Dynamite MC is no stranger to fans of the UK drum & bass or garage scenes, having worked extensively with Roni Size’s Full Cycle crew and a gamut of breakbeat producers. The World of Dynamite is his first full-on foray into the world of studio production, and it’s not always palatable. But for a debut, it’s impressive in scope, showing Dynamite to be light years ahead of his peers in terms of concept and sheer innovation. Like three albums in one, The World of Dynamite takes the listener through various rooms at a club, each focusing on a separate genre: hip-hop, 2-step garage and drum & bass. Along the way, Dynamite links up with top-notch producers like Skitz, TNT, Wookie, Origin Unknown, Marky & XRS and High Contrast, and chats it up alongside fellow lyrical heavyweights Elephant Man and Skibadee. The UK hip-hop sounds a bit underdeveloped and will take some getting used to, but there’s no doubt that room two and three are where the party’s at. Bombastic club anthems “Rush the DJ,” “Ride,” “Hotness,” “The Scene,” and “Gold” hold down this record, making it more than worth the price of admission.
Dillinja My Sound (1993-2004)
A venerable godfather of the drum & bass scene, Dillinja has built a career out of concocting chest-rattling basslines and sucker-punch drums. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? But one listen to this 11-year retrospective and it’s easy to see that the master of the monster drop has definitely earned his keep and then some. Featuring classic bits alongside contemporary thunder, Dillinja’s obsessive attention to the mastering process doesn’t seem to have faded one bit as numbers like “The Angels Fell,” “Hard Noize” and “Friday” sit comfortably alongside “Thugged Out Bitch,” “Tudor Rose,” and “Forsaken Dreams.” Snatch on sight!
Various Artists Shimon Presents Ram Raiders: The Mix
Hot on the heels of the sixth EP in their Ram Raiders series, Shimon steps up to the decks for a blazing 50-minute rinse-out that’s sure to leave you breathless. With past, present and future cuts representing, Shimon works familiar family members like Moving Fusion, Andy C, and Sparfunk into the mix as well as showing some love to new-school stars like Night Breed and Sub Focus. A swirling, dizzying ride from the get-go, amateur trainspotters may have a hard time keeping up as Shimon flips it every chance he gets, layering beats, double-dropping mixes, and generally working those decks into a frenzy.
Munk Aperitivo
The Italian/German duo Munk runs the so-hip-it-hurts Gomma label. Whilst it’s often fun to poke fun at those who favor style over substance, Aperitivo has both in equal measure and, as a result, is annoyingly good. The best electronic music is often the simplest and, whilst Munk operate in the hazy punk-funk borders between dance and indie, their pared down approach returns much more cohesive results than the cluttered, over-complicated contributions of contemporaries like The Rapture and !!!.
Various Artists Ammunition: Mixed By Mike Paradinas
Label founder Mike Paradinas is possibly the only person on earth who likes every track in the vast Planet Mu discography, such is the diverse-equal parts dazzling and deranged-nature of the music. Who better to mix a “best of” compilation, then? Ammunition contains 34 tracks in 80 minutes; as listener, you’re kept almost as busy as the DJ-checking the tracklist during the frequent moments of genius, jerking involuntarily to the chaotic grooves and dashing to a designated safe place when it all gets too much.
Oh No The Disrupt
The two highest compliments you can pay Michael Jackson’s debut are that his beats fall only somewhat short of his sibling’s, and that his rhymes are way better-the first a mighty achievement, the second less so. Before we get to Michael (a.k.a. Oh No), let us note that his brother Otis (a.k.a. Madlib) herein outdoes himself, his six contributions suffused with so many dizzying feints as to render their digestion impossible before the end of, say, 2010. For his part, Oh No shows skills in spades, especially on “The Ride,” which edges out Lil Flip’s “Game Over” for the title of year’s best Nintendo anthem. Yes, the Jackson family juggernaut is upon us, and we are pleased.
Miscellaneous Rocket Kontrol
Germany’s Misc. outrocks Alter Ego’s “Rocker” with “Rocket Kontrol,” a massive electro-techno contraption sporting yo-yoing bass and power-drill acid sequences. On the remix EP, Pan/Tone, Matthias Schaffhâuser, and Frank Martiniq take the edge off the brutalism, reconfiguring Misc.’s low-end into tight-fisted funk; Schaffhâuser even adds disco strings. Areal’s Basteroid, though, ups the intensity with a grinding mix that throws off sparks.
Scott Logan D1Aspora 1
Detroit and Berlin have long been connected through techno. With D1aspora, a sublabel of Ireland’s D1 (distributed by Submerge), Dublin asserts its own sister-city relationship with the D. Scott Logan’s four tracks offer a subtle, melodic take on Motor City techno with plenty of punch. “Cigling” and “Gronk” are classic exercises in syncopated machine rhythms and gentle squeal, while “One Chord” and “Lia Fail” explore resonant sub-bass and minimalist clatter.
Client City Client City
Since the electro(clash) boom, subsequent offerings have often sounded like feeble attempts to jump on an already-sinking ship. This release from British duo Client is electro-and often pop-but damned if it’s not honest, heartfelt and really rather good. This is the kind of fun, confident dance music that would fit in equally well before or after the club, preferably with a gin and tonic half-spilling out of your hand. The vocals are beautiful and sensuous, the beats are well-produced and eloquently moody, and the subject matter often intelligent. No surprise, then, that it’s a former Depeche Mode member who signed these ladies up.
Proem Socially Inept
Austin’s Proem (Richard Bailey)-a strong contender for supplanting the British stronghold on trippy IDM á la Boards Of Canada (but without the brimstone and treacle)-turns it up with the remarkably compelling “Socially Inept.” Merck certainly ain’t no slouch, considering Aphilas’ equally high quality EP, Instrumentally Ill. Part hip-hop, part jazz-funk, part “hell yeah,” this Helsinki-based duo crafts gorgeous melodies with lush strings and echoing guitar samples.
