Pangaea - Hex / Fatalist

1. Hex
2. Fatalist

Ultra-crisp, hard-bodied future flexes from Pangaea, dropping one of his deadliest singles to date. The man's hardly known for his high work rate, releasing only a handful of records since he started in 2008, but he's evidently born of a rare breed who exert exacting quality control over their music, hence one of the most definitive catalogues in the modern Bass music canon. Disciplined, and distinctively rooted rhythmic control coupled with the keenest production values keep his tracks timelessly futurist, and no more so than 'Hex', a tautly syncopated and wickedly weighty ragga-jungle update infused with the nattiest chat and sci-fi dread synths to invigorating standards. The flip to this is 'Fatalist', an equally robust and dutty swinger, keeping the pressure locked deeper in the pocket with shredding drum shuffles and an LFO tweaked bassline begging for badman/gyal behaviour on the 'floor. Killer...www.boomkat.com

Pangaea - Inna Daze / Won't Hurt

1. Inna Daze
2. Wont Hurt

Pangaea, lad, what are you doing to us?!?! Over a year after his eponymous Hessle EP, Kevin McAuley augments his sound to a 130bpm (or thereabouts) style of deep Technoid ruffige compatible with label brethren Elgato or more recent 2562 beats. Squaring up to 'Inna Daze' we're faced with a rugged rollers figure, broad, shoulder swinging bass with a Monolake-esque finish synched to hip-tucking, fake-out drum programming pecked with feverish diva yelps and siren stabs. On the flip, 'Won't Hurt' starts out pensive but soon enough brings the bass weight like some 2005 DMZ classic, only at 130bpm and with hair-raising Detroit techno strings delivered like a true badman. Don't f**k about. This is essential!...www.boomkat.com

Pangaea - Pangaea EP

A1 Why
B1 Sunset Yellow
B2 5-HTP
C1 Neurons
D1 Dead Living
D2 Because of You

Having piqued the ear of many with his debut "Coiled" and the awesome "Router"—an anthem partly responsible for the strong vocal renaissance within future thinking garage music—Pangaea has taken his sweet time with his release schedule, quietly putting out a 12-inch for Scuba's Hotflush imprint before rounding off 2009 with a bootleg white label of another superbly vocal-led roller, "Memories."

Starting the ball rolling in 2010 for his own Hessle Audio label—an imprint he runs with Ben UFO and Ramadanman—Pangaea's six track EP has a lot to live up to; or rather it has his lack of output to exceed. It proves its worth from the get-go, though, with the bumpy marching drums and ascending bass/organ combo of "Why," which positively bursts into life at the chorus with yet another strong female vocal hook and lolloping snares flamming on every other bar's second beat.

"Sunset Yellow" is an apt and sensitive display of Pangaea's minimal approach, as he rolls soft pads before hushed organs behind a progressing drum beat that skips with all those little percussion flickers and hurried flourishes that pepper most of the Hessle label's output. Keeping his mix simple, he lets his bubbling melody breathe but later smothers it with fighting layers of screeching female vocals. "5-htp" seems built from a more junglist sound palette with those classic boom resonating bass stabs ebbing away behind constant hi-hat flourishes, offbeat snares and a machine hum. It's at this stage that you really notice his talent for arrangement, as he uses the piano-riddled sample to completely switch the tone, while stuttering and underpinning his main snare hits to accentuate the rhythm as it accommodates the subtle melody. It's a constant running theme throughout his work; "Neurons" sees him letting his eerie vocal sample ring out before weaving in the warbling synth hook, adding the constant percussion to drive the impact and frame the progression.

Pangaea's vision can sometimes start to sound a bit bleak, thanks in no small part to his talent for fusing sprawling chords with layers of atmospherics. But with a quick smattering of winding synth on "Dead Living," he immediately manages to lift the track and take it somewhere drastically different, playing up the awkward riff and amplifying its impact. And on closer "Because of You" he does things that completely contrast the preceding bars, as if he's feeding himself deeper into the recesses of his late night recording sessions.

Even though there is dance floor fodder on tracks like "Why," "Sunset Yellow" and "Dead Living," the buzzwords for this EP should be depth and subtlety. Much like the way Pangaea chooses to irk out his music slowly, his productions take that extra bit of time to creep up on you, gradually becoming more and more infectious...www.residentadvisor.net

Pangaea - Bear Witness & Mosaix

1. Bear Witness
2. Mosaix

When we last left Pangaea, he'd just turned out one of the highlights (if not the highlight) of a great 2008 at Leeds' Hessle Audio: "You & I / Router." His first release for 2009—this time for Scuba's Hotflush Two—pursues the same rain-soaked, melancholy take on the jungle/garage continuum.

Meaty bass patterns and a jagged high-end give "Bear Witness" its teeth. This track, however, is more haunting than aggressive, delicate quivers of synth pad complementing the rhythm's more urgent anxieties with a contemplative wariness. Pretty and pummeling with real crossover prospects, "Bear Witness" is a thoroughly appropriate follow-up to "Router"'s emotional crescendo.

An out-of-kilter, warped-LP loop of upright bass winds through B-side "Mosaix." Even after a succession of effects and treatments melt it into something more pliable, the bluesy sample lends some gutter grit to this jazzy track. It's as brooding as any Pangaea production, with an overlay of melodramatic keys sounding faintly like French horn, but the spotlight is on tough, punchy drums.

As for the future, dubstep-obsessed internet hangouts are franticly abuzz with the imminent release of Pangaea's acclaimed "Memories" (though I tend to think "Bear Witness" is a more exciting release), and next up for Hotflush Two is new material from Untold...www.residentadvisor.net