Movement last year. Now he's back on his own label with a various artists 12" that widens the scope of the project, leading in with a collaboration from the man himself and Jack Michael - the dynamic and twisting electro funk of "B2A". Lvca & Sidd take body-popping machine music in a more minimal direction with the sleek "Chroma", while Frazer Campbell kicks off the B side with the uptempo pulse of "One Armed Bandit". North Phase flips the script with some dynamic, electronica-infused garage styles on the system-ready "Zone 1".

Review: On one of his previous EPs on the Orbital London label he inaugurated, Jack Michael has shared headline billing with Harry Wills. He's decided to repeat the exercise, though this time fellow rising star Alex Falconer is the other artist involved. Each offers up an original production and a remix of the other producer's track. Michael's A-side opener "Holding Down" is an inventive, funky and hugely addictive fusion of hardcore-era breakbeats, cut-up vocal samples and raw, razor-sharp acid lines, while Falconer's accompanying remix brilliantly re-wires the track as a chunk of warped, bass-heavy, mutant two-step garage. Falconer's own "40oz" tiptoes the fine line between two-step and sub-heavy hardcore revivalism, while Michael's revision is a rave-igniting old school delight.