Mike Darkfloor – April 2020

May 3, 2020 By Mike Darkfloor

Here are my picks for April – a month in which the globe continued the lockdown. A month in which everyone is offering up a livestream, myself included, with my ongoing adventures of the Friday Night Boom Boom.

As we trundle into “the situation” for the umpteenth week here are ten tracks from April I am really quite fond of.

Scroll down to hit the list and links for places to get the tracks.

Gated Recordings continue their dominance of my chart. This time on a hardcore tip from Norway’s Liðvarð. Taken from the EP Split, his track Quadcore Hardcore shares vinyl runtime with Glasgow’s Krokakai. Another essential release from the London based label.

Mørbeck’s Frankfurt 2000 is a throbbing techno bassline cut that you make a stupid face to when you dance to it. It’s out late May on Russian label Wunderblock Records.

From the recent collaborative EP Fleshology by Justin Broadrick’s JK Flesh and Brendon Moeller’s Echologist it’s all about the murky dub sludge techno of the 3rd track. Shouts to Luke Lund for the reminder on one.

POLAAR label boss Flore dropped her album Rituals recently and it is fantastic. Her label has been pushing this grime, bass, hard drum, tech crossover sound for a few years now and I’m always keen to hear the new material when I see an email from her. Released early April Rituals is 10 tracks of this bass heavy club material that fully grabbed my attention when I first heard it, and then when I listened again, straight after. Whilst the whole thing is great it’s the rolling deep breaks into the dark sub bass on Thousand Years that really stood out. So much so I’ve highlighted it here. Essential LP.

Australian producer Hedchef dropped a brilliant remix of Gallak by Pluralist recently for Birmingham based bass label Circular Jaw, but I want to pick an original one of his that he sent me called Sharp Relief. It’s a bass heavy breakstep number that sounds so good – nailing the right level of heavy with groove.

From Mole Audio’s recent EP by Japan’s Ao Inoue comes the db:art remix of Version 96. It’s a total winner. All four tracks are wicked dub meets bass meets space but the db:art version pushes things, adding some steppy structural percussion resulting in a great track to throw into the mix.

The Netherlands’ based imprint New York Haunted continue their seemingly relentless pace of release. Pushing a more raw electronics sound than contemporaries, it is hard to keep up with their schedule, but I dipped into a couple of their recent bits and came out with their 197th offering God Reactor – from Canadian producer Da GobilNN. Picking one from the 10 tracks in the EP isn’t easy, but I’ve gone for May McLaren’s remix of the title track – an EBM electro offering with a shade of italo thrown in. Other versions of the four originals come from L/F/D/M, May McLaren, Religius Order, TYVYT-IYTY (of Bronze Teeth), RAUM, and Fear-E.

Space GR’s Transmission is a dark bass throb stomper that introduces breaks cuts into its slam down. Find it on their album Parallel Room out now on NXT Recordings.

Similarly Justified Violence by BRÄLLE is a stomper. One with gabber kickdrum slabs and a deceptively lush synth extended breakdown that pummels in to you after the drop. It’s a club smasher.

Finally this month something feel good. Something uplifting, euphoric, breaky and beautiful. Loods remix of In Paradise by Chrissy (nee Murderbot). You’ll be singing along to the chorus, probably. Out now on 17 Steps.

Mike Darkfloor – April 2020

Liðvarð – Quadcore Hardcore [Gated Recordings]
Mørbeck – Frankfurt 2000 [Wunderblock Records]
JK Flesh vs Echologist – Fleshology 3 [Avalanche Recordings]
Flore – Thousand Years [POLAAR]
Hedchef – Sharp Relief [Deep Cover]
Ao Inoue – Version 96 (db:art remix) [Mole Audio]
Da GobliNN – God Reactor (May McLaren remix) [New York Haunted]
Space GR – Transmission [NXT Recordings]
BRÄLLE – Justified Violence [Måinmise Records]
Chrissy – In Paradise (Loods remix) [17 Steps]