Dro Carey - Candy Red

1. Candy Red
2. Hungry Horse

Deeply tripped and deadly Avant-Dance music from compelling anomaly, Dro Carey. Since dropping one of last years most un-categorisable and weirdly thrilling 12"s, the 'Venus Knock' EP for Trilogy Tapes, he's been relatively quiet, and it's kinda understandable because most labels are just way too conservative to deal with this amount of madness. So, huge kudos to Ikonika's Hum & Buzz label, for whose forward aesthetic really suits the rhizomatic futurism of this record. His A-side 'Candy Red' is a proper outsider take on Footwork, 808 Bass music, '90s R&B and fractal electronics, hyper-streamed through a Youtube'd and Tumblr'd mind to sound like a total trip. Flipside 'Hungry Horse' is also produced from a uniquely forward perspective, visually evocative of ultra-modernist, sharply contoured architecture, and built from brittle fragments of pointillist Juke percussion, glass-curtain synth pads and rapid-fire R&B vocal patterns, all arranged in blocks like some impossibly unstable lego superstructure. We've waffled too long, just cop it and freak the heck out! Strongly recommended for the futurists!...www.boomkat.com

Don Froth - Balboa / Von

1. Balboa
2. Von

Pure, 'floor-scorching JukeXGarage rinse-out from a rogue San Fran operator. To date Don's done Techy House fusions for Phonica's white label series and self-released a small clutch of Bass grooves besides engineering duties for DJ Harvey, but for our $, this is his best yet. A-side is a pumping number called 'Balboa' fusing springy bass hits with surging rave signals and canny sense of syncopation somewhere between Dance Mania's maddest moments and latinzied Joe-style groove. Flipside 'Von' is equally energetic, full of percolating club rhythms and mesmerizing Techno-Disco synthlines for the dancers. Sick!...www.boomkat.com

Distal - Boss of the South EP

1. Boss of the South
2. Coke Bottle
3. Boss of the South (Sinden Remix)
4. Boss of the South (Capracara's South of Heaven Remix)
5. Coke Bottle (Wheez-ie Remix 1)
6. Coke Bottle (Wheez-ie Remix 2)

Distal's arrived in a big way in 2011, and his debut for Sinden's Grizzly is possibly his strongest release yet. 'Boss Of the South' is fractally busy yet solidly rolling, flicking in fragments of mentasms, 8-bit chirrups and Jukin' sample stabs, while the muscular, rolling subs lock it down for the dance, and 'Coke Bottle' works percolating Toms like Chicago's finest, but with a laidback Southern tilt that's more compatible with UK 'floors. Remixing, Sinden evens the keel with a rollin' 4/4 rework of 'Boss…' and Capracara drops some sexy New Jersey swing vibes with a kinky infusion of rave dirt, while Wheez-ie freaks out two uptempo Footwork versions of 'Coke Bottle'...www.boomkat.com

Dam Mantle - We EP

1. We
2. Meet Me In The Ambulance
3. Somnambulate My Dear
4. Not A Word

First run of the year for one of 2010's most intriguing production units, Dam Mantle. Starting up the GetMe! label with the 'We' EP, they concoct an ethereal blend of spidery, skittish 808s, displaced vocals and rustic horror vibes, the likes of which we couldn't recall hearing anywhere else. From the top, 'We' rolls up shroomy, twirling arpeggios and Jukin' 808s with a defintively melancholy lilt which permeates the rest of the 12". It's apparent in the swift highlight of 'Meet Me In The Ambulance', where the rhythms roll in and out of 4/4 sequences under moodily grey-skied pads, and there in the lightly shrill dissonance of 'Somnambulate, My Dear' with it's BoC-like pastoral outro, and twystin' the midnight electronic soul of 'Not A Word' with a more fractal yet fluidly jazzy quality. Quite importantly, their sense of funk throughout these tracks is highly nuanced and way more devleoped than so many in their field, bar the actual Juke guys or the likes of Zomby and others, but applied with their own eerie melodies and voices, it's a unique affective brew. Recommended...www.boomkat.com

Africa Hitech - Out In The Streets (VIP)

01. Out In The Streets (VIP)
02. Caveman Style
03. Seek Em Step
04. Looking For The One (Digital Bonus Track)

Fresh from dropping their justly acclaimed 93 Million Miles LP, Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek ram their righteous message home with an absolutely stylin' single, transforming footwork-inspired album track 'Out In The Streets' into a jump-up junglist anthem with unmistakeable juke accents. With its high-suction sub bass this explosive VIP reminds us instantly of Undercover Agent's classic rudeboy roller 'Oh gosh!', but the slinky keys and battery of ping-ponging FX bring things bang up to 2011; best of all, they've kept the anthemic vocal refrain of the original shiningly intact. 'Caveman Style' is on a stripped-back bashment tip, all woody percussion, hollowed-out low-end and insolent synth brass straight outta the dancehall - if the thought of a classic Eski riddim refixed by Pearson Sound floats your boat, then you’ll dig this. 'Seek Em Step' feels similarly indebted to grime's heyday, a hanging Shinobi melody dressed with sweet techno licks and set to a deadly half-step skank. Digital bonus track 'Looking For The One' rounds out the package, itchy computer funk that damn near beats Zomby at his own game...www.boomkat.com

Pearson Sound - Blanked / Blue Eyes

1. Blanked
2. Blue Eyes

Ramadanman switches to his Pearson Sound alter-ego for two killer Juke-infused roll-outs on Hessle Audio. 'Blanked' is the one you want, mapping percussive patterns somewhere on the cusp-of-'ardcore-and-garage, and Chicago Juke styles with a stunning midway drop sounding like early '90s Autechre pads. 'Blue Eyes' takes the flipside for a straighter revision of the Juke sound with brittle, splintered rhythms and succinct synth drops and that infectious female vocal snippet, but for the most part this is just a perfectly formed naked roller ready for mixing by able DJs. While the distinctions between his two sonic personalities are becoming blurrier, there's a much-reduced aesthetic to these tracks that set them apart from pretty much all his recent material, making this a certified winner. Big twelve!...www.boomkat.com