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Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (76 ratings)

Distance* - Headstrung / No Sunshine - 21-Nov-08 08:35 AM
Dare I say Metalstep? Of course not because thats bollocks. This is quite simply another top class release from a producer who has remained consistent since his early releases on Hot Flush and Lix. Wicked guitar (are they samples or real or plug ins?) riffs and huge bass (sounds like what most bands/gigs lack) are on offer with this release on his own excellent Chestplate imprint.
I remember Scuba doing a similar thing a couple of years back, and I though it was a pretty jaunty tune - damn good bass anyways, but it just verged on the cheesy side.
Distance has managed to avoid that trap and created two brilliant engaging tunes that will have you skanking on the dancefloor, or seriously head nodding (air guitaring!) at home.
Choice stuff yet again Mr Saunders. Thanks.

Funckarma - Dubstoned Vol. 2 - 21-Nov-08 08:24 AM
You know when you hear a really good producer and you wonder what theyd concoct if they started making other kinds of tunes? In a different genre or style.
I know that the Funcken brothers arent pigeon-holed, with their squished and digitally crunched sound gracing labels such as Skam, Arcola, Sublight, Djak-Up-Bitch...The list goes on. But for me ever since hearing the work with Shadow Huntaz I really really wanted to hear their take on dubstep. How would they forge their sound into this new genre.
Well, what they did was make it scary. I mean very very dark and warped. Heavily processed and digitised sounds writhe in the spaces between beats. The beats crunch like a Google server meltdown. Its heady stuff, that forgoes the warmth that I have become used to with dubstep. These guys arent searching for that spliffed out bass rumble that takes over your body. Oh no. They are shooting 1/4 jacks into your brain and guts from computerised crossbows. Then wiring you into a paranoid matrix where digital nightmares unfurl. Its great stuff and feels like what Cloaks (on Werk Discs) were trying to achieve, but just fell short. Highly recommended if you want a fresh approach to a genre that just keeps evolving.

Harmonic 313 - EP1. - 21-Nov-08 04:07 AM
Awesome piece of work here from Mr Pritchard. Big nods to J Dilla, but believe me not a rip off. The pace, spaces and rhythms are Dilla-like, but Pritchards electronic background shines through with bleeps and squelchy acid lines that gives the whole EP a feeling of early Warp meets contemporary Stones Throw. Dillas production on Frank-N-Danks 48 Hrs was an electronic journey where he produced all of his own sounds (due to sample clearence problems on the first draft, he rewrote the album!) and you can definitely see a parallel with that album and this EP, but Pritchard has enough styles and skills of his own to render something that is part homage to Dilla, but all unique to Harmonic 313. If you like this check out Dabrye, Flying Lotus and Funckarma; other fine examples of electronica-meets-hip hop.

Circus - 21-Nov-08 03:43 AM
Not everyones cup of tea, but I for one am a fan of his rambling, inebriated, monotonous delivery. The guy is simply having a ball chatting bollocks about alien abductions, conspiracy theories and Star Wars of course. Hes an instrumental and fundamental part of one of the greatest hip hop crews (big up the Shape Shifters) ever to roam the earth and a perfect ringmaster in his Circus of hip hop weirdness and sci-fi goofballery. Gawd bless the faceless coward!

Groove Chronicles - Ouchi Wally / Stone Cold - 21-Nov-08 03:41 AM
Head straight to Stone Cold for a seminal dark garage classic. Nice shuffling build up with Aaliyah samples and then midway through the breakdown the bass starts-a-rumbling and doesnt let up.
This tune could definitely be held responsible for influencing youngsters like Skream and Benga as they yearned for darker and deeper strains of garage, which inevitably led to dubstep.
Ive played this out loads and it mixes well with Dubstep, holding its own in the subs stakes. And what with this renaissance for 2 step it might just get heard out again at FWD (I did actually hear El-B play this a while back), DMZ, etc.

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