Meanwhile, down at the mastering suite…

As usual, I’ve been up all night writing these playlists and my head is now completely frazzled. I need to hit the hay man, so I’m copping out of writing an intro of any kind of substance this time; you’ll just have to crack straight on with listening to the tracks. Not that that’s a bad thing – we’re dealing with some serious weapons here….

IDC – ‘Scratch’ (10YL version radio edit)

To celebrate a decade of IDC action and the tenth birthday Corsair Records, the original four tracks from the ‘Scratch’ EP are now being re-released (on June 30th), along with IDC’s own brand new updated ’10YL’ version. First time around, DJ Mag said ‘Scratch’ “pushes the boundaries of electro” and the legendary John Peel played the whole 6 minutes on Radio 1, saying “not sure which category of music this fits into other than rather good!”

Max Chapman & Kieran Andrews – ‘Temperature’ EP

I thought that James Welsh sampled Toni Braxton’s spine-tingling vocal from her classic R&B hit ‘You’re Makin’ Me High’ with utmost respect and to devastating effect in ‘Sky’ from the ‘S’ EP, but I gotta say the bar has just been raised by Max Chapman & Kieran Andrews. Sorry, James – you’re a brilliant producer, but these guys have just absolutely nailed it. And I’m gonna have to apologise again, this time to Toni herself, because it’s not the vocal that makes this track for me, it’s the bassline. It’s darker than pinhead on a particularly bad comedown. Out July 28th

Preuss – ‘Alert’

We’re breaking the rules a bit on this one because it’s by an unsigned artist and we have no idea if it will ever be finished, let alone released. Nonetheless it had to go in because, well, it’s just so flaming brilliant. By now you’ll have worked out that I’m a sucker for a dark bassline, but after describing the one above, I’ve run out of ways to explain just how sinister it is. Crisp drums bounce across it like they were on a springboard and with the sort of groove it takes years of practice to achieve. This track may never be released, but I’ll be revisiting the Soundcloud preview on more than one occasion.

Tandu, Stras & Sayer – Double Your Brain

Anyone who’s seen Human Traffic (that’s everyone, then?) will instantly recognise the vocal sample in this heavy slice of Med-style techno, due for release on July 15th. The track is written by a trio of German producers and German’s usually have a better command of English than most British teenagers, so it’s hard to know if the title is a misinterpretation, because the actual lyrics from the sampled track by Lenny White are “don’t let it trouble your brain”. Having been to Germany about 9 times, though, I’ve come to realise that they generally don’t make mistakes, so I can only conclude that it’s a clever play on words. Enough of this speculation, though – it’s a bangin track.

Sleeping Giants – ‘How You Feel’

How you feel is a full album by surprisingly low-profile dubstep producers, Sleeping Giants. What we’re dealing with here is fairly rudimentary stuff, but, for that characteristic, it’s all the more effective. Not only that but the palette of sounds and styles on this album is so diverse it makes your head spin. From top to bottom, it’s never too heavy, but nor is it ever unsubstantial, either. It’s a dubstep album that I hope hardcore fans of the genre will appreciate, because not being much of an authority myself, it’s difficult to say how good it is in comparison with parallel releases by other producers. I just think it’s a brilliant album and I can’t believe that Sleeping Giants only have 48 followers on Soundcloud. I guess, though, that this LP will win them several times more.

Cosmin TRG – Repetitiv

Personally, I don’t quite get it. It doest quite pull at the rave strings for me, but I’m acutely aware there is a sizeable movement that would follow Cosmin TRG (pictured) wherever he goes, if they could. It’s said that his take on techno is unlike any other, and while I wouldn’t be able to confirm that with any sort of conviction, I have a strong suspicion it’s a very accurate observation. Our podcast DJ, Diegetics, would have more to say on the matter than me, but I felt given the speed of Cosmin’s ascent through the upper echelons of techno’s underground of late, it seems necessary to chart his progress by airing his forthcoming release, which is actually due out tomorrow.

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