RECOMMENDED: V/A – Tax Haven 1 [Iberian Records]

Conspira, 23Hz and Numaestro’s label, Iberian Records – those who gave Octa Push an outlet with their eponymous EP – step out once again and bring out the good time vibes with their latest collated 12”, Tax Haven. Featuring a track a piece from Relocate, Mr Gasparov and Nehuen the three producers all bring a different vibe to this pre-emptively tropical release, providing cut-up, sample heavy break-laden garage, laid back, loved-up, sun blazing dance floor soul and raw, colourful UK funky hybrids.

Relocate turns in an energetic diva blazing bumpy garage number with ‘Soul Survivor,’ the beats kick hard and relentlessly like a cross between UKG and jackin’ Chicago house. The bass is deep, the samples euphoric and its all brought together with cut up horn stabs and disco strings. It’s all pretty reminiscent of hey-day 4x4 UKG and thankfully it’s addictive as hell, thanks in no small part to the beautifully percussive drum breakdown. The summer time vibes really shine through on Mr Gasparvo’s cut with vocalist G.Rina ‘Transient Love,’ It’s a punchy dubbed-out shimmering, tropical gem that sounds like a laid back beach party replete with Care Bear waiters and bubble gum fixtures and fittings.

The flip is the all out dancefloor track on the EP and Nehuen’s ‘Between Love and Hate’ is made up of the raw artefacts of UK funky: relenteless snares and bass that just never gives in. Those bass tones make me wonder if I’ve heard it in Petchy set (though I probably haven’t) especially when they’re played off by the heavy handed beats. There is an eerie urgent air to the production brought on by that swirling grime-esque dubby mouth organ melody but it’s all brought back down to earth by warm chord stabs that bubble along in their own blissful way.

Words: James Balf
Out: Now


Relocate - Soul Survivor [Iberian]

Links:
http://iberianrecords.bandcamp.com

PRE-ORDER: Mr. Gasparov – 1975/Octa Push - Ai Nadia & Laika Likes It [Steak House]

Sometime Bristol, sometime London duo Monkeysteak have announced the first 12” release from their new label Steak House, promising to deliver "pure carnival fire" through outsourcing global bass sounds. Over the last few years, the internet’s increasing ubiquity and ever-faster connection speeds have turned the cross-pollination of bass culture into a truly worldwide phenomenon. As well as giving rise to DJs who no longer stick exclusively to one style of music, this has enabled dubstep’s influence to bleed into other localised urban genres – and vice versa, as the Africanised percussive patterns of UK funky can attest to.

Surprisingly, given the label’s dynamic manifesto, Mr. Gasparov’s contribution is a curiously muted way to open their first 12”. Which is not to detract from the track at all – ‘1975’ is a woozy piece of two-step infused house that gradually layers up over its length, from the sparsest of synthetic melodies to an eerie carnival of sampled voices and dizzying instrumental tessellation. It’s still more of a slow-burning brushfire than a massive electrical explosion, which certainly could not be said of Octa Push who bring the promised fireworks on the flip.

‘Ai Nadia’ kicks the reverse off in fine form, its tightly syncopated beat loaded with elements from a whole host of different genres – the propulsive skip of garage, funky’s tribal machinations and the grimey crunch of kuduro. It’s the best thing on here by a long way, a little reminiscent of contemporaries Buraka Som Sistema in sheer bass aggression and lent a distinctly local air by deftly chopped ‘n’ sliced Portugese vocal shards. The fast and furious garage hybrid of ‘Laika Likes It’ wears its UK influences more overtly, a little bit of London attitude ensnared in its suggestive female vocals and bubbling subs.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: 26th October 2009

Link:
www.myspace.com/mrgasparov
www.myspace.com/octapush
www.myspace.com/steakhouserecords