Moscow producer NPhonix has been quietly building a name for himself with strong releases on Audio Culture and Mindtech over the last six months, now he looks to step up a gear with a quality EP on Shifting Peaks. Opener Getting Run Down loops up a nagging hip hop sample over skittering dukey beats and washes drifting pads and spacey keys over the top for a hypnotic late night groover. ‘Reach Out’ goes at a calmer pace, but revolves around intense builds, insistent polyrhythms and detroity riffs for a bit of hypnagogic drama. On memix duties, Om Unit does what you hope he’s going to do, injecting Reach Out with seemingly infinite swathes of space and bottom end, looping about at his own pace, but with that constant sense of Om Unit purpose . Nphonix closes out proceedings with a tweaky, rubbery –acid style workout that will find friends in bass and house camps .
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Next up from Shifting Peaks HQ is a tough, brooding 2 stepper from emerging Midlands based producer Lakosa, who tops off deep, techy riffs, punchy rhythms and fierce bottom end dynamics with a stream of (black) consciousness spoken vocal to create something that’s equally at home on the dance floor or the headphones. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwMsYLISscs Remixes come from fast rising newcomer, Mau’lin, ( check his Function One EP release on 'Diskotopia' ) who goes harder and more raw, pulling back the vocal a touch, upping the drums, and adding that heavy Mau’lin groove. West Norwood Cassette Library virtually dispenses with the vocal altogether, except for a cheekily spliced ‘WCNL’ shout out, and instead lets his crisp, tough drums and tech riffs do the talking .

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Leeds/Nottingham duo Mak & Pasteman might be in their 20’s, but their musical influences stretch from the funk and soul of the 60/70’s, through Juan Atkins’ proto-techno, to soulful house, D n B’ and UK Garage. Which won’t surprise anyone listening to this, their debut EP for Shifting Peaks, a 4 track statement of intent that sounds like it couldn’t have been made any time but 2012, but also feels like 20 years of hardcore continuum is embedded deep in it’s musical DNA . EP opener ‘Do the Same’ works a looped up, garagey, energy fuelled vocal around a broken beat, pulsing bassline, and deep pad washes for a hypnotic, but floor friendly outing. ‘Lost’ takes off on a darker tangent, combining a hypno-synth riff with fat drums and buzzing dark-core bassline , before the disembodied vocal sample emerges from the shadows and the spacey breakdown punches back into the brooding body of the tune. Vinyl crackles meld with percussion, subtly orchestrated drama underpins the arrangement , and an atmospheric afterglow from rave’s distant past radiates throughout. On the remix front, Leeds hotshot Youandewan keeps the momentum he built up in 2011 going strong into 012, as he strips down ‘Lost’ into 6.30 mins of synapapse stroking, dubby house. It nods to (post ? ) funky, it probably has relations that fought in the dubstep wars, but in the end it’s deep, immersive house music. San Franciscan Lando Kal didn’t hang about last year either, with quality outings on Rush Hour, Numbers and Hotflush. Here he takes snatches of ‘Do The Same’s vocal and loops it over a rolling, grimey, Washing Machine style bassline and punchy 4/4’s for a brooding, floor friendly mix.

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