Staff Picks w / c 30th October 2020

Review: After an extended, pandemic-related break, Brawther has decided to re-activate his highly regarded Negentropy label via a second EP on the imprint from former L.B Produce artist Ron Obvious. He begins in trademark style via EP highlight 'Builded Mind', a tech-tinged blend of skipping, UK garage style drums, jaunty sub bass, spacey electronics and deliciously tactile deep house motifs. He continues to fix loose-limbed and weighty garage grooves to deep and intergalactic house sounds on side two opener 'Nearly Forever', before pushing dub style bass to the fore on hypnotic late-night deep house number 'Foreground'.

Review: After the first couple of releases by label chief Remus, Rominimal hero Barac Nicolai is handed the reins for the Blue imprint's third edition. Enchanting polyrhythms are undoubtedly the order of the day across The First Thing EP, with the Bucharest-based producer's usual knack for eloquent track titles as well. On the A-side, we have 'Different Point Of Structure' which is a driving and energetic main room workout with subtle dub techno influences and utilising the hypnotic qualities of previous work, while the B-side cut 'The First Thing You Hear' is a more stripped back and minimalistic affair reaching near tribal moments, but this one is definitely more suited to heady afterhours moments.

Review: After a couple of years in which he released very little - somewhat surprisingly - Dom Tarasek AKA Commodo returned to action in May via the creepy trip-hop-meets-dubstep paranoia of 'Loan Shark' on Black Acre. This speedy follow-up for the same Bristol-based label is similarly terse and tense, with impressive A-side 'Stakeout' showcasing Terasek's ability to blend punchy dubstep drums with musical motifs and foreboding electronic sounds more often heard on 1960s British spy movie flicks and unsettling B-movie horror flicks. Elsewhere, 'Transit' is a deeper, darker and far more paranoid affair marked out by some intriguing percussion programming, while 'Crooked Law' sounds like Mezzanine-era Massive Attack after several hits on an oversized bong.

Review: Fresh from his junglised Hoover1 investigations, Rene Pawlowitz returns to his Shed alias and makes his debut on Pinch's Tectonic with three ace flashbacks to an exciting time of fusion between dubstep and techno around the late 2000s. 'Try' sets the scene with those tumbling, smoky drums synonymous with the time. Set to the backdrop of a rising, psychedelic build and faraway vocal tones, it's a dubby side to Shed we're often teased with but never get to fully taste. It's backed by two more exemplary explorations; 'Box' is dub techno to the very core, all grumbling subs and industrial elements while 'Sweep' brings the four/fours into the mix for a big fat juggernaut finale. What an EP.

Review: Two Shell impressed us with their 2019 debut on Livity Sound, Access, an EP that saw them brilliantly join the dots between turn-of-the-Millennium South London sounds, contemporary Bristol bass music and hazy dub techno. There's much to admire too on this follow-up for Mainframe, from the urgent, soft-touch techno beats, subtle UK Funky swing and shimmering sci-fi synth sounds of title track 'Touchpad', to the sludgy, slow-motion, Autechre-influenced nastiness of urgent-sounding closing cut 'Force'. Sandwiched in between you'll find the spaced-out, polyrhythmic techno depth of 'Fracture' and the EP's most bass-heavy beast, the sublime fusion of high-tempo electronic melodies, post-UKG beats and sub-pressure that is 'Oil Slick'.

Review: Chiwax take us back to the work of a genuine master: DJ Deeon. Originally released in 1995, 'Off Spring' was one of many Deeon Boyd ghetto-edged collections at the time as he smashed down the walls of the game, developing his stampy House-O-Matic signature with every Dance Mania missive. 'Animate' sets the pace with its elephant kicks and naggy staccato riff while 'Double Glock' goes in on the loopy chants synonymous with Deeon's style. Flip for the slinkier, dubby bass undulations of 'Do-U-C' before 'House-O-Rmx' bends your mind one last time. Freak mode: enabled.

Review: In recent times, funk breaks maestro DJ Soopasoul has devoted much of his time to creating and releasing reworks and mash-ups as part of his top-selling Soopastole Edits series. Now he's decided the time is right to unveil some new original music via Jalepeno Records, an imprint he's been associated with since the dawn of time (well, 2008). 'Hot & Cold', featuring the strong and sassy lead vocals of Dionne Charles, is a prize chunk of shuffling sixties soul action built around crunchy drum-breaks, insanely heavy bass, clipped guitars, punchy horn lines and some suitably sustained Hammond organ stabs. He doffs a cap to the B-Boys and B-Girls on flipside 'Hustlin', a break-dance friendly instrumental number that sits somewhere between the Incredible Bongo Band and 21st century soul revivalists the Dap-Kings.

Review: Longtime global groove maker and master musician Quantic rare makes a misstep. And you certainly won't find him making one on this new Selva 12" which is two tracks of big band soul. All the usual Quantic standards apply - big glossy, golden horns and wah wah guitar that brings the funk with superbly solid rhythm sections underneath both grooves. 'Theme From Selva' is a real show stopper that would mark any arrival in style and 'Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five' is then a big disco cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' track of the same name taken from their 1973 album Band on the Run.

Review: Jeff Mills recently announced that he wanted to widen the musical horizons of his Axis label, delivering a more eclectic blend of music made with both traditional instruments and the synths and drum machines he previously favoured. To usher in this new era, the Motor City legend has snapped up a simply brilliant album from Byron the Aquarius. It sees the talented artist add jazz-funk instrumentation (think spacey synth solos, fluid piano lines, breathy flutes and rubbery bass guitar) to a combination of organic and programmed deep house and nu-jazz grooves. It's a brilliantly expansive and spiritual set full of intricate musical details, with highlights including the warming, floor-friendly spirituality of 'Space & Time', the similarly heated 'Spirit of Juju' and the delightful vocal mix of 'Timeless'.

Review: As the sweary, confrontational title suggests, this four-tracker from Detroit hero Omar-S is like a musical expansion pack for his much-discussed recent album, F*ck Resident Advisor. The no-nonsense Detroiter starts in fine fashion with 'Gonna Love You', a jaunty, piano-sporting peak-time loop jam crafted from old school vocal samples and snippets from a killer disco record, before reaching for cosmic synth sounds, lilting melodies and a melancholic mood on the starry deep house jam 'Bread Over Bed'. He subtly doffs a cap to Dance Mania style ghetto-house on the quirky, club-ready cheekiness of 'Shut Up', before smothering a classic house groove with heady hand percussion and snaking synth lines on dense and energetic closing cut 'Sloppy Joe'.