Phantasy Sound Vinyl & CDs

Review: This new 12" from Glaswegian producer Harvey McKay sees him reworking Daniel Avery's 'Drone Logic' into a driving, big-room missile i and it absolutely slaps. Upping the tempo and leaning into a more percussive framework, McKay doesn't just touch up the original's swirling psychedelia, he rebuilds it for peak-time pressure. The acid line is still there, twisted and stretched, but now it rides atop galloping drums, shimmering hi-hats and the kind of pneumatic swing that's become McKay's signature. It's a brand new release on Phantasy, pressed in a limited run of 500 and already a fixture in the sets of Avery, McKay and Erol Alkan. The sound is somewhere between soulful techno and heads-down warehouse hypnosis i powerful without being punishing. What's clever is how it stays true to the hazy mood of the source, but flips it into something entirely more immediate. As a one-sided 12" it's a bold statement, but one that's easy to understand: it only needs one track when it hits this hard. Built for high ceilings, smoke machines and stretched-out moments mid-set, this is an edit that earns its hype. A slow-burn classic reborn as a proper dancefloor weapon.

Review: Erol Alkan's faultless Phantasy Sound is one of the most high-quality but musically hard to predict labels out there. British Ugandan DJ Josh Caffe has dropped a few killers here before and has a full length coming later in the year but first is 'Meine Lederjeans'. It's a slow-motion electro-funk cut which vocals that drip with Prince-style sexuality and soul. The Paranoid London remix then does what Paranoid London remixes do - bring the grit, grime and sleaze. It's a raw and frazzled remix with early Chicago acid-house vibes. A superb EP with two very different but equally standout tunes.

Review: Grenoble DJ and producer The Hacker, known for his dataphile dark trance excursions, teams up with newcomer Endrik Schroeder for a full-blown creative grand slam, 'Puissance 4', betraying decades' worth learnedness in the knob-twiddling manual arts. The title track here builds from a classic beat into a euphoric hoover-rave crescendo - luring dancers in with hypnotic acid textural decoys - but then finds mercy on said prey, giving the dance what it needs: a rave riff on loan from heaven. 'The Voyagers' contrasts with an 808 soul slapper, its sensuality and understated heavenliness recalling obscure 7th Plain releases.

Review: Ayrshire's Ewan McVicar returns with a rugged double-header that channels his formative years in the Scottish rave circuit. 'Careless Drifter' lurches forward with thick low-end pressure and twitchy modulation, finally collapsing into a swaying sax break that nods to the more opulent corners of UK rave memory. On the flip, 'Basic Foundation' dials things down without losing focus-slow-motion acid house built from gleaming synths and glowering bass, the kind of thing that turns a packed basement into a seance. Debuted at Corsica and refined at his Handpicked parties, both tracks have the lived-in quality of well-worn favourites-built for dancers, not algorithms.