Back in stock: UK Hardcore

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.