MARTIN IKIN Vinyl & CDs

Review: As Toolroom only puts out a small percentage of their releases on vinyl, those given the wax treatment tend to be anthems in waiting. Martin Ikin's 'You', featuring some seriously loved-up, glassy-eyed lead vocals from Chenai, certainly sounds like a future classic. Shamelessly positive and life-affirming, 'You' is a turn-of-the-90s style piano house workout with added 21st century weight, a few disco-house style filters and a raw, stabbing bassline. The cheery vocal version (side A) comes back by a quite different Dub mix. This opts for a darker, chunkier big room sound - all wobbly riffs, pulsing electronic noises, cut up vocal snippets and mind-mangling motifs - that should delight all those who love Toolroom's trademark sound.

Review: Martin Ikin has got a massive history in club music, whether dealing in jungle as Mayhem or slamming into the charts with Ultrasound. He's back on his regular stomping ground of Toolroom with 'How I Feel', a huge house cut with Hayley May on vocals. The 'extended mix' is a feel good slice of piano-pumping party gear pitched at the radio as much as the dancefloor, and MK knows exactly what to do with it when dropping his headsy 'Dub' mix. Biscuits creates a big room tech house mood to open up the B side before we drop back into the original 'vocal' which puts May's voice right to the front of the mix.

Review: Toolroom share the seventh instalment of their label Sampler series, bringing together four new ones from six artists in their roster; Martin Ikin, Raumakustik & Tony Romera, Low Steppa & Crusy, and Eden Prince. These are huge, ravey, deep techy numbers for the big-room-inclined; we're rhythmically and vocal-samply implored to oscillate at a nigh-militant frequency, though the impulse to dance doesn't come without its shuffles and wonks. Our highlight here is the beatless breakdown in 'BFG', on which that delicious chord stab truncates all expectations thereafter.