reviews

PHD presents two new bits with nary an amen in sight. "Haze" is a mellow tune with an almost electro-jazz feel, featuring plenty of flutes and deep pads. The beats are very minimal in a very Justice-esque way. The music is great, but i wish the beats had more energy; as it is, it's a little too laid back for my tastes. The flipside, "Contrast", is my favorite of the two tracks, with a nice growly analog/808 bassline and multiple layers of synths, flutes and saxaphones. Very very nice, indeed. Grade: B+

I was always under the impression that System would never get released, but here it is. Unfortunately, by now it sounds a little dated - the musical elements are wonderful, but the minimal beats could use some beefing up (then again, i say this about almost every KMC release). Nontheless, a very pretty tune that is a worthwile addition to the arsenal. The flipside, Too High by Rantoul, is a nice little techno-inspired piece that sounds a little like Deep Blue with more layers and atmospheric elements. If you like your breakbeats with a real drum machine programmed feel, you will want this tune. Grade: B+

Causing mayhem on the dancefloor, State of Mind features a rough overdub bassline with excellent amen stabs. The breakdown is superb with female moans and filtered synths. Transmission is a moody departure from the usual Big Bud sound. Haunting voices and chopped up rhodes create the vibe. Excellent! Grade: A

Timeshift is a nice roller for the early morning. The minimal yet choppy breaks are very laid back and are joined with sublime sweeping synths and a continuous hook. Components, with its uplifting summer vibe, is my pick. Two-step beats drive this one which has an excellent and soulful vocoder voice which are later added to with a flute sounding instrument. Lee & Keir showing their more funky side. I really like this one. Grade: A-

Originally debuted on Bukem's first Progression Sessions mix cd, these are two class tracks. Biowire's Karizma features some nicely cut apache along with a jazzy bassline and horn stabs which change nicely. Definite one for the dancefloor. Equinox by Cedar is more on the atmospheric side of things. A simple, yet effective, tune with sorrowful chords and a wicked bassline that drops nicely. Must have. Grade: A-

The North London duo known as Blu Mar Ten debuted less than three years ago. In that short period of time they have racked up too many classic after classic. Add their new double 12" on GLR to the list! This EP sounds like nothing else coming out at the moment and might take a few listens before the pure genius and originality behind it is to be comprehended. The title track, Everglades starts off with some wicked machine noises before sweeping pads, organic sounds, and innovative jazz-flavored beats come in. Oh yeah its in 7/4 signature so have fun mixing! Void-Field is an excellent track with a plethora of ever-changing sounds and highly complex breaks. Santur, featured on Progression Sessions 3, is the most dance floor friendly track on the EP and features a catchy jazz bassline and a plethora of "world" sounds. The last track Blush is almost devoid of any beats whatsoever. Absolutely gorgeous guitars and saxes form the foundation of this symphony. Definitely seek this EP out as its limited to 5,000 copies! Grade: A+

1. Control - Control : I think we all know this one, it's OK.
2. Big Bud - Pure : Nice, but fairly standard roller.
3. Big Bud - State Of Mind : This is more like it. Starts with the same type of drum pattern as the previous track, but then a hypnotising bassline, inventive amen chop and mystical lead riff take it to a new level; quality stuff from Mr O'Reilly.
4. Future Engineers - Time Shift : LTJ picks up the pace now with a wicked roller from Lee & Keir representing the Glasgow sound - there's been one Glasgow track on every Session so far - not bad for a small scene! Bukem's been caning this on plate for ages now. The drums sound a bit thin on this particular plate - I'm sure they're a bit harder than that really.
5. Voyager - Apollo : Floatatious drift expansion which forms the flip-side to the recently released Beatnik. Supremely laidback.
6. Second Vision - The Italian Job : Boring - I never have liked this track, although it seems to be pretty popular. Straight up, slightly phased Amen break with background strings which sound to my ears like those in Shogun's remix of Ken Ishii's track 'Stretch', which was well wicked (and sounded like the theme from The Six Million Dollar Man - or maybe my hearing's just duff !)
7. Blu Mar Ten - Santur : Brilliant. Prospective producers - listen to this track and copy...not the sounds, arrangement or style...but the feeling behind the tracks these guys make, i.e. to try and do something new. For this particular excursion, BMT take some 'world music' type sounds and mix with filter sweeps, sax, piano and breaks to form a sweet blend that sounds like da bomb to me.
8. Big Bud - Transmission : Really like this one. Very deep & melancholy with a music-box sounding riff in the background and some trippy guitar twangs. The only slight black spot is what sounds like a JV1080 synthesised sax patch. Yeugh - very hard to get synth saxes to sound good instead of cheesy; just a pet hate of mine. Otherwise an excellent track.
9. Intense - Solar : Powerful stuff from Intense. Quite hard, steppy break and ominous analog pads / string sweeps. Sounds like they have hung up their 1080 and are playing with the Z1 a bit more these days. Excellent, and not what I expected after the live-jazz excess of Logical 3.
10. Big Bud - Emotionography Remix : Hmmm...can't make up my mind if I like this or not, but I'm certainly a bit fed up with hearing that break.
11. Blu Mar Ten - B.R.O : Luvvly jubbly. Starting with what sounds like a Robert Fripp-esque effected guitarry pad, in come reversed & filtered breaks. I was a wee bit disappointed to hear the raw amen break come in after that. But it's well done & the amazing bassline and many layers of samples just take over and transport you to another dimension. Another winner from the lads.

Overall I think this is a pretty good CD from LTJ. There is a lot of excellent MC'ing throughout, particularly on the 4th & last track where Conrad & DRS really bring up the atmospherics. A big plus is that most of the tracks are thus far unreleased - PS1 & 2 contained a lot of stuff I already had which pissed me off a bit, but I got them anyway :)

The tracks from Big Bud also restored my faith in him, coz he hasn't really done anything recently that I liked and I thought his EP was well below par. Having said that, Bukem is currently caning a Big Bud tune called 'Way of Life' and it is fu*king amazing.