

Chris Long aka Monolithium has lived in relative isolation his entire life. Growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Long indulged in Swedish math metal, about as sonically distant from the melodic footwork of his sophomore “Bounce 4 Life” EP as you can get. Of course, he was also a true school hip-hop head and fostered a […]
Read moreIt seems you can never have enough fresh Scottish talent, as this EP by Clouds testifies. The duo have been pretty busy over the past few years, releasing on Fake Blood’s Blood Music and Tiga’s Turbo Recordings. They’ve remixed everyone from the likes of Boys Noize and Brodinski to Erol Alkan himself, but when it […]
Read moreWhile this year has seen a huge number of artists try their hand at the 90s revival sound, few have succeeded with as much aplomb as Waze & Odyssey. Landing early in the year with a blistering release on Body Work (after a low-key release on US label petFood), the duo solidified their rep with […]
Read more“I don’t dance” is a pretty bold statement coming from someone whose line of work is to make the rest of us dance – but Locked Groove clearly knows what he likes, and it seems to be working out. He shot straight to the top in 2012 with two EPs on Hotflush Recordings (“Keep It […]
Read moreSince releasing their debut album “Stick by This” on Anjunadeep almost a year ago, the London-based duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman, also known as Dusky, have no doubt been racking up some frequent flier miles. The duo spent 2012 playing all over Europe, did an Essential Mix for BBC in October and found the time […]
Read moreOver the past three years, Dark Sky have embedded their forward-thinking club workouts into the minds of fans and critics alike, melding the bass heavy sounds of DMZ-era dubstep with contemporary synth experimentation. The “Myriam” EP is the London trio’s fourth four-track EP in that time period and represents the most concise, insular incantation of […]
Read moreWhen Omarion signed to Maybach Music earlier this year, we heard a lot of jokers talking smack, hinting at the former B2K frontman’s irrelevance. Sorry, but if you’ve never lost your shit to “Ice Box” in the club, you really have not experienced the true meaning of “YOLO.” Regardless, Maybach O has released a free […]
Read moreJust Another Beat is a German label with no image or renowned producer that we know of behind it. What we do know is that for the last three year they released the music of relatively unknown artists with little to no fanfare. They continue their streak of near perfect records with Kim Brown’s second […]
Read moreThe Long Island Electrical Systems imprint is a force to be reckoned with. The New York label, fronted by Ron Morelli, has been a prolific source of music since its 2010 inception. L.I.E.S. has catered to fans in every corner of leftfield dance music, be it via Steve Moore’s piercingly rapid techno, Bookworms’ percussive tribal […]
Read moreRoc Marciano’s “Wee III” opens with a sample taken from Michael Mann’s first feature film, a Chicago crime drama called Thief. In the film, James Caan plays Frank, an unrepentant thief embedded in the city’s gang life. Without stretching too far, Roc Marciano’s sophomore LP “Reloaded”is an aesthetic kin of Mann’s Thief. Both portray a […]
Read moreIf you’re at all familiar with Chicago house then you’re most likely aware of Dance Mania and the Chicago producer Parris Mitchell,who is most notably known for his work on the label. Run by Raymond Barney, Dance Mania was responsible for releasing classic records from likes of Lil’ Louis, Paul Johnson and DJ Topcat. Mitchell in particular […]
Read more“Quarantine”, Laurel Halo’s debut for Hyperdub, was one of the most polarising, uncompromising records of 2012, with its gruesome, weirdly vibrant hara-kiri cover art and themes of sensory deprivation and torture. Perhaps its divisiveness was partly due to its location at the precise intersection between pop and experimental – tense and uneasy, it made no […]
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