Bearing the address of the hallowed new Submerge headquarters as his DJ moniker, Franki Juncaj builds a rock-solid, nicely mortared mix out of its latest catalog. Drawing inspiration from the densely packed and multihued Hamtramck (one of the two smaller cities within Detroit’s borders) and his own Albanian heritage, Juncaj brings techno, electronic soul and funk together like a downtown cultural festival. True Colors also showcases cuts from Pittsburgh’s Technoir crew, Fabrice Lig and Juncaj’s own Motech Records, and even coaxes surprises out of the booty-shakin’ Electrofunk label, such as Electric Soul’s politically-charged “Stereotype.” Not wanting to lean on any clich»s himself, DJ 3000 shows that, even in techno, it’s not all black and white, city and suburb, minimal and melodic. Throughout its hour of driving, floor-filling fare, True Colors portrays Detroit in the multidimensional light it deserves.
Maroons Ambush
Ambush is the startling debut EP from Bay Area supergroup Maroons (Blackalicious’ Chief Xcel and Latyrx’s Lateef the Truth Seeker). On songs such as “Lester Hayes” and “Best of Me,” Chief Xcel employs stabs of live instrumentation that pivot and pull against old-school drum breaks and buoyant bass lines. Lateef holds up his end of the bargain with his smooth wordplay. On “If” he rails against Bush, while “Beautiful You” finds him pondering existence. The balance between Lateef’s heavy lyrics and the Chief’s funky production is scrumptious, and we can only hope that this is a delectable appetizer for a proper full-length.
Krumbsnatcha Let The Truth Be Told
As any boom bap disciple will tell you, “real” MCs are a dying breed, constantly losing ground to caricatures of libido-enhanced gangstas, oversensitive emo-thugs and jiggy chart toppers. By all definitions, Boston’s Krumbsnatcha is a real MC. The problem is that Krumbsnatcha’s monotonous flow and self-reflexive themes suggests that he’s more adept at guest spots than carrying an entire album. In fact, the album’s strongest tracks are the ones featuring guest turns from Ghostface (“Thorough”) and Styles P (“Bang Bang”). With a lackluster effort such as this, it’s easy to see why “real” MCs are going the way of the dinosaurs.
Papillon Chase Your Tail
Happy 10th anniversary to one of England’s most consistent future jazz and Brazilian beats labels, Far Out. They stay as forward as ever with Papillon’s (producer Roc Hunter, keyboardist Marcos Valle and vocalist Tina Grace) driving, uplifting slice of electronic soul that takes in broken beats, fusiony synths and the subtle but aggressive feel of early UK garage. Other amazing new singles from Nature’s Plan featuring Ed Motta (“Without Worlds”) and Azymuth (“Biaozinho Carioca”) are also gonna heat up the fall.
Markus Enochson You’ll Shine
Swede Markus Enochson’s breezy Latin-tinged soul house sounds like a skyscraper designed by Blaze whose frame was arced by the welding iron of broken-jazz specialists Kyoto Jazz Massive, and vocalist Demetreus is testifying lovely! You can’t afford not to immediately add each new Especial label triumph to your collection. A good starter is the imprint’s recent Euro sampler with Hajime Yoshizawa, Bakura (Domu) and Chris & Nina (Da Lata).
Dynamite MC Choices
Look! A 2-step track that even hardcore junglists will dance to! Dynamite MC flows over this Wookie-produced gem with its bubbly vocal and irresistible chords. This is part of the four-track “Room 2” EP that also includes the anthem “Rush the DJ” (produced by TNT) and the Zinc-produced “Topped Up.” Sure to usher in a 2-step revival in the coming months.
Tubby T Ready She Ready (Qualifide Rmx)
England’s heaviest reggae tune of the year gets the 4×4 UKG remix treatment from Qualifide and it’s an automatic rewind. Qualifide lets the full vocal shine through the mix while his bumpy 4×4 beats drive the tune in the background. The remix, and its recent BBC heavy rotation, show once again that Tubby T’s voice crosses over to all crowds.
Loefah Jungle Infiltrator
Loefah strips four dubstep tracks down to their bass-heavy shorts, with only a few handclaps and eastern flute samples to cover themselves. “Jazz Lick” rumbles like a warehouse’s zinc-walls outside a garage rave, rattling from the enormous speaker stacks within. Dark, cerebral ragga-dance ‘ta mek ya buble ‘an wine.
Moving Ninja Witchdokta
Moving Ninja is Australia’s DJ Farj and Jabba, founders of the Garage Pressure website. Their tribal clay pot percussion and thick, tropical forest synth atmospheres on “Witchdokta” make for a hell of a break/dubstep hybrid. The 30Hz remix is a UK-centric mix that’ll please fans of Zinc’s crisp, funky snares and lashing, distorted, bass ligaments. Top shotta.
Mampi Swift & Blame Sleepwalker
Gotta give it up to the pros! When vet junglists like Blame and Mampi decide to bring some hard-edged, forceful-but-funky drum & bass, no one can stand in the way. Thankfully, both know the musical science of aligning creative ambient build-ups, spacey sounds and samples with switchblade-sharp drum programming. And if you want more Blame, grab his phenomenal new single “Burnout” on Metalheadz for more epic sounds.
