Breakbeats for the morning after | For quite a long time, Arcoplane went below my radar. The label is around since 2003, but only due to the advice of my dear friend Ian Hawgood I follow them now. Londons' Red Box Recorder represent the label sound perfectly and deliver a mature album with superb artwork.

You know, I'm a sucker for elaborate artwork. In case of Red Box Recorders' second album "Colour Codes", the frontcover made me download the record blindly deafly. Once unpacked I was delighted to find a PDF with a lot more wonderful images... Thumbs up for the man Max McLaughlin, who is some sort of in-house designer at Acroplane. Take a look:

But hey - I would not write this if the music didn't kick me at all! Red Box Recorder (aka "DJ Particle Fusion", lol) came a long way, picking the best from Drum & Bass, Hip Hop, Downbeat and Soul music. The outcome, however, is difficult to categorize. There is a wealth of instruments used, and they mix beautifully with the complex beat patterns. Some tunes recall older Ninja Tunes records, some feature influences from UK breakbeat more clearly. Programmings are always soulful and performed with a good sense of musicality. I had to think of Koen Park and Resynthsize every now and then. "Colour Codes" is a bit too long to be without a spot, but a lot of goodness can be found in here !
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'Dobustu Bancho', le nouvel album de Alexanders Dark Band provient de l'esprit dérangé de Depth Charge et de The Octagon Man.J Saul Kane atteint de nouveaux niveaux de folie auditive avec son troisième album avec Alexander's Dark Band, conformément à ceque suggéraient les albums précédents 'Beat Vortex' (1998) et 'Lord Calrec' (2000). Avec des titres tels que 'Animal Love' et 'Space Donkey on Crack', et une pochette artistique avec un chien borgne et un écureuil écrasé sur la route, ce leader animal de l'ouest londonien fait allusion à la démence dépravée qui se trouve ici .
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What happens when the DJ of the best Japanese hiphop band releases a solo CD ? You expect an instrumental hiphop album that will be compared to DJ Krush. O.N.O is happy to wrongfoot these preconceived notions... Krush is the king of instrumental hiphop in Nippon, Nobukazu Takemura is a giant in the electronic scene. They’d better watch out since O.N.O is quickly affirming himself as a prime purveyor of a music that happily crosses the borders of hiphop to invade electronica and vice-versa. From the straightforward hiphop O.N.O was making in 1997 on Shock shine no ran to Six month at outside stairs, his music’s evolution can only be deemed impressive. The extremely powerful bomb that is his main unit Tha Blue Herb may not have been dropped on the whole world yet, but if there is any justice, it can only be a matter of time. The same applies to his other project, Shigam... After the release of three 12” in a few months, here comes the long awaited full-length in the guise of Six month at outside stairs. Great cover art, but more importantly great music. Spasomdic deserves its title since it features the off-kilter beats that are now O.N.O’s trademark. Beyond that apparent chaos, there is some order. This order owes a lot to all the sounds in the background, the light drones, the keyboards, the soft feedback. There is a feeling of spacecraft encountering meteorites... There was something jazz about Shigam and this side of O.N.O’s work shines through Nanostorm. I’m not talking about a jazzy feeling provided by double bass, fender rhodes or sax sounds. I’m talking about actual jazz, its drum patterns and its most subtle sides. This track sounds like a jazz tune that would have been submitted to cut-ups and enhanced with various little sounds. Very, very exciting... Narrowboat is less hectic, more relaxed. Children playing in the woods or spending their summer trying to be the Asian Huckleberry Finn’s. Although each tracks are spiced up with traditional instruments (or at least sounding that way), it becomes more obvious on Sigh. A lot of Japanese artists are using such sounds. I guess it just seems natural to them. What is obvious is that it has nothing “exotic” or “manufactured”. They are used if they are what is needed to get the desired result. The combination on this one track of these instruments with more or less hiphop beats and techno keyboard sounds certainly is refreshing. Demand makes me think of a more beat oriented Aoki Takamasa (review here) with its processed sounds. The icing on the cake is the very nice vocal sample. Drumsutra is another great track with slightly treated snare and cymbal sounds, deep bass and what sounds like a string instrument, a strange violin plus of course all the elements in the background giving more depth to the song. Ereticent closes Six month at outside stairs in style. The beat pattern is more straightforward than on any other track and O.N.O’s layers and layers and layers of processed sounds form a fascination-inducing melody. On this track, the Sapporo based producer’s talent for melodies is at one of its highest level ever. Somewhere between turntabilism and laptop music, O.N.O’s album should be checked by anyone into anything between Krush, Pole, Coltrane and Aoki Takamasa. One of the top albums of 2003’s first six months...
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While The Rogue Element (aka Ben Medcalf) is busy touring the globe and putting together his second album, we present a ‘Special Delivery’ edition of the his debut album Rogue Rock, accompanied by a second disc that will leave dance/break beat/electro/indie fans alike salivating with excitement. The second disc features nine dance floor stompers never available on CD before. It includes the latest single for Dead Drummers/ The Moves, Rogues' award winning remix for Noisia's Gutterpump (Best Remix, Breakspoll) and his massive remixes for Soul Of Man, Dylan Rhymes and label mate Culprit 1. In addition to that we have the 12 inch version of Breathe with a brand new electro breaks remix by Elite Force, and Vandal's interpretation of Rogue Rock. In case you missed out on Rogue Rock first time round, it still sounds fresh and exciting, kicking in with dance-floor smashes Let Me Breathe and My Style, it takes grip and doesn’t let go. Rogue’s eye is always on the dance-floor with a take-no-prisoners approach to production, he bridges the gap between underground and commercial, breathing a new life into the breaks scene.
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