Soul Jazz Sampler review

Kode 9: Magnetic City – who’d have thought the nine would have come out with a deep house-inflected number? Downtempo, well, down to house speeds anyway, clicking off-beat 4×4 hats, only the 3:2 ragga-style kick deviating from the Basic Channel rhythm. The melodica Steve talked about in a recent interview is present in full effect and invites comparison less with Augusto Pablo than with, bizarrely, the Specials. Heaps of echo, an immersive bassline, it’s one HELL of a good record.

Digital Mystikz: Wait – and no, this is not another funked-up Mala banger, or a massive Coki wobbler, but something else again, a really sweet arm-chair dub that would nonetheless be a fantastic mid-set chiller. We are talking extremely finely judged digidub with a low end that is articulate rather than deliberately stiff and subtly modulated descending melody lines. In fact if anything this is the bastard offspring of Mala’s Cays Crays remix, albeit instrumental. It’s really very good indeed, but it’s really much too short and is crying out for some vocalist-versus-MC action over the top. If thats sounds like I’m saying that not enough happens then that’ not quite true for subtlety is the order of the day here.

Overall an excellent 12 and it makes me wonder if I should re-edit the soon-come dubstep sufferah 3 to include one or both of them.