EP Review: Shine - Digitaria

Moody, fragile and bluesy dance music this way comes. Brazilian duo Digitaria's Shine is helpless and brittle, like plastic toys left out in the sun too long. The vocals tell a story of helpless infatuation - less one of attraction, more sheer gravity. It's dark, introspective and a little morose but deliberately so. Shine captures that paralysing intensity of a sunrise cutting through the darkness after an all nighter and the itchy and infectious feeling of wanting someone when you don't want to.

Two excellent mixes come from Morgan Geist and wAFF. Geist gives it a gentle makeover, adding some staggered rhythms and soft electronic keys. Geist's mix continues his gradual move towards understated but refined house music as started on his Storm Queen project and it gives the original a little sophistication.

wAFF's mix is mechanical soul - the vocal more exposed against a melodic bed of electronic melodies, and it's just as elegant a take as Geist's, even if it takes a slightly different route.

The EP also comes with a second original track, Mystic Flow - another deep tech-house track aimed at a slightly darker period of the night. Elastic bass and Persian sounding vocal melodies creating a disorientating, progressive track. Overall it's a smart package with even smarter remixes.

Shine is out now on Hot Creations, preview via the Soundcloud player below:​

EP Review: Master Plan - SIOPIS

Ravey, defiant and pissed off - the latest release through Crosstown Rebels offshoot Rebellion starts cleanly, a straight-forward four-four based rhythm but it gently descends into something much angrier over the duration of three original tracks. Jannis Siopis, then as Silversurfer, was the first artist to ever see a release on Crosstown Rebels so it's appropriate that under his new name he returns to the house where it started.

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Master Plan - SIOPIS

These days Siopis' sound has taken a darker, funkier sound. A-side Masterplan, is built out of a solid electronic groove combined with atmospheric synths and a series of mechical sounding effects. With a pace that's slow and contemplative it eases the listener into the EP.

Buy Underground is violent and aggressive - distorted drum rolls, synth stabs and a hypnotic melody carve out a big room modern rave record that still packs some range, with a big drop partway through.

The release closes with House of Mouse, a collaboration with Mz Sunday Luv & Bootslap that feels like hip house via trip house. Expect plenty of low-end wobble, some dark male / female vocal interplay and heavy drums in a slow groover.

​Master Plan is out tomorrow through Rebellion.

EP Review: The Calm - Danny Daze

It's been going big guns out in the Miami WMC (or so says the Guardian) and it seems like Maceo Plex and his Ellum label are on an unstoppable roll. It was less than a month ago that I was praising his collaboration with Danny Daze (as Jupiter Jazz) and Ellum are back, this time with Danny doing a solo turn to drop some heavy tech on us.

The Calm feels a little bit like what I envisage a stroke to feel like - disconcertingly incomprehensible vocals, weird sound effects and a menacing atmosphere. It also shares a stroke's momentary sense that that you are staring into the abyss, as the track devolves into a moment of near silence midway through. It calls to mind Soulwax's absolutely ripper / mental remix of Justice's Phantom Pt. II, both in the way it will make crowds all over think the DJ's just quit and because it's also a bloody monster.

Dexter's remix is similarly amped, a whirling cacophony of bass and thick, chunky synths that turns the track into a serious dancefloor weapon but lacks a little of the original's slightly terrifying and unhinged sensibility.

Daze rounds out the EP with a second original track, I See You, which comes from a similar place as the original track but with a heavier focus on top-end and a little more subtlety.

For me none of these quite live up to the genius of the Booty Jazz EP but it's hard to deny their obligatory status within clubs this summer is pretty much guaranteed.

The Calm EP is out now through Ellum Audio, you can preview the EP via Soundcloud below:

EP Review: Only Built 4 Neon Nites - Lockah

Lockah's Only Built 4 Neon Nites represents Donky Pitch's eighth release to date and their first so far in 2013 and it just might be their biggest yet. It's certainly the release most squarely aimed at the mainstream.

Lockah has already released material through Mad Decent sub-label Jeffrees and Mishka, and he's provided remixes for releases of both Fool's Gold and Skrillex's OWSLA.

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Only Built 4 Neon Nites - Lockah

Only Built 4 Neon Nites is a tribute late night ambling through urban illuminated skylines. It is made for listening through in sequence, representing that journey, but each track stands on its own. The EP takes in a variety of sounds but the disco-kitchen-sink approach of Rustie forms the template - elements of EDM-influenced dubstep, crunchy techno, electro and hip-hop all feature, combined with heavy 80s pop references. 

Following a brief car-engine-start, 80s radio electro pop intro ...Neon Nites gets into things proper with Young Neon Countach, the name telling you all you need to know. Expect plenty of electro synths, big hip-hop drum kicks and amped up, distorted melodies. It sets the tone for the rest of the EP, with each track delivering different styles but using the same basic approach.

Guards Red Carrera (spot a theme?) starts with a Buggles-esque campy melodies that melt into liquid DnB rhythms and EDM synths. Let The Cool Air Breeze is more laid back in its entrance - the lull before the evening's climax perhaps. Big melodies backed with slower drum patterns that make way for a break constructed from a series of liquid related sample, building towards a celebratory finale.

The EP closes with Platinum Blondes, another more contemplative track. Distorted bass lines provide the bed for a soft-focus eighties melody and hip-hop samples. It feels like the EP's closing credits, cinematically culminating in another engine being fired up in the rain, before pulling off.

Only Built 4 Neon Nites is a sugar rush of an EP: instant and gratifying, and a fleetingly brief introduction to Lockah's sound.

Only Built 4 Neon Nites is out now on Donky Pitch, available to buy on Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link].

EP Review: The Game EP - Lars Vegas

The garage revival seems to be going from strength to strength of late, with seemingly an ever growing number of DJs bashing out numbers influenced by the best bits of the 90s sound and steering well clear of the dross.

This new EP from Lars Dales operating under his brand new Lars Vegas moniker comes on the Large Music label and definitely takes its cue from the (original) US form of Garage that came out of New York's Paradise Garage.

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The Game EP - Lars Vegas

This title track has more than a hint of early Masters At Work in the slightly tinny soul vocals with cut-up sample sections and skippy drum beats. It really captures the spirit of some of those old garage records - the kind of record you can imagine kids dancing to as their sneakers squeak across the floorboards, treble-heavy production and cymbal crashes filling the room.

The other original track on this release, Break Me Down, is more spectral, complete with looped string-synths and liquid-like keys. It references similar material but has just a tiny bit more of a deep house sound and a more chilled-out feel. The EP is rounded off with a remix of Break Me Down from duo Homework, who stay faithful to the deep house stylings of the original track but give it more of an upfront edge, transporting the retro sounds for a more up-to-date arena.

The Game EP is out on 25 March through Large Music.​