Wally Jump Jr. & The Criminal Element
Tighten Up (I Just Can't Stop Dancin')

Charles Webster's 2020 album Decision Time, his first for decades, was widely praised for the depth, soulfulness and densely atmospheric of its hazy and tactile sound. Those with long memories pointed out that Webster has form in this regard, with the legendary British deep house producer taking a similar approach with his 2001 solo debut album, Born on the 24th July. That album was overlooked at the time, so it's fabulous to see it finally get reissued on vinyl. Shot through with woozy, soft-focus, ultra-deep soul, trip-hop and gorgeous downtempo beats, the set is not only immaculately produced and full of inventive instrumentation, but also boasts some seriously inspired guest vocals. It's genuinely an overlooked classic that deserves any belated attention it finally receives.

First release on Sydney based label Natural-High comes from Neotex with four cuts ranging from club focused music to ambient home listening. Music for your body and mind.

Pinkman stoke the furnaces of despair, fuelling them with Black Merlin. Conveyor belts grunt out resentment, cold chords curl, synthlines sneer and pallid percussion punctuates. Noise echoes above, hammered clanks exploding into shards. Below the work continues, sweat smeared stains and hissing airless gasps. In the end, all is swallowed; gulped into the gaping assembly line.

XK025 sees a fresh label debut in the form of Cloudsteppers - a collaboration between Toronto based artists Ciel and Dan Only. Born out of an impromptu jam session at Dan Only's NDG 208 Studio in late 2019, the pair quickly hit it off. Ciel brought her trusty Korg ESX-1 sampler, and alongside Dan Only's arsenal of vintage synths and samplers, they quickly wrote the first two cuts of what would eventually turn into the first Cloudsteppers EP. After getting great feedback from playing them on tour and sharing with friends, the pair wrote the last two cuts when lockdown restrictions loosened during the summer of 2020.Both artists are instinctively melodically-inclined producers, so for this release they tried to focus more of their attention on the drums and fx, while limiting the amount of melodic parts in each track. Working within those parameters resulted in what is now their debut EP.Title track, “The Limit”, is a huge undulating cut of 160bpm energy - it shimmies effortlessly between skittish jungle, breakbeat and techno rhythms, centred around a tripped out sample of Manchester’s finest physicist, Brian Cox. “Slinky Bork” brings a distinctly UK Tech House flavour reminiscent of Housey Doingz, Get Fucked and others of the Wiggle/Euka House era - underpinned by a solid 4x4, subtle rhythms and spacey atmospherics abound.On the flip, “Diva Loops”goes in hard with a pounding kick, warbling bass and some massive clattering drums before breaking out into a playful melodic refrain. Closing things out, “Trigger Happy” is another functional 4x4 club cut full of skippy tech styles and punchy rhythms. A dreamy melody floats along into a tension building crescendo, complete with massive reese-ish bassline. Big!