Scuba (4) ‎– Adrenalin

A bit of an accidental discovery for me this one. First, "Never" was the absolute standout track on DJ Mag's Best of British 2011 unmixed covermount CD. Amongst a bunch of decent deep and tech-house tracks, a couple of reasonable D&B tracks, and the yes, outstanding, but already familiar to me pairing of "Bohla" by Blawan and Africa HiTech's "Out In The Streets", suddenly here was this track that took me back to 80s 6th form disco, yet sounded like nothing I had ever heard.
Next, I bought Bleep.com's 100 best of 2011, and there was Adrenalin; an outstanding piece of trancey house reminiscent of some of the early 90's finest moments of commercial rave. After piecing together the fact that these 2 amazing tunes were off the same EP I promptly picked up the MP3 of Everywhere, and was not disappointed. Vinyl supplies seem to be sporadic at best - I recently ordered it from Bleep when it was relisted as available, but stock did not materialise and they sent me a refund. But buy it on MP3 anyway - an absolutely essential purchase.

It's still available on 12" from the label's website http://www.surus.co.uk/albums/adrenalin-13884.aspx

Fuck the people trying to sell it at an outrageous price!!

Where "Adrenalin" is Scuba playing that 'anthemic' Scuba game of late (and perhaps a little too obviously/ cheesily/ systematically/ unsurprisingly so for my taste), where "Everywhere" is a strange attempt to invent go-go trance (was that necessary?), "Never" is a pure, priceless jewel. And as this is released just when Orbital make a half-baked comeback after a few years off with a quite weak track entitled..."Never", one might note the cosmic irony : Scuba's one, with its monster panoramic pads and lush cut-up vocal breakbeat climax, actually perfectly captures their original spirit and aesthetics, like an updated, beautiful athletic child to their own "Halcyon", "Lush", "Midnight" or "Belfast"...sometimes when parents fail it is good to have the children to take over :)

this is massive (and let me add that i don't use the word massive when describing music, ever). my impression: three tracks of 80s pop nostalgia through the lens of modern (underground) dance music. 'adrenalin' is anthemic, yes there is a big build, etc., but (a) it never feels forced, (b) it's not cheesy, (c) it's entirely essential for such a powerful song to play with release. this is a celebration. 'never' makes me want to cry but it's not at all melancholy. 'everywhere' reminds me of prince. all three tracks employ a a repetitive vocal to sheer perfection. absolutely not what i expected when i put it on, and definitely a fulfilling listen. it grew on me steadily and i am 100% in love with this. please at least give it one good listen (perhaps headphones).