Steve Mills, Benji303, Tik Tok & Tassid – Interstate One (IO 001)

Interstate One is a brand, head-spankingly new vinyl-only Acid Techno label from Russia. Though homegrown artists will be featured on the forthcoming Interstate Two, this debut release features all UK-based producers. Here, you’ll find the emphasis is very much on the 303 here: these tracks bang, but they don’t bludgeon.

Waveform from Steve Mills begins things with a rolling beat and an acid line that builds, with another, higher-pitched one skronking away behind it. It’s classic Mills, his ability to hit the sweet spot and stay there remaining undimmed.

Warped is the sound of a producer really finding his feet. In this case Benji303, who gets all lab technician, laying down a base solution of tough techno and tweaking acid over the top. A breakdown at around the 3.00 mark sees the various elements dissembling, but this isn’t about fireworks so much as elegance. Benji’s tracks are always marked by a total love of the 303 sound, and so he lets the acid build again to the outro.

Tik Tok’s been on a bit of a roll lately. I never got around to reviewing Rave On but thought it was an ace tune. Like that one, Angry Villagers lays off on gimmicks and concentrates on  heads-down bangerishness. Unafraid to explore new ideas, it shares a common quality with his best tracks, where although you feel as though they could spiral out of control at any second, they never quite do. Ace.

Lastly, Tassid, who couldn’t be dull if he tried. Asylum uses echo-treated vocals and found sound for that genuine scary sanitarium quality, and when the acid comes in at 3.03 (yes, really) it’s scuzzy and funky as hell. A superb way to end a flawless EP.

Get it from: Stay Up Forever

Digital goodies on the Braingravy train

So, Braingravy, one of the most exciting of the new labels, has now gone digital, which is great for those of us with mothballed decks, even more so when you consider what a tasty line-up label boss Steve Mill has managed to secure, past present and future.

To kick things off Mills has reissued Braingravy 01 to 03. I haven’t sprung for 01 yet, but I can say that 02 and 03 rule – six tracks of engine-room Acid Techno featuring a mouthwatering array of talent, old and new. In the new camp, Jamie Taylor’s Tik Tok and Olly Berry’s OB1 both feature, with the latter on Braingravy 02 providing the scintillating, Jello Biafra-sampling banger Won’t Get Fooled Again. Keeping him company on 02 is Rene Reiter’s 18 Years Old Cat on Acid, a hard but quirky track with a broken beat feel to it, as well as Sterling Moss and Steve Mills’ Electric Landlady, which boasts an almost eerie, echo-flavoured break. Meanwhile, on 03, the aforementioned Tik Tok drops That’s Got to Change, a clean-lined banger. No More Fucking Rock n Roll by Dave the Drummer, Chris Liberator and Steve Mills is phat but still isn’t the highlight, that honour going to the hideously addictive Acid Underground from Mr Mills himself.

Meanwhile, number 04 is ready for take-off, with tracks from Jack Wax, Sterling Moss & Steve Mills and Mobile Dogwash – an utterly superb line-up if ever there was one, and due out January 21. Braingravy take control, indeed.

Get it from: Juno Download

Lady Sybil’s Last Words Mix

In memory of the lovely Lady Sybil Crawley, I present a mix of a few recent favourites, a couple of old ones…

Tracklist

Chris Hawkins – Canarian Island (Trevor Benz remix)
Mobile Dogwash – Usual Pharmacology – Mobile Dogwash Remix
Temperature Drop – Mosquito’s Tweeter 2012 Remix
OB1 – Random Act
Osmo – Fuck Your Lies
Starsky & Hutch feat Fazmo – Bitches from Brighton
Chris Liberator & Sterling Moss – The Swarm
Tassid – It’s Ridiculous
Jye Feelgood – Acid Swamp
Tik Tok – 303 Brotherhood
Nesbit – The Game
Fantompowa Meets The Geezer – Dadawas
Convection Criminals – Fajitta Swing
Mobile Dogwash – Lucy Int Sky Wi Dogwash

Mobile Dogwash, Pablo Sonic Terrorist, Tik Tok, The ‘Atchet, OB1, MK303, Zoid, Tassid – Corrosive 909 04 (Corrosive Digital)

Not only is Corrosive 909 04 a showcase for some of the best of what you might call the new guard of Acid Techno, but you can’t get a crusty credit card between the tunes, they’re that good. But, oh my God, someone’s put a gun to Cynthia’s puppy’s head and they’re forcing me to choose or the dog dies!

Well, Northern Monkey by Mobile Dogwash vs Pablo Sonic Terrorist plays host to one of Dogwash’s adamantium acid lines, and we always like to have a supply of those in the fridge in case of unexpected guests. So that’s a contender. Then you get Grim Reaper, courtesy of Tik Tok and The  ‘Atchet, which has a superb, fierce drop, fidgety acid, possibly the best break of the EP, and easily the best vocal sample of the EP. So that’ll be there or thereabouts.

Urk.

Meanwhile OB1 & MK303’s You Are a Machine has the old skooliest acid line of the bunch, alongside a dirty synth riff and an outro that’s as squealy and ace as The Rabbit’s Name Was, and will be getting a whole lot of play round here, so that’ll be in the running. While Zoid’s Spaced Out, on the other hand, is the EP’s most intense experience: industrial, hard and fast, downright scary, actually – so much so I was surprised to hear the Human Traffic sample halfway through, expecting something sci-fi or horror  – and then a thrilling machines-in-crisis end. For sheer, out-there insanity, when you need to frighten an old lady to death and claim the inheritance for example, it simply can’t be beat. Which also makes it a favourite.

And then you have Tassid’s Sketchie Fecker. And we love Tassid. We love Tassid because he in turn loves big BPMs and highwire acid lines, and never disappoints. Here he offers up the above in spades, with the addition of an insanely addictive synth melody which gives the track a really distinctive edge, underpinning some seriously agitated 303 work.

So, no. Can’t do it. Can’t choose between them. Sorry, Cynthia.

Get it from: 909 London

Tik Tok feat Lady Reload, OB1 – The Beginning EP (CDJ303 001)

Cat no: CDJ303 001
Get it from: CDJ303.com

Fentek 303 and sister label Coaxial are no more, sadly, but from the ashes has arisen CDJ303.com, for all your Lincolnshire-based headfuck needs, and the output so far is top notch. The brainchild of Jamie Taylor (aka Tik Tok) and Olly Berry (OB1), the aim of the label is to bridge the gap between the vinyl and downloads markets, and guess what? It’s started at a lick, producing two EPs, a mix CD from Jamie and a very reasonably priced MP3 CD featuring the entire Fentek and Coaxial back catalogue as well as a few bonus tracks.

Lose Control – Tik Tok feat Lady Reload
BPM: 145
Riffy, trippy and very, very insistent, Lose Control builds beautifully and has a deep, industrial sound as well as a kind of buried-sounding 303 line that’s really unusual but works. Jade Rose’s ‘lose control’ vocal is suitably alluring and the whole thing rips along, with all the ferocity you’d expect from Jamie Taylor, while on the strength of this, I’ll be listening out for solo Lady Reload material for sure.

Lose Control – Tik Tok feat Lady Reload (OB1 remix)
BPM: 148
If you ask me, Tik Tok and OB1 go together like peaches and cream. Tik Tok brings the roughness, the filth, the sleaze; OB1 has the clinical surgeon’s eye. Thus it’s when they collaborate or remix each other’s tunes that you get the real gold. Here, OB1 does the track equivalent of tidying up the wires behind the back of Tik Tok’s TV, straightening the tune out into a series of suites, speeding it up, and developing the acid line into something approaching 303 nirvana. Put it this way, if you like the full-on acid wig outs of A.P you’re gonna love the final section of this: Mister Berry’s really excelled himself here.

Pure Junk – OB1
BPM: 146
OB1 brings the acid fatness on track three with a low, growly 303 line that breaks into shards around the introduction of a vocal sample, then reassembles, with another, higher, acid line layered on top. Irresistibly groovy, of course, and a good tool as they say, but maybe just a bit too locked-in and buttoned-up to truly shine. You can’t help but wish for some of the same madness of his Lose Control remix.

Pure Junk – OB1 (Tik Tok remix)
BPM: 145
Proving my peaches-and-cream theory, Tik Tok takes Pure Junk and loosens it up a bit. The drums are tribal, there are horns, and he makes better use of the vocal sample, letting it dip in and out of the melody. The acid, too, takes on a life of its own, as though refusing to be herded into predictable, manageable chunks and as a result the whole thing has a funkier, more freewheeling feel. Top stuff.

Lose Control – Tik Tok feat Lady Reload (OB1 remix)

EP Previews

2011 Autumnal Acidity

Some NEW acid in the mix, mainly from the last few months.

Tracklisting is:

Alex Kenji & Luigi Rocca – Acid Monks
F+S (Franz & Shape) – Acid One
Adam Derry – 130 Jam
Woo York & Vegim – Bass Machinnen (DAVE The Drummer dub mix)
D.A.V.E The Drummer & Marcello Perri – Purpose
Justin E – Resistance
Freethinker – Release The Scud
Freethinker – 401
Chris Liberator & Sterling Moss – Acid Corrosion
Steve Mills – London Acid Techno
A.P & Josh Inc – Pure fuzz
Nitronoise – Drink & Drive
Zoid – Day Off
Tik Tok & Turtle – Boxed Up
Tik Tok – Fucka Hooka (2011 mix)
Justin E – Jacob’s Ladder
Mobile Dogwash – Roll Em Phat
Acid Chochi – Running For Fun
OB1 – A Little Something
Subutex & DJ D8 – Fuck That
Austin Corrosive – Recharge
Tassid – Recharge Remix
KitShunt – With A K (1st Edit)

Tik Tok & OB1 – Coaxial007 (Coaxial)

Cat no: Coaxial007 
Release date: 29/08/11

OB1 – A Little Something
BPM: 147
Two very different tracks here, but both bang like a barn door in a hurricane, fizz with a raw, punk spirit, and sound like they mean it. The kick that lifts off A Little Something, for example, is truly earth-shaking, and when the acid drops by at 2.11 it’s a dark, untamed thing. A contained rage holds the track together, though, even as it shifts into a third phase at 3.55, an extended break introducing all manner of synthy siren stabs and an evolving acid line that works itself into a frenzy before dropping out for a long outro. You want to hear it? You should. Click below for a sound sample.

A Little Something sound sample

Tik Tok – Fucka Hooka (2011 mix)**
BPM: 145
Hooligan and berserk, Fucka Hooka’s the volatile enforcer to A Little Something’s implacable boss. Its 303 seems to spin and giggle like cracked-out carnival music, while savage, goggle-eyed noises saw away in the background and mad drums constantly threaten to send it out of control. The overall effect is like that scene in Goodfellas where Joe Pesci goes, ‘Funny, how?’ but set to music, and it’s a perfect yin to A Little Something’s yang – the Pesci to its De Niro. Which is 007’s nominal A-side and which is its B-side, I couldn’t say, but it doesn’t matter because they’re both essential. I’m told the next Coaxial release is OB1’s Olly Berry remixing Fucka Hooka, and Tik Tok on A Little Something. Fingers crossed the results are as devastating as the pairings suggest.

Fucka Hooka (2011 Mix) sound sample

Get it from: Fentek 303

Tik Tok & Cus, Tik Tok – SUF Projects 004 (SUF Projects)

Cat no: SUF Projects 004 
Release date: 07/06/11

Lincolnshire Sausages**
BPM: 145
Never let it be said that acid techno is afraid to confront the big issues of the day. A sausage tax in Lincolnshire is the subject under discussion here, Lincs producer Jamie Taylor framing this issue with upbeat and funky drums, then a bright old-skool acid line. ‘Would you like some Lincolnshire sausages?’ it asks at one point, and yes I am feeling a little peckish, actually, now I’m able to face solids. Happily the track rocks, so you get to say, It’s a banger!

Amusement Park
BPM: 145
It’s been kicking around for a while, this track, first turning up on Jamie’s Soundcloud page about a year ago and finding favour with Chris Liberator among others. And it’s easy to see why. It’s one of those tracks that just sounds so… I don’t know, assured, like James Coburn in acid techno form. A smooth unhurried kick is lifted by a Bill Hicks sample – this one, in fact – while low-key acid flits among surprisingly silky percussion. It’s a great track but even so, the knockabout old-skool sound of the A side gets my vote.

Get it from: 909 London