Vinyl Fanatiks Vinilo y CD

Review: Certain names in dance music do well to predict the future - and Digital Pressure is one such name. Originally released on A Guy Called Gerald's label Juice Box in 1993, this phonkout beast of an EP came via the joint efforts of producers SDR and Subsonic aka Adrian Lloyd and Kelly Bowers. The twizzling melody and tunefully sawing breaks delays that kick this one off reflect the "digital pressures" of today perhaps more so than it did back then; 'Watch Dis Space' and 'Strictly Drug Related' make unique use (for jungle) of glitching phone chip stinger sounds, reminiscent of the twinkly "coin get" sound effects one might hear on carting about an old Watara games unit. If only handheld games consoles and uncommonly sighted mobile phones were the extent of our digital woes; now we've a heck of a lot more to worry about, and doesn't the further ironically named 'Back 2 Da Future' know it with its Twilight Zone topline and clunky robo-vox! Limited run of 350.

Review: Living life in permanent reload, Flashback's 95 classics 'Gun' and 'Triple Six' are some of the crispest, sharpest, most spacious and far out examples of junglised beat-slicing of their time. Still sounding as disarming and militant as they did 30 years ago, both hit hard with clarity. Those who love a rich warm rootsical sample in the thick of the choppy choppy should head for 'Gun' while those who love swimming neck deep in fractures will fall in love with 'Triple Six'. A stunning reissue from the Vinyl Fanatiks crew.

Review: When we're vexed, we're incensed, we're angry, we're provoked... but when we're "vexxed"? Lord knows what the extra X signifies! First released together in 1993 on Blueprint Records, DJ Fokus' 'Vexxed' and 'Chill Out' scored a bipolar mood of "rage and disengage", revealing intermediary darkside energies in the process. Packed with 70s horror sound motifs, in turn set against crushing industrial breaks, breakbeat hardcore A-sider 'Vexxed' is just as invidious as it was in 93, compartmentalising any raw emotion in favour of pure, furious air-hornage and scattershot breaks. 'Chill Out', sad to say, is hardly a chillout tune, but perhaps the A raised the stakes too high: those FMs are bouncy enough to keep speed forever, and those Reeses could melt the hardest of ices.

Review: Vinyl Fanatiks release their first EP for 2024, celebrating their 6th year of repressing incredible UK music from the early to mid-90s. Kicking things off is a veritably sordid slice of jungle heritage from Hyper Records, DJ Panik & DJ Freaky 'In Da Jungle', featuring the incredible vocals of Sleepy Ranks. Backed on the B by 'Higher', which also appeared on the original EP, both trax here are utter badboys, bringing a casual MC's heat and inimitably classic-raw sound to the mix.

Review: Double B is Barry from 2-X-Treme and is surely the most famous rave producer to have come out of Portsmouth. The dance floor don wrote this one at the same time as his celebrated 2-X-Treme EP so brings back plenty of the scone pleasures of that ear. Now pressed up once more it blends breakbeats and UK hardcore across five unrelenting cuts that very much chime with the current leanings of the underground scene towards harder, faster sounds.

Review: Law & Auder's latest release, Big It Up/Boomstick, is a two-track EP that showcases their unique blend of jungle and liquid drum and bass. The A-side, 'Big It Up,' is a high-energy track with a fun, reggaeton-inspired melody and plenty of samples. The B-side, 'Boomstick,' is a more atmospheric track with an eerie melody, a big Amen break, and a deep, throbbing bassline. Law And Auder's production skills and their ability to create music that is both danceable and thought-provoking. This record gives major old skool hardcore vibes.

Review: Minds At Large are back on Vinyl Fanatiks with a second outing, this time to resist their 1993 bangers 'Futureworld' and 'Spinechiller' which only came on white label the first time around. 'Spinechiller' is possibly more well known for being the standout on LTJ Bukem's 'Hardcore Volume 9' mixtape from the mid-nineties. It's a pristine breakbeat workout with chopped vocals and rich bass, while 'Futureworld' pairs even more manic breaks with some ethereal vocals. Two stone-cold killers.

Review: Trust us: we know when a reissue has been done lovingly and not in a meritless way. Vinyl Fanatiks fall into the former category, evidencing their ability to turn us to fanatical vinyl proselytes in turn, with this new edition of Nexus & Blowback's 'The Cat's Whiskas'. First released on the UK label Stranger Recordings in 1992, this 12" was just one of two records to ever grace the outlet's decked-out halls; label owner Sam Tierney was also behind the short-lived fixator alias, Obsession, the other releasee on the imprint. As if to put into words the emotions and affects attached to certain lingo native to the early breakbeat hardcore scene, track titles like 'Totally Cabbaged', 'Dinosaurus' and 'Law Of The Jungle' suggest a viviparous vive, their brisk breaks, colic choirs and explosive pianos making explicit the aliveness of a ravebound youth. Also pairing the music with allusions to animalia and the jungle wilderness, the EP grows increasingly experimental as it progresses both through the thicket and back in time, with 'Dinosaurus' serving up a triassic extinction event by the hand of catastrophic synth-struments, such as buzzing square waves and nuclear breaks.

Review: Vinyl Fanatiks latest deep dive into British dance music's rave-era past takes us back to 1993 and an early EP from Dave 'Aquasky' Wallace under the Rave Doctor alias. All four tracks were originally released - minus titles - on Stu J's influential Adrenalin Records imprint via the 'I' EP, which in recent years has become something of an in-demand item amongst collectors. Now fully remastered, the tracks sound as rushing and energetic as ever, with Wallace flitting between sub-heavy 4/4 breakbeat hardcore (the thumping 'Live With The Hardcore'), blistering breakbeat hardcore ('Shake Your Rump', which features a typical-for-the-period chords-and-sped-up-vocals breakdown), proto-jungle insanity from the 'jungle-tekno' period ('Annihilating Rhythm') and an 'Apache' break-driven slab of sub-heavy breathlessness ('Ruff In The Jungle', with its jangling pianos and hands-aloft approach).

Review: Last year, hardcore and jungle archivists Vinyl Fanatiks dipped into the back catalogue of early 90s breakbeat heroes Rhythm Section - a crew whose members included future TCR main man Rennie Pilgrem - and offered up a 12" featuring the first four tracks from their 1995 double-pack The Sequel. Here they round up the rest of the tracks in remastered form. There's much to admire, from the warehouse-ready, 'Bombscare'-inspired melodic motifs, crunchy breaks and booming bass of 'Rhythm Is Fundamental' and the acidic squelchy of peak-time smasher 'Freakin' Out', to the hip-hop sampling breakbeat funkiness of 'Time To Hit The Floor' and the stab-happy, sub-heavy hedonism of 'Work That Body'.

Review: Back to 1994: Vinyl Fanatiks continue their heartfelt community service to ensure the foundation rave records are still alive and appreciated today. This time we head to the UK east coast to hear the sounds of three Moving Shadow affiliates - JMJ & Richie and engineer JT. As Spirits From An Urban Jungle they only released two records together, which was criminal considering how crisp and forward-thinking both EPs were... Especially now in their remastered form. 'Prologue To Freedom' blasts with hopeful chords and those classic detuned synth sounds while 'White Lightning' focuses much more on the breakbeat science. Yet another precision excavation from Brent Newitt's Vinyl Fanatiks mission.

Review: Vinyl Fanatiks have willed two classic rave gems into 12" existence, after spending the best part of 28 years lurking on DAT. They come courtesy of Tone Def, a collective best known for their early work on the mighty Moving Shadow with tracks such as "Hectic House" and "T.D.E". Both these cuts, recorded around the same time, continue the classic rave theme with their swashbuckling breakbeats and zippy detuned synth sounds. Two sides for two very different vibes: "Can You Feel It" is the evangelistic hands-in-the-air rush-fuelled romp while "On The Attack" is a much sharper hardcore piece with its aggy, pitched-up lyrics.