The next ten-inch cut of the Time Is Now series comes courtesy of Nicky Soft Touch. These four tracks are a taste of things to come, handpicked from an as-yet-unannounced double LP the Bristol native has had in the works since 2019.
Nicky Soft Touch's recent outings include two dusty hip-hop dubplates on London's Ghost Notes Worldwide; for Lonely City Sampler he explores a more British sound. Using a tape deck and a pile of old jungle tapes, cut-up snippets were crafted into an audio collage balancing ambience with rave style crescendos. Driving dubwise bass dominates 'Lost In A Sea Of Rolling Eyes' while disrupted breakbeats meet stuttering chords in 'Lonely City Cut 4'. The closing track's garage-inflected UK techno beat is haunted by spaced out diva vocals, a melancholic mover for city nights.
A1 Nicky Soft Touch - Lonely City Cut 2
A2 Nicky Soft Touch - Lost In A Sea Of Rolling Eyes
B1 Nicky Soft Touch - Lonely City Cut 4
B2 Nicky Soft Touch - And Then There Was The Mass Chanting
Frankel & Harper deliver the appropriately named "Return EP" on their council work imprint. following on from the "Crouching Tiger EP", CWR005 sticks to the signature Council Work sound, bringing together a fusion of UK Garage, Drum 'n Bass, Breakbeat, Dub and many other flavours. The 3 original tracks feature in the shape of Counter Strike, Armshouse and Return, with the release rounded off with an infectious, stripped back remix of the title track from Trule head honcho Al Wootton. From all out dance floor destroyers, to deeper and more cinematic textures, this collection of beats should easily find a home in many record bags.
For the seventeenth edition in our AGAIN series we are very excited to have Amphibian Crew emerging out of the depth to joining the family. Four wet and wild cuts produced back in the day and remastered for the occasion.
Seventeen deep and we welcome back some old friend from the label for another dance around the Maypole. Holding down the a-side we've got the big bad K-LONE with a lovely bumpy number, followed by a certified floaty groover from Roland Faber aka Groove Elastic. On b-side duties we've got Yoshino of the Gush Collective with something heavy from the archives and our good friend Crump with a shuffley roller.
The unstoppable force that is Interplanetary Criminal returns to Time Is Now teamed up with up-and-coming DJ Cosworth. The Mancunian, one of the first artists to release on the imprint, and the Londoner making his debut, pack a punch with three chest rattling tracks making up Ruff EP.
Hyper two-step underpins 'Trust Me', a stuttering unconventional bassline stinker which sets a tone of unpredictability. The high octane breaks that explode from 'Ruff (Hyper Mix)' catch the listener equally off-guard, Ripgroove-style drop added for good measure. 'Jumpin' feels minimalist in comparison, with just hints of a thunderous sub-bass for tension building heads-down business.
A1 Interplanetary Criminal & DJ Cosworth - Trust Me
B1 Interplanetary Criminal & DJ Cosworth - Ruff Hyper Mix
B2 Interplanetary Criminal & DJ Cosworth - Jumpin'
The second installment in the SPNBCK trilogy is here:
A - Speechless '96 - Backspin's back with a new cut, slick dubbed out UKG with a nod to Metalheadz fusion jazz styles and downtempo producers from the 90's. A track with constant progressions and a weighty sub, when lockdown is over, this one will kick the summer back into action.
B - '08 w/ Atmos - Having always been inspired by sounds across the UK Hardcore Continuum, Backspin has unearthed a tropical UK Funky weapon with Amazonian atmospheres and as per, hard hitting bass and drum.
Northern stars of the Time Is Now series, Soul Mass Transit System, are back for their fourth full-length outing on the popular garage imprint with All I Need. The duo, both established producers in their own right, bring infectious grooves and cheeky samples to shake off the winter blues to.
Sax-infused opener "Freak-ee" serves up shuffling two step and retro vocals - gentle diva intonations giving a housier edge to the sound. "Show U Love" criss-crosses between crooner samples and a classic, dirty dub-driven delight for late night punters.
Skippy snares and cleverly glitched up samples make an earworm melody in "All I Need (Deepa Inside)", before the tempo is pumped up speed garage style for the closing track "The Message". If the rumbling dubwise melody doesn't control the dancefloor, the tantalisingly elongated second drop will.
A1 Soul Mass Transit System - Freak-ee
A2 Soul Mass Transit System - Show U Love
B1 Soul Mass Transit System - All I Need (Deepa Inside)
Yosh debuts on Hot Haus Recs with a 4 track EP brimming with "UKG-Tinged-Break-Beat-Seduction". With a CV boasting releases on Dr Banana, Shall Not Fade, Lobster Theremin & Holding Hands - Yosh has a well crafted ‘knack' for absorbing the current vibe of the UK dance floor for both headz and feetz."
UK label Wisdom Teeth closes out 2021 with a synchronised double drop from label heads Facta and K-LONE. K-LONE’s Zissou follows on from where his 2019 EP Sine Language left off, bringing together the four corners of his broad yet coherent style. The title track is a ruthlessly efficient Baltimore club tool driven by duelling vocal chops and rolling sub-heavy kicks. Next up, Airtight is bustling and bright, with a winding bossa melody rolling out on top of a wildly syncopated percussive groove.
On the flip, K-LONE continues his exploration of UK garage and proto-dubstep styles with Deluxe - a warping, hi-tek 2-step banger that reimagines the early Tempa sound with a newly refurbed hi- spec gloss. To close, Softie contrasts vast dubtechno chords with a bone-dry woodblock beat and nimble microhouse edits.
Highrise & Peaky join forces to create 4 huge tracks for PBR005, written in the PBR studio over a mad weekend in Leeds.
The A side brings 2 big energy UKG & Speed garage tracks, with the B side stepping up the pace for the slick & bass heavy ‘Listen’ and ending with some spacey, breaky, dubstep. ‘Marsha’s Champers’.
Released at the turn of the millennium and bringing a completely fresh style to the table, Wookie's immense 'Down On Me / Scrappy' double header has punched it's way out of the UKG underground and passed into the history books as a bonafide electronic classic. Period. Showing a sophisticated ear, and complex musical arrangements, this 12" blows the competition away with soulful minimalism and proper musicianship. Don't get it twisted though - this is a straight club record that will set it off, 2 back to back bangers in one place. This one will tear any dance down when dropped in the correct manner. It's hard, and almost pointless to try and pick a 'favourite', both of these tunes are primed to damage and still sound like they were beamed down only a few hours ago. Yes - it is that fresh, still.
Now - 20 something years later - 'Down On Me / Scrappy' is back, and believe, you need a copy of this in your bag. Peerless futuristic pressure from London town, essential in every way. Repressed and re-released on crisp white wax courtesy of Manchu Recordings and Above Board distribution, fully legit and not ready to quit anytime soon.
A new vinyl only series of releases focusing on all things edits. First up is label regulars Wilfy D and Lavonz serving up their own individual flips. Limited to 500 copies. No repress.
Four heavy weight steppers sourced from the streets of Leeds, for them dark basements and early morning afters, brought to you from two new bad bwoys on the scene D. Jason & Baby J. The debut release from Time Is Now - originally released as a Bandcamp exclusive. Four cuts of UKG goodness.
Vitamin D return with their 4th vinyl release, this time a 4 track collaboration between K-LONE and Wilfy D. With both producers having their own distinct sounds, the different flavours of the duo collide in true Vitamin D style. Expect R&B infused vocals, M1 organs and soulful garage and house grooves.
City Road Records is a new label from UK based record shop Idle Hands. Whilst the shops in-house label has become known for deeper sounds this new label is aimed squarely at DJs and the dancefloor. It will releasing the type of music we like to hear in the rave, dance, pub or wherever we can turn it up in this post pandemic world.
The first release comes from production duo SPEKTRALSOUND. Here they tackle UK Garage with fresh ears, a timeless record built in 2021 which wouldn’t sound out of place at any point in the past 20 years. Mixing the rough with the smooth ‘Big Up’ takes the best parts of UK Garage ‘2-step swinging drums, lush chords and melodies, vocal samples and flips them into certified dancefloor groovers’. On the flip the VIP mix adds in some nostalgic samples combining the past with the future.
Yosh is back on Dansu Discs with his ‘Skyline’ EP. Yosh is a household name in the scene and someone who continues to blow it out the park release after release. His Skyline EP provides all the vibes to get us into those dark and gloomy winter months. On the flip, we welcome Angel D’Lite with her delightful (no pun intended) remix of ‘Skyline’.
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