Juno Recommends Breakbeat: April 2022

Review: Having inaugurated his Dynamics of Acid imprint with two solo EPs full of booming bass, sweaty breakbeats, trippy electronics and dreamy chords, Moy has decided to mix things up by inviting Zodiac Wax founders Zodiac Child to join in the fun on 12" number 3.Moy sets the tone with 'Ratufa', where sparkling piano riffs, gaseous chords and lilting lead lines ride rumbling sub-bass and crunchy, house-tempo breakbeats, before Zodiac Childs propel the track into deep space on their excellent accompanying remix. They then take over with the early Orbital-esque brilliance of 'Overstep', which Moy then re-frames as a punchy, acid-fired slab of electro-breaks excellence. In a word: excellent!

Review: Vivid's unashamedly retro-tinted breakbeat assault continues apace with five more high grade suggest. It is the newly emergent, in form Daffy who follows up a nice EP on Time Is Now earlier in the year with throwback mash up. There are rigid metal chords panning about the mix next to bleeping fax machines and bustling breaks on the opener and from there he doesn't let up. 'Dents' is a bass heavy garage workout with razor sharp hits and 'No Caller ID' drops deeper into warped garage basslines. 'Palm Tree' is pure jungle goodness, and last of all 'Don't Think' is maybe the best of the lot.

Review: Dreamy and verbed-out braindance from maestro London artist MOY, whose 'Jovian Sunrise' EP here gets a delayed run through our store. An originals and remix EP in equal measure, 'Jovian Sunrise' and 'Mystic Attenuator' conjure myriad deep-space images; Borg cubes, acid asteroids, glitzy ring systems... all the while, fellow house and disco producer cum drum n' bass detourer Silver Fox brings a hellish remix reminiscent of Bukem's Demon's Theme, while Fugitive reigns supreme over his boomeranging breakbeats and low-siney palette.

Review: The Jalepeno label is a famously fiery funk outlet that serves up more of that dance floor heat here. It comes from Skeewiff's One Sample Short Of A Lawsuit EP back in 2000 and gets pressed to its own tidy 7" here. As the title of that EP suggests, this is music that mashes up the past with a serious of sizzling samples over driving rhythms. 'Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya' is real horn led b-boy stuff with crashing breaks, and on the flip is 'Man Of Constant Sorrow' with its nagging and iconic vocals over a more country-fried funk beat.

Review: Zesty goodness... Daniel Pringle dons his Jaffa cap and digs through his last few years of prolific dispatches for this special wax outing. Besides the fluttering jungle dream 'Zap Ting II', all of these have been cooked up since 2020 but can now be felt with all the weight of the machines Jaffa baked them on. With vibes ranging from the twinkling cosmic 'Noon' to the much direct and dubby four-to-the-floor moment, these six grooves capture his tasty range and wholesome futurism. More than your recommended five-a-day.

Review: As many of you will know, Jason Warlock has been serving up killer club cuts since the bleep and breakbeat hardcore era, with many of his more recent releases being rediscovered jams from that period. Whether the two original tracks on this release from that period date from then is not confirmed, but they both sound like delicious blasts from the past. 'Square Jazz' is a wonderfully creepy, sub-heavy blast of 1990 style breakbeat hardcore, while 'Sirens' boasts even filthier bass, glassy-eyed Yorkshire bleeps and insanely crispy breakbeats. Over on the flip you'll find two reworks of his last Sneaker Social Club single, 'Old Gold': a proto-jungle-meets-21st century bleep & breaks re-wire from Low End Activist and the bleeping, bass-heavy, beat-free 'Monopolypella Mix'.

Review: Since joining forces as Soul Mass Transit System a couple of years ago, Baby J and D Jason have released a wealth of club-ready 12" singles, many of which explore their love of vintage UK garage. This EP on Vivid is a little more eclectic but no less celebratory or peak-time ready. For proof, check saucer-eyed opener 'Set You Free', where giddy old school piano stabs, stretched-out sub-bass and spinetingling female vocal samples ride a rolling breakbeat, and the revivalist hardcore hedonism of the ludicrously bass-heavy 'Nah Nah Nah'. They doff a cap to their bassline roots on crunchy breakbeat roller 'Phat Booty', before drawing a fine EP toa close with the two-step-goes-Niche heaviness of 'Smoke'.

Review: Felipe Valenzuela's Cure Music returns with the co-bossman at the helm. Four tracks deep, we're treated to a whole spectrum of groove science; Going solo on the A, Felipe kicks off with a cosmic broken beat space boogie 'The Time Between' before laying down the 4x4s on deliciously bubbly deep house flex with 'Deau'. Meanwhile on the B we see Felipe linking up with regular sparring partner Dani Casarano. The Swiss / Chilean connection still as strong as ever; 'Maze Of Dreams' is reminiscent of lucid 2020 Soundsystem wig-out while 'True Talk' closes the EP on more broken beat bliss, this time taking an electro-style route. Time's up.