Various Artists ‘SUB:STANCE / 072008 072013’

substance_Promo_cover
Various Artists / SUB:STANCE 072008 072013
Vinyl / Digital
SUB:STANCE / Released August 2013

It’s always good to hear an EP that’s almost guaranteed to perform well sales-wise, what with a host of en vogue names on the tracklist, and not be disappointed. Not that we were expecting anything other than great production work from the gentlemen in question.

Opening the scoring, as it were, with the warm but growling deep techno of Appleblim’s Darkest Red, a dubby, stripped and at times expansive arrangement, and listeners will be under no false illusions as to the modus here. Serious sounds built for informed dancefloors, soon Scuba steps up under his SCB moniker, offering Closer‘s monolithic filtered and panned low end to create a dirty, stomping, dark but definitely party focused affair that will find favour with fans of Cobblestone Jazz and the like.

Other highlights from the notably generous seven tune package include Trevino’s poised, mechanical edged Tracer, an atmospheric and stripped heads down number if ever such a thing existed, gradually grooving towards a pretty epic string refrain breakdown, conjuring images of 4AM rave vistas. Meanwhile, Martyn’s tribal house assault, Memory Hole, potentially wins the day, contrasting the heaviness that runs through much of this release with a funkier, electro-inflected heavyweight track, nodding to Chicken Lips, Andrew Weatherall, and The Mole, to name but a handful. A quality outing through and through, that John Osborn, Addison Groove, and Scuba (as Scuba) also appear only confirms why this is a definite purchase.


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