Review: Mike Bandoni returns with Crate Breaks Vol 6, the latest installment in his renowned series. This record is a great tool for adventurous DJs, featuring eight drum fills perfect for slicing into mixes. Each side of the album offers a rich array of segments to elevate any set. Side-1 includes the breaks named 'Diggin In The Pit,' 'Dream State,' 'Hold Fire,' and 'Swing By,' while Side-2 boasts 'Love Scheme,' 'Space Kool Moon Dance,' 'Party,' and 'It's Still Good.' As you can see from the names, these are sure to get the party going. True to its Funk genre roots, this release from Drumstream is ideal for DJs seeking fresh, phat drum segments.
Nick Bike - "Scratch Sentence / 98 Beat / Skipless / 101 Beat" (6:19)
Review: Private Stock Records serves up a treat for DJs and turntablists with a new 12" packed with beats, scratches, and skipless tracks. Four skilled DJsiBig Once, Cutso, Double A, and Nick Bikeicontribute their skills to this collection, offering a diverse range of flavours for scratching and beat juggling. Each DJ delivers a 'Scratch Sentence' and a selection of beats at various tempos, providing a versatile toolkit for creative routines. The inclusion of skipless tracks adds another dimension, allowing for seamless blends and extended mixes. With its focus on functionality and quality, this release is a must-have for any serious turntablist or DJ looking to expand their arsenal of sounds.
Review: On vinyl only comes the new Knockouts compilation, laying down six acapella utilities to add to the collective turntablist's belt. The Kunming, China label - owned and run by Sausage Fingaz - flaunts an unmatched hip-hop diggership, compiling six un-pass-uppable classics, including those of Mary J. Blige's 'Family Affair', LL Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You Out', Eminem's 'My Name Is' and Run-DMC's 'Peter Piper'. Specially designed for mashups and remixes, these are exclusively sourced vocal grooves, always to be cherished and celebrated.
Review: Hip-hop head and dizzyingly dexterous DJ J Rocca is back with another musical celebration of the exit from office of the worst president in the history of the United States of America. This is the 6th such volume of 'Impeach' and it is a tight woven tapestry and skilful mash-up of no fewer than 14 flips of surely one of the most sampled songs in the history of hip hop. Masterfully mixed together and limited to 500 copies, this is a strong sonic statement that will stand the test of time.
Review: Studio Barhnus is one of the most playful and amusing labels out there. They are also one of th only labels we can think of who would release a whole album of acapella versions of previous album tracks. But that's what we have here from Off The Meds, whose late 2002 self titled debut sounds very different without the beats. His unique Zulu-Tsotsitaal-English flows all open with short and sweet musical passages and then get spright to it. They are great tools for jobbing DJs to work into their sets and add some wonderful weirdness.
Review: Following a vibrant summer festival tour, South London Samba now releases their debut EP, Tempo!. Led by Adam Ouissellat, the band's five new tracks showcase a rhythmically rich sound influenced by Brazil and the African diaspora. Celebrating their tenth anniversary, these tracks were recorded at Midi Music Company, where the band has rehearsed since 2013. Captured in single takes by Ahmad Dayes, Tempo! reflects the raw energy of their live performances which are an explosion of samba rhythms with carnival vibrant spirit. Drawing inspiration from the Caribbean, Dutch brass bands, and Latin America, South London Samba pushes plenty of rhythmic boundaries here.
Review: Ugly Mac Beer's Crystal Blue Cuts dives into the gritty, cinematic world of the show Breaking Bad with a 7" that's as audacious as it is creative. Featuring a mix of sounds, effects, and voice snippets that evoke images of gunfights, drug escapades, and street brawls, this record is a daring exploration of thematic scratching. The chaos is brilliantly organised into a coherent set that plays like a mini-audio drama of the streets. Whether you are a turntablist or you are looking for some unique cut up sample style music, look no further than this. Each track is inspired by iconic characters from the series, showing Ugly Mac Beer's knack for crafting compelling narratives through sound. A fun record that will surely have people talking about it.
Review: French house duo Cassius are undersung stars of the genre. Their cuspate millennial smash 'Cassius 1999' marked out well the fervour of the time, fizzing against our ears with its liminal "don't" vox, creep-in bass, brushup rides and stinger Morricone chords, which all build to a laggard but crucial French house wahher. A full-length album followed, exploring the same themes: and now the duo share a new "tool" version of the record, which pares the each of said debut LP's tracks to their barest bones. An "homage to our early experiments with endless loops", 1999 DJ Tool celebrates the long-form, live set cutup approach necessitated by their many European tour dates during the early noughts.
Review: Aldebaran Records presents Murder Patternz, the brainchild of legendary DJ D-Styles, renowned for his contributions to turntablism with groups like Beat Junkies and Invizibl Skratch Pklz. This quadrilogy of battle tools kicks off with volume one, featuring skipless effects at 100bpm on the A-side and a 133 bpm rendition on the B, encouraging the exploration of ultra-pitch techniques. With only 300 copies available, this limited edition release promises to delight turntablists and scratch enthusiasts alike. D-Styles' mastery of the craft shines through in every track, showcasing his unparalleled skill and innovative approach to scratch music. Murder Patternz is not just a collection of breaks but a testament to the enduring influence of DJ D-Styles on the world of turntablism. Whether you're a seasoned scratch artist or a newcomer to the scene, this quadrilogy is a worthy addition to your collection, offering endless inspiration and creative possibilities.
Review: Talk about a time capsule. While the obvious nostalgists out there scour and share their cassette eight packs, desperately converting the mixes they contain to digital files before the inevitable unspooling renders the original recordings obsolete, here comes Death Is Not The End - a record label that lends its name to (well, hosts) a show on NTS Radio - with the ultimate trip back to a time many weren't lucky enough to live through.
As the name suggests, this is literally a collection of no less than 40 radio adverts that appeared at some point or other on London's once-plentiful pirate radio stations between 1984 and 1993. Many are poor quality in terms of production, a good number use samples from some of the biggest dance tracks of the day, loads namecheck some legends of the UK rave scene, and every single one would be loads of fun to drop into a mix or use as a sample for productions. Not that we're recommending doing anything without license.
B-STOCK: Sleeve slightly damaged, records slightly warped
Track 1 (12:58)
Track 2 (16:39)
Track 3 (17:44)
Track 4 (16:07)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve slightly damaged, records slightly warped***
William Tramontozzi aka. DJ JS-1 first released this battle tools compendium as a DVD-r edition sometime circa 2000. Scratch Roulette aimed at one goal and one goal only: to compile all the best slices of samplerific sass onto one medium. Now reissued via Ground Original in 2xLP form, we're now met with several hundred sound effects, phrases, hits, drums and tones on wax. There are no redundant loops or beats here: only scratch sounds and phrases (if you want drums, go sift them out of a record like the best DJs used to do). Time-capsuling an era into a distinct sonic bottle, this one's yet another compendium proving that certain genres aren't just made by form, tempo or rhythm alone; it's often the embellishments, the specific sounds used, that make a classic a breaks, hip-hop, or garage classic.
Review: Woodwurk serves up a record here that is purely for the adventurous and dexterous hip-hop DJs who might be out there: It is a series of apparently skip-proof scratch loops from DJ Robert Smith. It takes the form of several short scratch words and phrases as well as full sentences split across 39 tracks all under a minute in length. These ultra-pitch tools are ripe for experimentation and will bring some undeniable old-school hip-hop cool. This useful long player comes with a cool illustration by skate industry legend Mark 'Fos' Foster.
Review: Roughneck Jihad and Symatic are back with their first full-length album, The Decomposition Ray. After their 2022 Simon Bar Sinister EP and the 2018 lathe-cut 7" Wonder, the duo continues to evolve their unique mix of experimental beats and unconventional lyrics. Crafted with a loop station, tape echo, and Cut & Paste Records scratch tools, the instrumentals were passed to Roughneck Jihad for lyrical infusion. The album's artwork is hand-printed by Bethanien's Dust in Belfast, while each of the 150 vinyl records is splatter-pressed with a unique design, making each copy a true collector's item.
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