Juno Recommends Breakbeat: May 2025

Review: 'I'll Take You There' by Leon Mitchison, featuring mixes from Kenny Dope, is a standout release from Kay-Dee Records, in a rare label head-to-head with Now-Again Records. This special edition tosses us an unreleased remix from Kenny Dope, infusing his signature funk-in-the-trunk style into an authentic and primally mixed track, working directly from Mitchison's original 8-track tapes. Acclimatising the first's deeper grooves to Dope's dope, breaks-heavy production, the artist is truly deft at upcycling vintage sonic garms.

Review: Bristol producer Borai (Boris English) and London's Denham Audio (Peri Ashwood) pulled off a remarkable feat with 'Make Me/No Good', an unequivocal release put out on Higher Level Records in 2019. Repurposing the unmistakable hookline from Donna Allen's g-funk jacker 'Serious' from 1986 into a fully re-recorded sample all their own, 'Make Me' set alight the feet of the breaksy raver, striking serious gold in the classic formula of easily-recognised old-school-soul vocals and sculpted tearout heft. As anthemic as its original B-side, 'No Good', the original latter half of the record now comes substituted by Big Ang's Rave To The Grave mix, whose blooping trooper sound design and mains-hum Reeses provide an ecstatic alter. A can't-go-wrong reissue by the Room Two camp.

Review: Yo Speed has been making moves on the likes of 83 and Distorsion Records, and after several standout EPs, now makes his full-length debut with Colores. Across four sides of vinyl he explores every facet of breakbeat, starting with the sort of emotionally, architecturally grand cut that has defined Sasha's approach to sound for many years. 'Fucsia' gets more down and dirty with howling basslines from drum & bass and soulful r&b vocal hooks. Elsewhere are gems like the sun-kissed and serene 'Esmeralda' and masterfully melodic, tightly sequenced arps of the potent 'Escarlata'. A real widescreen trip.