Very special tracks by Alex Jones. Somehow weird and out of space but also very functional and pushing More

Returning to HypeLTD after only a few short months, The Analogue Cops seem the perfect artist pairing for the label, carving out an unashamed love of raw, pummeling, dirty house grooves and choice samples. 2013's "In Plain Clothes" EP was passionately received by many, and the Italian team are back for more with the "Hot Brass Dance" EP….Lucretio takes up the A side honors, and on "Denying" we get that familiar marriage of crusty and crunchy drum beats and a 'hands in the air' piano/vox sample, the 909 rides pierce through the mix whilst the distortion levels cook, but never burn. "Do It Forever" treads similar turf, all pumped up Relief Records drums, sweet vox and a trance inducing synth arpeggio. On the flip, Marieu takes up the mantle, and there's no relent on the drum machine/sample combo. No doubt finding influences in the rough and ready Dance Mania releases of the 90s, Marieu weaves these components and more, throwing in some batshit crazy acid licks and industrial sized breakbeats on "Fall In", subtlety left firmly at the door whilst the machines batter out another solid but uncompromising track. More

No doubt about it, HypeLTD are on a bit of a roll at the moment; recent releases from the likes of JoeFarr, The Analogue Cops and Marco Bernardi have helped shape the Hypercolour sub-label into a consistent purveyor of raw and rootsy techno music. On the 'Split' EP, various artists are assembled to flex their prowess, namely Warlock, Zoé Zoe & Enoah Ballard and Samuel Thalmann. Opening up the EP is Warlock, the driving force behind London's Rag & Bone label. This seasoned British breaks and electro producer offers up 'Sawhorses', a weighty 909 kick and incessant, filtering stabs give this an air of familiarity, Berlin in sound, Detroit in spirit perhaps, but a straight up club cut for certain. A proper jacker, and an ace reverse edit right on the end! Lithuanian brothers, Zoé Zoe & Enoah Ballard, team up for the '1234'. Zoé Zoe has been behind previous releases on Planet Mu and Sneaker Social Club, and joins his sibling on this dark and ravey breakbeat driven track. The kind of cut that separates the wheat from the chaff come closing time at your local discothèque, '1234' is both eerie, cosmic and flat out deep all at once. Closing this 'Split' EP is Samuel Thalmann AKA Okain, a man behind an incredible musical CV, including music for Tsuba, BPitch, Memento, Four:Twenty and many more. Samuel offers up 'Not Anymore' under his birth name, a blinding 909 drum workout with some freaky Chi-town modulations goin on. Almost like a perfect accompaniment to Warlock's 'Sawhorses', this is simple yet effective dance track that'll have 'em jackin and pumping their fists til dawn. More

Marco Bernardi has enjoyed a long an illustrious career, but it's probably in these last couple of years that the Glaswegian producer has found his sound. Previous releases on Frustrated Funk, Clone, Royal Oak, Crème Organisation, Futureboogie and Rawax have built a solid reputation, and key releases last year on Carl Craig's Planet E and MOS/Delsin have sealed his rep as a unique player in the industry. So it's with welcome arms that Hypercolour release the 'Music For Short Attentions' EP, choc full of energizing sounds. Lead cut 'No One Seems To Care' could just be a bona-fide cross over for our man (not that it is the intention), but the surging Resse-esque bassline, blazing synth stabs and rock solid beats provide a real 'call to the dancefloor' moment, the discordant vocal adding to the mood. ‘Meteor' has Bernardi playing his toys to maximum effect, dark and raw Motor City vibes, shades of early Claude Young and Anthony Shakir abound here. 'In Between Fire' is a groovy as hell house cut, all deft organ riffs and twisted modulation whilst vinyl closer 'The Final Triangle' sounds old skool to the max, but a sound and atmosphere that one will never tire of; melancholic riffs and hypnotizing drum machines, all the trademarks of this classic sound we know as techno (in all its forms and tempos). Great stuff from Marco, and an artist we hope to hear much more of in 2014. More

A1. BROOKFIELD B1. KITCHEN MONKS More

A1. DANCE, MAX A2. SUBMERGED B1. FUNCTION B2. FADE REALIZATION More

Next up on Hypercolour?s tidy vinyl off shoot is Berlin based but Chicago and Detroit indebted producer Murphy Jax. Through releases on Clone Jack For Daze and Tiga?s Turbo, Jax has laid out his classically minded house vision in style - something he does again with two originals and two remixes on this Hype debut. A1 ?Acid Rapper? is exactly that ? a man raps in the style of old school heroes Jungle Wonz whilst an acid line blips away beneath, scurry in and out of splintered and woody beats and pinging perc. Soft pads emanate from its core throughout to nicely offset the rawness of the claps and the whole thing will have you dancing like it?s 1989. ?The Acid Housekeeper? is not so in your face at first, and instead a simple bassline is the main feature of a track on which Jax raps with a retro tinge once again. The 303 lines come in phases rather than continually on this one, with some big claps and smooth hi-hats all seeping in, gradually upping the anti until you?re in the midst of another busy dancefloor workout straight from a warehouse party in Illinois you never even went to. Jax provides us with his own remix, and an edit from Dsb accompanies ?The Acid Housekeeper? to complete the package: first, the deep Detroit mix sounds like its being recorded at the other side of the room instead of loud in the mix. The vocal here is more menacing, and the acid line, too, is more intense, where the Dsb mix very much fits in with the current slo-mo, murky deep house aesthetic. It?s littered with weird sounds, snatched vocal yelps and is a delightfully muddled, unordered affair. Vocals in dance music are notoriously hard, but Jax makes them work and then some? More

Following on from the likes of Maya Jane Coles and T.Williams, next to release on ever cultured Hypercolour off shoot HypeLtd is Toronto beatsmith Kevin McPhee. With releases on labels like Idle Hands and [nakedlunch] in 2011, this man has established himself as one of the finest and freshest producers of the year. Here turning in four more original cuts, McPhee's fascination with house apparently continues apace. Opener 'I Will' has gorgeously under-lapping beats, teary-eyed melodies and dreamy female vocals all rolling along together in sombre harmony. Variously being peeled back to just the chords, just the vocal or just the scuffed beats, it's a track that remains forever swollen with an unspoken sadness, despite making decent progress.
'Hang My Head' is less dreamy and more gnarled round the edges. Punching along at an inviting mid-tempo, a buried bassline gets busy as louche beats echo in the spaces above. It's hollow and suggestive, where 'Your Side' returns to a more mopey and insular vibe. Here the kicks trudge along, a mildly euphoric male vocal floating in between them and some long tailed, churchy synths leaving a trail in their wake. It's beautifully melancholic; cautiously optimistic...'Blue Organ' again sounds distant, instilling a dreamy, hypnagogic kinda vibe to the smeared tones and edgeless kicks which otherwise spread out in every direction. Even the percussion is murky and half remembered, veiled with years of dust that also obscures the sound of some nimble fingers which begin to dance up and down a piano toward the end of the record. McPhee very much has his own fine grain analogue aesthetic... this most delightful EP only confirms that. More