So many tunes, so little time 17

214 – Plastic Spokes EP
Glitchy, IDM-ish beats from the more experimental side of the dubstep/future garage/bass music spectrum, courtesy of Seattle-based producer 214 and coming on Scottish label Fortified Audio.
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Chris Brann – A Long Hot Summer sampler
A five-track DJ-only sampler for Mr Wamdue/Ptaah/Ananda Project's soon-come mix album of the same name on King Street. Beg, borrow or steal a copy if you can cos I'm not sure if this one's even gonna be in the shops…
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Danny eM – Faking Love EP
Number four from new UK label Form And Function sees Peruvian producer Danny eM serving up three tracks of proggy deep/tech bizniss. Running Late In Lima would be my pick of the three.
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DJ MFR + Devid Morrison – Wonderland
This three-tracker from the legendary Transport Recordings sees label boss DJ MFR team up with Italy's Devid Morrison for what's one of the label's techiest releases yet.
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Dual T – Bridge To The Sky
Savoir Faire Musique maintain their usual high standard with this sumptuous late-night houser from Dual T, which then gets a tuffer SMAK Remix while the garage-leaning Keep The Silence rounds out the EP.
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Stefan Kaye – Moments EP
Our second this week from the Endemic Digital camp is this five-tracker from label stalwart Stefan Kaye. Overall the mood is deep tech-house with a hint of prog, with the garage inflections of Not Without You the cream of the crop to these ears.
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Alexander Kowalski – Green Eyed
A five-track EP from the Berlin resident and Damage Music boss on Vince Watson's Bio Music label, sitting somewhere between progressive house and techno. The deep, rumbling Garden Of SEM stands out for me.
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Manuel Mazza – Shift
Funkified techno grooves on the original mix, with Alex Celler serving up a more minimalist rework. Comes on Italian techno label Diva Records.
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Maverickz – Losing My Religion
The original mix here is a fairly bouncy, housey kinda techno cut with acid twinges. Vid Marjanovic and Balthazar + JackRock take the track into tougher techno pastures.
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Nikola Vujicic Vs Baunzz! – Tears No More
Bouncy Balkan electro-swing ahoy! Just the one mix so not much else to tell you except that it comes on brand-new Serbian label Club4Club… and that while this sound has certainly been done, in spades, this really is rather jolly.
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Rampue – KopfAber
The first in a trilogy of singles, apparently, from this Berlin-based producer. Think nu-disco on a handful of Valium 10 and you're somewhere in the ballpark.
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Rhenalt – Reach Out
“Bumping vocal house with an electro edge,” is how the hype sheet describes this sixth offering from House Of Stank's Get Up Recordings. The original and Kenny Summit mixes have a little TOO MUCH of an electro edge for me, but the deeper Rob Salmon rub does the job.
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Roberto – First Principles
Deep, moody and glitchy techno with a distinct Detroit edge is the order of the day on this four-tracker from Joachim Spieth's AFFIN imprint. For this reviewer, Silvertown is the one.
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Greg Eversoul – Loan Smoke EP
Last but by no means least, here we have a three-track EP from Denver's Greg Eversoul. He's a veteran of Hipp-E's legendary San Francisco parties back in the day and it shows, with trippy, rhythmic, hypnotic house/tech-house grooves the order of the day. Something of a dub influence in evidence too.
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THANKS ALSO this week to: Betoko, BioWire, Cevin Fisher's European Tour, Daniel Mehes, dreamAwaken, Frank Martin, Julian Weiss, Nathan Swiss, Ooko, Piri Piri, Situation, Siwell, Steve Mulder, Tim Sheridan, Tom Demac vs Silverclub, Tom Wax + Jennifer Pliester and Off-Axis Recordings… as ever, I'm sure there are some gems in there that I've overlooked but there just isn't time to review everything.

ALBUM VVV - Across The Sea

Bit late on this one, admittedly… but a) I did promise I'd post a review and b) it's too good to ignore.

It's being billed as 'future garage'… so, about that. It's a term I struggle with a bit, even though I've used it myself on occasion, cos much of what I've heard touted as 'future garage' tends to fall into one of two camps. To me it either sounds like 1. UK garage, basically, with nothing particularly 'future' about it however good it may be. Or 2. Strange downtempo, dubby EDM bizniss that might be futuristic, I might even like it, but it doesn't particularly have a lot to do with any form of 'garage' that I know. So I can't find much higher praise for Across The Sea than to say that this genuinely does sound like a fresh, modern take on the UKG blueprint – and for that VVV are to be applauded.

This has already been in Mixmag as 'dubstep album of the month' so a lot of you are probably very aware of it anyway, and as such I won't bang on too much. But cast your mind back to the late 90s/early 00s… there were hints – and by hints, I mostly mean Donna Dee's Spellbound, for my money one of dance music's most under-rated long players of all time – that UKG had the potential to mature into a music that was as suitable for home listening as it was for the dancefloor. Then the whole 'crews' thing happened and the whole scene descended into a fiasco of 'attitude', braggadocio and gunplay. Which was a shame.

Well, with Across The Sea, it's like that potential has at long, long last been realised. Moving seamlessly from heavy bass epics like Stuck Between, Under Control and Retreated, to the twitchy, glitchy two-step of All That We've Been Through or Across The Sea, from energetic hip-shaker Aisle Sea to the dusty, melancholic loops of Someday and Thick, this is an album that needs to be heard in full, several times, before it really starts to sink in.

But when it does, you'll be hooked. VVV good stuff indeed.

Out: Now… I'm not sure how long for, cos the website says December but I was told 23 March?! Anyway, see above.

About: This comes on Scottish label Fortified Audio, here's the usual links: website Facebook Soundcloud.

Oh yeah, and VVV are from Austin, Texas… which isn't as surprising as you might think given that, as I recall, Texas and Poland used to be about the only two places UKG ever made much impression outside the UK. Funny how these things work, innit?