Reviews
C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7 – Funky Highlife
November 21, 2012 | Adam Tiran 1
Trawling through the Urban Essence promos mailbox can, at times, be a tedious task. While we’re blessed with receiving a lot of exciting new music that’s fresh off the press, one sometimes feels bombarded by the deluge of uninteresting, formulaic … Read More
Mindmapper & June Miller – Gaia EP
October 9, 2012 | Jack Smith
The Netherlands’ very own Break-Fast Audio are fast becoming pioneers of a considered, musical simplicity, comfortable with immediate menace and subtle expanse alike. We’ve also been used to dealing with the double-edged sword that is June Miller, who in turn exhibit excellence in … Read More
Keosz – Incomer EP
September 17, 2012 | Jack Smith
Offworld’s catalogue of kaleidoscopic, soundscape beats reads like a who’s-who of this decade’s foremost champions of the post-Autonomic minimal: label boss LM1, Method One, Oscillist, and Seathasky to name a few being regular contributors as champions of off-centre liquid dissection. And as has been the case … Read More
Silent Dust – Population, Me Ft. Selfsays / Martyrs
September 10, 2012 | Jack Smith
A few weeks ago we were met with the tantalising news that Silent Dust were re-emerging with the fourth instalment of None60, and what an exciting return it has turned out to be. We’re still reeling from their sublime self-titled debut LP: an … Read More
Fis – Duckdive EP
September 3, 2012 | Jack Smith 1
We’ve been supporting Samurai’s vinyl-only offshoot Horo since the early days of HORO001 back in December and now, moving into the murky depths of Summer’s end, the sub-label has firmly established itself as a standalone bastion of intelligent creativity, perhaps even surpassing … Read More
Fields – Behind The Curtains / Elemental
August 6, 2012 | Jack Smith
With their consistently excellent output, it should come as no surprise that Urban Essence returns its gazing eyes to nascent Bristol-based label, Utopia Music. Having covered their last few enigmatic releases, their policy of packing as much varied content of resounding quality … Read More
Stray & Halogenix – The Pursuit / Poison
July 16, 2012 | Jack Smith
Watching Halogenix’s rapid ascent within the scene in 2012 has been eerily similar to Stray’s emergence in 2009: both came out of nowhere with exciting debuts, both had breathtakingly original releases on Kasra’s Critical Music, both have considered, faultless discographies at this early … Read More
Heavy1 & P-Fine / Need 4 Mirrors – Palace / Thought Police
July 16, 2012 | Jack Smith
2012 has seen some fine debut releases from new labels so far, with Mode’s Around The Edges EP on The Crescent, Blocks & Escher’s groundbreaking opening on Narratives, and Mindmapper, Fre4knc and Heavy1’s joint offering on Hull’s very own Dust Audio. In this light, what makes this release from Japan’s Yabai 84 … Read More
Amoss – State of Suspension EP
July 9, 2012 | Jack Smith
Metaphorically speaking, Amoss have strolled into the scene with an unassuming ease: their natural talent and technical prowess have seen the duo release on some of the biggest major players including Renegade Hardware, Horizons and Dispatch. This month brings their second feature on Ant … Read More
Clarity & Overlook – Other Sights / Rohypnol
June 18, 2012 | Jack Smith
Presha’s reputation for notable tastemaking has evolved even further than Samurai’s catalogue of dynamic, innovative beats, with the final stages of the previous year ushering in a new, yet no less distinguishable side project: the exclusive, vinyl-only Samurai Horo series. Horo has moved … Read More