Cogs, Beans and The Machines – The Tramps Are Alright EP (Powertools909)

The novelty of Cogs Away!’s swear-heavy opening wears off pretty quickly, but you get the impression Cogs – that’s Ant and DDR, by the way – are aware of that, because once you’ve endured the swearing, it only makes the briefest of reappearances in the main body of the tune. Which is a doozy. Set off by the kind of kickdrum that scares pigeons out of rafters, you can almost sense the individual fingerprints of the artists involved: the cranky, determinedly oily low frequencies of DDR, the mad-eyed, OCD melodies we’ve come to expect from the Ant of Hazchem or Acid Jammer. Nevertheless, though there be acid here, Cogs feels like first and foremost a techno project, and unsurprisingly Klammerton with its frequent changes and lots of breaks, sounds like it could have come out on Powertools, while Twathammer will remind you late-90s Cluster. 303 makes a reappearance on the final track Flounce, meanwhile, which sweats in a big coat and stands on the sidelines glaring a thousand-yard stare, like the rest of the EP a tough, solidly constructed tune, built  to last.

Osmo, Sterling Moss, Chris Liberator, Darc Marc, Athar – Scythe Squadron 10 (Scythe 010)

Inside the Government comes from Chris Liberator, Darc Marc, and Athar, who’s otherwise known as Pawel Panczyk and is, along with Osmo (Tomasz Osmański), one of Scythe Squadron’s founders. The track has everything you’d expect of such a mighty pairing: fluid drums, plenty of changes and an Acid line that begins at lick and just builds and builds. Strong stuff, and on any other EP it would be the clear winner.

Any other EP, that is, apart from this one. Because after Sterling Moss’s Rebel Rouser, where the acid strolls a bit and a horn motif which promises much doesn’t really do a lot, leading to what is, by his high standards, a fairly restrained number, comes Osmo’s Acid In My Mind. Which is a destroying tune. A showstopping, how-do-you-follow-that? headfuck of a track. Gathering its elements patiently, it fireworks after a short break at around 1.49, after which anything goes. Fast – is it really just 142 BPM? – the foot only comes off the pedal for an Osmo speciality break, where you think the track’s going to flip out into something new, before all hell breaks loose for the next section, the main riff blasting away,  counter-melodies and choirs of acidic angels giving it a glorious busy feeling. I’m not exaggerating here. It’s glorious, exhilarating headrush techno, and the only problem, really, is how to get out of it without the energy dropping. You’ll manage, I’m sure.

Twisted Tyrants, Acid Kazuals, Orgy of Distortion, Mobile Dogwash – Chase Yer Tail 04 (CYTD004)

With releases on Injector, Corrosive, Acid Test… actually, just about every Acid label you care to name, as well as curating their own Chase Yer Tail label, Mobile Dogwash have been nothing if not prolific of late. Neither have they been spreading themselves thin. In fact, they remain on imperial form, releasing banger after banger, all of them with that distinctive Dogwash aesthetic.

Which is? Riff monsters. Sleazy riff monsters at that. Funky, sleazy riff monsters packed with boomy, sustain-heavy drums, squealing, melodic, phat ass acid lines, and all with the forward propulsion of a flaming car pushed off a cliff. Whether you’re playing out, you’re a bedroom warrior, or a techno-charged gym monkey, you drop a Dogwash track in a set and it is going off.

It’s all there on EP hightlight Fully Charged, which comes courtesy of the Dogwash & Dave Atomizer under their Twisted Tyrant moniker and broadly speaking sounds like how the soundtrack to Death Race 2000 should sound – if the job was given to a bunch of nutters from Sheffield.

Meanwhile, Head Noddin’ Shit by Acid Kazuals (Dogwash and Si McLean) has an old skool ‘wreck the discotheque’ sample, which lends the track a funky counterpoint to the sheet-metal percussion going on elsewhere – an approach explored on the last occasion Dogwash teamed up with Si McLean, funnily  enough, on Booty Assid. You like that tune, you’ll like this.

Next up, Laws of Nature by Orgy of Distortion (the Dogwash and Pablo Sonic Terrorist) has higher-pitched, more insistent acid and a declamatory female vocal sample that works a treat, while So Fuck All You boasts a low-slung, growly acid line, menacing drums and a frankly threatening vocal sample. (‘Threatening’ in the context of this blog meaning ace, of course). In short, a great EP from a bunch of producers that simply couldn’t be boring if they tried.

Get it from: 909 London

Hear it:

Two of the four tracks appear on this superb Dogwash primer mix.

All four appear in a Rabbits mix to be found here.

The Ghost of Mary Kelly Mix

 

New reviews incoming over the next week or so,  but in the meantime here’s a mix of mainly new tunes, starting off hard and funky, moving into the banging acid we all know and love.

Click here for the Mediafire link.

Tracklisting

APaul – Pangea Ultima
Omega Drive – Qlimax
Steel Grooves – Turn Me Up
AKA Carl – Over Lab (Distek remix)
Goncalo M – Giga Tribe
John Rowe – Second Glance
Rene Reiter – 18 Years Old Cat On Acid
OB1 – We Will Get Fooled Again
Acid Kazuals – Head Noddin Shit
Orgy of Distortion – Laws of Nature
Mobile Dogwash – So Fuck All You
Twisted Tyrants – Fully Charged
Sterling Moss & Steve Mills – Electric Landlady
Jamie Taylor – Bad Sector
The Wipeouts  – High Society
Nesbit – Stella Act a Twat (Nesbit & the Welder’s 2012 mix)
OBI – Despatch This Dirty Bitch
Chris Liberator, Sterling Moss – Acid Wah Wah Wah – Original Mix

 

Clemens Neufeld – Acid Is EP (Neu 1)

Clemens Neufeld was last spotted (by me anyway) around the turn of the millennium, putting out stuff on Missile, with Death Thrills being a particular favourite (well – again – with me). A quick check of Discogs reveals he’s not exactly been dormant since, but he’s certainly been less prolific and thus I get to call this a stunning comeback. Three tracks, all of them infused with the spirit of mid-nineties 303 action, when you’d be just as likely to hear Silent Breed or Pump Panel as A&E Dept; before Richie started flicking Pringle lids for a living, Misstress Barbara started singing and Umek went all progressive. First up, the Original Mix is almost Acid Tracks in its commitment to marrying a simple drum with a burbling acid line and hang me up like Richard Harris in A Man Called Horse if it isn’t addictive as all hell. Moving on and the Mark Hawkins Remix has a thicker, dirtier kick and a more trebly, antagonistic 303 for company, while tantalisingly, the Paul Birken Remix has sinister soundtracky chords, like someone trying to play the theme tune to Assault on Precinct 13 while being eaten alive by fire ants. Fantastic.

Get it from: Juno Download

Benji303 & Nesbit – Stella Act a Twat EP (AER003)

A great EP, this, from a label that gets better with every release. Four tracks, all of them different and all of them ace, are kicked off by Nesbit’s Stella Act a Twat – Nesbit & The Welder’s 2012 Mix and the beat bounces, acid pans and flicks from speaker to speaker. A riff powers things along in tandem with impish pulses that flit around the grid before things drop down into a break then accelerate into a showstopping end.

Elsewhere Nesbit changes up for my favourite of his two, Crushed, where rather than bedded in percussion, the beat is aloof and isolated, deliberately so, in order to work with an ominous vocal sample. The BPM remains high but the mood darkens, and it brings a welcome extra texture in to a set.

Acid Glitch from Benji303 is a gem, a playful puppy of a tune, with a beautifully developed Acid line climbing the register then suddenly dropping into grumbly burbles, all of it powered along by spry-sounding drums and the whole thing pleasingly raw and stripped-back.

AFT, meanwhile, from Benji303 feat Nesbit sounds like a darker, moodier cousin of Acid Glitch, less bright, the drums more grungy and dirty, the 303 scuffed up accordingly. Tremendous stuff.

Get it from: Bandcamp