Oldivibes Ukraine Vinyl & CDs

Review: We don't know much about Foley, the artist behind this EP on Mulen Records offshoot Oldivibes, but we can confirm that he/she/they has delivered something truly special. It's a nostalgic, retro-futurist affair, with the producer offering up a quartet of cuts laden with references to classic deep house and US garage. 'C'mon Get Down', with its restless bassline, bustling breakbeat house drums, spacey textures, hip-hop vocal snippets and nods to modern tech-house, sets the tone, before 'Electronica' blends early morning deep house tropes with not so subtle nods to bleep & bass and sci-fi techno. Elsewhere, 'Latenight' is a Kerri Chandler-esque bumper featuring killer organ stabs and smooth bass, while 'Euro Pulse' is a trance-inducing early morning throb-job with luscious ambient techno pads.

Review: At least before the current conflict, Ukraine had an ever more essential underground scene, most of it based around the revered Closer club in Kiev, although there are plenty of vital labels popping up with increasing frequency. Oldivibes is not the newest but on this evidence is one of the ones you really need to know about. Jentzen's new EP Transactions kicks off with 'Two Filter', a bumping and spaced out tech cut with nice solid bass. 'Octavia' then slips down a gear into a more deep and roomy groove with plenty of deft synth craft and leggy drums and 'Transactions' then picks up again with and percussion and ditty hits.