Bambounou - Centrum

01 Where 
02 Composer 
03 Fire Woman 
04 Excluding Natalia 
05 S.A.C. 
06 Each Other 
07 Oez 
08 At The Mirror 
09 0 To 1 

Jéremy Guindo-Zegiestowski has been a bit of a Renaissance man figure in Paris's ever-bustling dance music scene. His early work signalled an allegiance to the more UK-style, bass-heavy side of things—which earned him a regular spot in the 50WEAPONS roster starting in 2012. More recently, however, he's been moving towards house, especially with his growing role in the ClekClekBoom crew. 

50 Weapons will issue Centrum just as it handled the release of his debut album, Orbiting. Where that one was based around an idea of future life beyond earth, Centrum takes the focus back to our home planet, with a dystopian vision the press release describes as "a future where everything is in order and where no one can get out of the system." The label also states that the album takes more of a page from "ambient and techno" than the "bass and footwork influences" of the first LP... www.residentadvisor.net

King Midas Sound - Kuedo And Mala Versions

1. Goodbye Girl (Kuedo Remix)
2. Earth a Kill Ya (Mala Remix)

With a year passed since the release of King Midas Sound's Waiting For You LP, it might seem a bit late for remixes of its tracks, but to be honest these brutal versions from Mala and Kuedo instantly justify themselves. Mala goes for a rootical halfstep sound on his rub of 'Earth A Kill Ya', keeping Roger Robinson's dread pronouncements centre-stage but arming them with Terminator synths and scuttling woodblock polyrhythms that invoke classic DMZ. Kuedo (Jamie Vex'd) excels himself with his mix of 'Goodbye Girl', delivering an epic, gritty R&B smackdown, all bone-crunching subs, squealing synths and ghosted vocal snippets - like the evil older brother of Joker's purple funk. Unmissable 12" for the serious bass heads...www.boomkat.com

Sully - Carrier

01. Its Your Love
02. Hearts
03. In Some Pattern
04. Encona
05. Let You
06. Scram
07. I Know
08. Trust
09. Bonafide
10. Exit

One of the more elusive producers out there, Sully isn't the most prolific, but everything he does release is of the highest quality: his 'Phonebox', to take just the most shining example, never leaves the box. Though he arrived on the crest of dubstep's second wave, it's not easy to pin down his sound: gritty, burnished UK garage is the key influence, but on this album there are significant nods too to footwork and 8-bar grime. 'It's Your Love' and '2 Hearts' openly pledge Sully's allegiance to the original El-B and Groove Chronicles sound, while 'I Know' and Trust' are juke made cinematic, their 808 snaps and plasmic vocal loops buffetting against moody strings and keys; there's also a welcome appearance for past 12" cut 'In Some Pattern', with its rugged 2-step flex, gushingly anthemic synth chords, and ardkore-minded funky-drummer breakdown - a stone cold classic. 'Encona' is bruk-tinged garage-techno in the Horsepower / Maddslinky tradition, while 'Let You' is the kind of vamping grime riddim that Slimzee used to cane in the heyday of Pay As U Go, brought up to date with some nifty vocodered vocal samples and 808 hits, and 'Scram' continues that grime theme with a more chilly, minimal, eski-style vibe. For all the familiar references, probably the only track on this LP that sounds a tad derivative is 'Exit', with its clear channeling the South London noir of Burial - but it still sounds wicked. Carrier is so much more focussed - not to mention more heavy, more hard-earned - than pretty much all the other post-dubstep guff out there. Recommended...www.boomkat.com

George Fitzgerald - Fernweh / Hearts

1. Fernweh
2. Hearts

Party people, Man Make Music send in their head boy George Fitzgerald to head up a shiny Double Garage session on their first release. It follows Fitzgerald's sought-after edit of Groove Theory's 'tell me' and a couple of Joy Orb-like pivots for Hotflush with two solid, gleaming fresh swingers. A-side 'Fernweh' is equipoised between crisp, mnml Techno, chord-flush House and UK Garage swing, and of course with the requisite dose of diced female vocal. Flipside, and 'Hearts' comes with punchier drums and a robust bass drop positing somewhere between Joe's slick shimmies and the Techno variants of Scuba...www.boomkat.com

Walton - Walton EP

1. Aggy
2. Mangled Riddim
3. 808 Vybzin
4. Skrilla

Hyperdub come wickedly fresh with the 4-track debut of Grimy House mutations by 20-year old Mancunian, Sam Walton. With a deadly youthful energy, these tracks find a killer sweetspot between instinctive Grime flow and the cool reserve of House with a highly refreshing lack of conceit, as opposed to, say, the flash, ultra-manicured moves of Damu for example. Face up, there's the dutty discipline of 'Aggy', syncing classically hard-assed Grime snares and cheeky synth squiggles with a rolling House flex, while 'Mangled Riddim' breathes 808-state-like synth pads over the kinkiest, hip-twystin' Latino 808 beats. Flipside, he plays it cool with the tropical fragranced synth washes of '808 Vibzin' before going in tuff on the stripped and bleepy swing of 'Skrilla'. No messin', this is a baaad platter!...www.boomkat.com

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

Horsepower Productions - The Lost Tapes EP

1. Boogaloo
2. Landslide Remix
3. What We Do (Original Mix)
4. Midnight Tease (Instrumental)

Sizzling EP of previously unreleased archive tracks from one of UK dance music's most influential outfits, the mighty Horsepower Productions. As you all surely know by now, In their inspired toughening and teching out of UK Garage, Horsepower effectively brought dubstep into being. In recent years they've favoured a pretty sludgy dubstep sound of their own, but this 12" captures the swinging 2-step energy of their classic period: the albums In Fine Style and To The Rescue and surrounding killer 12"s. 'Boogaloo' sums up everything that made Benny Ill's crew top boys back then - a spruce and spry garage roller, but with the tempo brought down a tad and ragga accents added for the smokers. 'Landslide Remix' is taut steppers' techno as only Horsepower can do it, all pinched BC chords and ceaseless sub-low wump (like a more minimal take on 'Classic Deluxe'). The original of 'What We Do', already seminal in the remixed version that came out in 2001, sounds incredible, with some Ghost-style, hi-speed garage flavour, that irresistible diva loop and an arsenal of brain-boxing FX. 'Midnight Tease (Instrumental)' sees us out on a nicely lubricated breakstep tip - to listen to it is to see precisely how hardcore and jungle begat garage. A brilliant and worthwhile 12" then, historically interesting but more importantly just the sound of Horsepower at their deadly, stealthy best...www.boomkat.com

Lando Kal - Maneuver

1. Maneuver
2. Run It

Unmissable, advanced electronic funk from one half of Bay Area Hip Hop duo Lazer Sword, Lando Kal. He was last spotted rocking a stush cybersoul look on the 'Further/Time Out' 12" for Hotflush, and this one is equally nexx level. Frontside is the Robin S-referencing, Garage-swinging killer 'Maneuver', built from slydin', scissoring drum syncopations cut with 'ardcore edits and bold synth work for guaranteed dancefloor impact. Flipside is the stunning 'Run It', a sure-shot Electro/R&B-special for the future B-Boys. Recommended!!...www.boomkat.com

∆∆ - Sportex (Ikonika Mix)

1. Sportex
2. Sportex (Ikonika Remix)

So, no scene is immune to the symbol invasion, as ∆∆ aka Dimitri Dimas drops his debut on Pushing Red, sporting a truly superb Ikonika remix. His original 'Sportex' is a robust exercise in stripped and optimised 808-step run through with sparing acid licks and rugged uranium-flavoured synth pads. Flip it and you'll find what has to rank as one of the best remixes in Ikonika's catalogue, rejigging the flow with a deadly swagger while adding ultra-acrid melody and tranced out pads for proper, up-to-the-moment effect...www.boomkat.com

Visionist - Rock The Flock

1. Rock The Flock
2. Survive
3. Rock The Flock (Shy One Remix)
4. Rock The Flock (Diskotopia Dub)
5. Rock The Flock (Lamin Fofana Disingenuous Mix)

Ahead of releases for Left_Blank and 502, London's Visionist rolls out two dextrous 808 killers on his debut release for Diskotopia. From the top 'Rock The Flock' dips in with flickering cowbells and darting bass hits on a wicked FootworkXElectro style, while 'Survive' is a few shades darker, hitting a similar swagger to those killer Teeth drops on 502 and Noppa. Remixing 'Rock The Flock', Shy One follows his DVA Music debut with a buoyant, near-beatless float, while the Diskotopia Dub diverts into spooked fairground acid styles and Lamin Fofana, last heard on Dutty Artz, gives a superbly abstract and dynamic Afro Futurist version. Fans of Oneman and Swamp 81 sounds need to peep these!...www.boomkat.com

DJ Rum - Mountains EP

1. Undercoat
2. Mountains Pt. 1
3. Mountains Pt. 2 & 3
4. Turiya

Strong and diverse single from DJ Rum, following a killer remix of LV and Message To Bears with a mixture of hi-Tech Rollers, Juke and emo Garage with detailed compositional flourishes. 'Undercoat' sets the tone with low-lit pads and vocals giving way to sleek stepping rhythms, finely balanced for club or home play. The centrepiece 'Mountains' shows a keener Technoid vocabulary, with Part 1 exhibiting flash, fluid Techno steppers programming with warm, jazz touches hitting the mark between Scuba and Shifted, while Parts 2 & 3 merge loping HipHop into quickstepping Juke momentum with swirling atmospheres, kinda like Blue Daisy jacked up on meth. 'Turiya' is sweeter cool-out 2-step joint with textured Burial-esque finish applied to crisp, classic-referencing 2-step Rave...www.boomkat.com

Dom - Blakelock EP

1. Blakelock
2. Blakelock (Grievous Angel Remix)
3. Blakelock (Donga & Blake Dub Mix)

Crafty Dubstep from Dom on the freshly minted 877 label, backed with remixes by Grievous Angel and Donga & Blake. There's a definite hint of Timbaland to the original 'Blakelock', squashing a squirmy bass under fragrant vocals sample and sparse, shoulder-rolling rhythm to cool effect. On the flip Grievous Angel steps up for a meaner, meatier version with louder, ruffed-up percussion, and Donga & Blake run a slickly dubbed Garage House sound...www.boomkat.com

Jack Dixon & Robin Card - Decade EP

01. Adrian
02. Leave
03. Keith
04. Alone

With all the interzones being explored between dubstep, house and techno of late, it's especially pleasurable to find a newcomer with a wholly different, but congruent, angle. For one thing, Berlin-London duo Jack Dixon & Robin Cardfix pile on the rolling breaks, haunted vocal science and thrill-ride darkness of mid-'90s drum & bass. There's a measured, flickering-machine dub techno dryness to their production as well, and it helps make Dixon & Card's debut energetic without being frazzled.

The jungle feel is especially pronounced on the first three tracks. On "Keith," an echo-drenched, Jamaican-tinged male "ey-ey-ey-aye" that makes up half the vocal hook (the other is a woman's wordless coo) comes out of a collective memory of mid-'90s ragga jungle as much as Dixon & Card's galloping snare work. But the track moves with a lightly carnival hip-sway that's closer to what 2-step garage brought to the continuum—and it's followed by "Alone," on which that skipping quality guides the beat, though it's closer to recent toybox-IDM dubstep than anything Groove Chronicles would have done. But even when the tone (and bass) gets dark, as on "Leave," the beats step too lively and the synths gleam too brightly to leave you in the lurch.

The remixes are a mixed bag. Colo's slurry version of "Alone" is arty and pretty but doesn't stick too much. Eliphino's "Keith" remix layers on the synth glide and punches up the bass hits to good, spirit-of-'95 effect. James Fox's "Leave" attaches a straight-four to the chassis and rides it through some pleasant whooshes...www.boomkat.com

Lukid - Spitting Bile EP

1. My Teeth In Your Neck
2. Park It Low
3. Spitting Bile
4. Dragon Stout

Lukid is one of those producers we're in terrible danger of taking for granted, so consistently impressive and quietly radical are his releases, and so seemingly resistant is the man himself to 'the limelight'. Even by his high standards, the Spitting Bile EP is top banana: moving ever further away from the low-slung templates of his early work and channelling instead a mutant house variant that challenges the grid and refuses to stay fixed for long. 'My Teeth In Your Neck' and 'Park It Low' are broken, mournful slow-house jams reminiscent of Kassem Mosse and Actress's Hazyville, all woozy synthesizers and clotted, earthy FX, while the EP's title track and the lurchingly syncopated finisher 'Dragon Stout' are off-kilter enough to summon the lawless, lo-fi avant-techno of KPLR and Carlos Giffoni's No Fun Acid, but actually engineered with proper UK soundsystem heft, the latter coming over like classic Eski instrumental if Wiley had been on a mandrax and Philip K. Dick thing. Serious business from Lukid, firmly recommended...www.boomkat.com

Daedelus - Overwhelmed EP

01 Overwhelmed
02 Overwhelmed (Star Slinger Remix)
03 Overwhelmed (Raffertie Remix)
04 Tailor-Made (Sepalcure Remix)
05 Overwhelmed (Raffertie Dub)

Typically bonkers, bracing EP from Daedelus. 'Overwhelmed' is so packed with ideas it's actually pretty gross: a breakbeat-driven, electro-pop noise-fest, complete with warped technoid synths, crooning soul vocals and pretty much everything else save the kitchen sink. All four remixers on board thankfully strip things down a tad: Star Slinger delivers arguably his finest production yet, accentuating the heart-rending song at the heart of Daedelus's chaotic original, casing it inside with a neat stepping rhythm and shading with nice crepuscular pads. Raffertie's hypercolour refix also gives the vocals room to breathe, this time in a synthed-out wonky confection that constantly threatens to go UKG but actually maintains its tense mid-paced skank to the very end; the groove - not to mention its tropical dressing - comes across even more impressively on the dub. Perhaps inevitably, Sepalcure provide the most sensitive and quietly devastating version, starting out heavy on the third and the moody keys before swelling to a sleek house finish, accented with compressed breakbeats, fills and spectral juke vocal loops that recall Stewart's recent Machinedrum productions...www.boomkat.com

Raffertie — Visual Acuity

01 Visual Acuity
02 You Could Be Forgiven For Thinking That
03 Twitch (It Grows & Grows)
04 Mimetic

Over the last 2 years Raffertie has emerged as an unquantifiable element with the UK Bass/electronic sphere. After releases for Planet Mu and Black Acre's Special Branch, 'Visual Acuity' is his first release since completing a degree in classical music composition in 2010. It's a clear step forward from the ADHD rave styles of his previous form, still manic but with an overriding sense of control. 'Visual Acuity' sets the bar with dynamic spatial rendering applied to starbursting synths and rogue Garage patterns, while 'You Could Be Forgiven For Thinking That' casts of into sparser, more emotive deep space electronics. 'Twitch' is the strongest dancefloor material, built with the sort of subs and production values which will only be revealed on big rigs, while 'Mimetic' feels like Falty DL or Darling Farah...www.boomkat.com

Pixelord - Iron and Cream EP

01. Iron And Cream
02. Cycloferon
03. Radiozilla
04. In The Mine

Nicely varied EP of day-glo electronics and evolved dubstep beats from Russian troublemaker Pixelord. The swiping synths, taut garage rhythm and chipmunk-pitched vocal snips on 'Iron and Cream' summon Kahn's recent killer drop on Punch Drunk or Zomby at his most cheery. 'Cycloferon' is refreshingly straight-down-the-middle wonky for the skunk ‘n Xbox crowd, replete with tastefully wobbling subs and defiantly tasteless digital arpeggios, riding heavy, dubwise beats that Guido and Joker would be proud of. 'Radiozilla' makes real the mythical meeting of hip-hop and steppers' techno, with a staggered beat that keeps dropping disorientingly from urgent 4/4 pulse to smoked-out gangster roll. For 'In The Mine' we're back on a UKG thing, this time more pensively, the surrounding corona of crackle and compressed diva vocals channelling the post-rave heartbreak previously perfected by Mount Kimbie and Burial, but with some added continental clicks 'n cuts attitude...www.boomkat.com

Bambounou - Alpha EP

1. Alpha
2. Dock Request
3. Heroïc Deeds
4. Divided By Zero
5. Alpha (Teeth Remix)
6. Dock Request (Lunice Remix)
7. Heroi C Deeds (Darling Farah Remix)
8. Divided By Zero (Ikonika Remix)

“Bambounou is back among humanoids, after covering the entire world bewitching it with animist incantations, the kid, a bit less kiddy but still wild and genuine in his productions and dj sets, comes back to tell you about his obsession for repetition, perpetuals motions and animated gifs. A dark and paradoxically extremely warm EP, an eclipse, a black sun using all of your senses, even the 6th until burning your eardrums with his shady UV radiations. Four originals tracks which takes you to a sweaty, violent, sometimes sexy but never emotionless self communion, this work will certainly not let you unharmed. Talents discoverer and mental explorer, after a world tour of influences he picked up artists to remix this EP: Lunice (Canada), Teeth (Finland), Ikonika (England) and Darling Farah (Middle East) are each revisiting, in a very personal way, the originals tracks but still keeping the first aim, to fuck your mind and your heart all this summer.”...www.discobelle.net

Machinedrum - Room(s)

01. She Died There
02. Now U Know Tha Deal 4 Real
03. Sacred Frequency
04. U Don't Survive
05. Come1
06. Youniverse
07. GBYE
08. The Statue
09. Lay Me Down
10. Door(S)
11. Where Did We Go Wrong?

We've been waiting for an album that encapsulates all that's really happening in the clubs right now, and it seems to have arrived in the shape of this beauty from Machinedrum. With his uniquely exploratory and free approach to beat-making, New York producer Travis Stewart has long been an acknowledged hero to the likes of Rustie, Hud Mo et al; his recent work has seen him cultivate a harder, leaner club-oriented sound, evidently inspired by juke, dubstep, early jungle, Detroit techno, nu-garage and especially the present mutant house sound of the UK. But there's nothing token, touristic or box-ticking about this new material; far from trying to ape them, Stewart has absorbed these disparate influences into his own strong and singular sound signature, making for an album that's cohesive as well as intrepid. Opener 'She Died There' lays down the law, existing at the brain-frying intersection between footwork, rugged 2-step and dub-house styles; Stewart's talent is to take the toughness and energy of ghetto styles and work it into advanced, highly polished studio arrangements without diminishing it. The mood is celebratory yet sombre: key track 'Now U Know Tha Deal 4 Real' is stripped steppers' techno at once lightened and made heavier-hearted by chopped R&B vocals. There are still traces of Machinedrum the hip-hop experimentalist: 'Sacred Frequency' is precisely the kind of low-slung jeep-banger that's so endeared him to the LuckyMe crew over the years; albeit crafted with a subtlety and poise that his Glasgow fam are some years off matching. The heaviest cuts are those that reference early 90s Brit soundsystem culture: stripped d'n'b roller 'U Don't Survive' or 'Come1' with its plangent rave pianos and jazz-brushed breakbeats - imagine 2 Bad Mice if they'd if they'd taken as much influence from Alice Coltrane and opium as from Shut Up & Dance and ecstasy. Other highlights come in the form of the limpid, syncopated house bomb 'Gbye', and the strung-out finale 'Where Did We Go Wrong', dub-shattered R&B ambient that comes over like The Weeknd remixed by Echospace. The whole album is just rude as f*ck and astonishingly well produced; there's substance and artistry to even its ruffest riff and bashiest beat. Big...www.boomkat.com

Arkist & Kidkut - One Year Later

1. One Year Later
2. Vanilla Imitate

Rising Brizzle producers Arkist (Deca/Applepips/If Symptoms Persist) and Kidkut (Immerse/Applepips) unite on rolling and skipping grooves for Hotflush. 'One Year Later' is indicative of the House mood permeating Bristol right now, rolling easy like recent Appleblim productions. 'Vanilla Imitate' is more swung and skippy with interlocking syncopations and cool chords...www.boomkat.com