Skam Vinyl & CDs

Review: James Ruskin and Mark Broom return with a third installment of their wayward electronica project, The Fear Ratio. Far from the bruising techno they normally throw down, "They Can't Be Saved" is an introspective trip into the knotted realms of hip-hop influenced machine music produced down to the nth degree. The beats crunch hard and the atmospheres come shrouded in mystery, slotting in perfectly on the legendary Manchester label Skam. Both a wonderful revival of leftfield electronica and a vital, fresh approach, this third album is another triumphant one. Slap this one on and revel in the sound of two hugely accomplished producers cutting loose and having fun in the studio.

Review: Tom Knapp has been skirting around the fringes of crunchy electronica for some time now, but he's really been hitting his stride as SDEM in more recent times. Having dropped some choice wares on the likes of CPU, Opal Tapes and Seagrave, now he makes the move to Skam, a label with a clear influence on the scuffed and gnarled machine funk he wrenches from his studio. It's music which takes cues from electro and hip-hop but comes on like futuristic matter pinged back a century or so and left to rust in the North Western drizzle for a couple of decades. Bursting with inventive approaches and packing a mean swagger, SDEM is the real deal for all beat freaks who like it crispy.