12”

Just before record buying Armageddon picks up again and decides to destroy everyone’s wallets with fresh platters of sound coming thick and fast again this year, here’s a little round up of some 12”s from my bag at the end of last year.

Royal T – 1Up or Shatup EP [No Hoods No Hats]
One of the grime instrumentals of the year, 1Up is Mario on the rampage, fuckin’ things up to get those coins, P Money kills the vocal but you’ll need to buy his mixtape for that. Martin Kemp turns in a funky remix with balls and Bok Bok maybe makes the best material I’ve heard from him yet.

Martin Kemp – After The Night/Aztec [Blunted Robots]
Funky manoeuvres with broken grooves, deep bass and twisted synths that sound like harnessed air pressure pointed directly at your feet to make you move. Martin Kemp does it again, the Blunted Robots crew are really on it right now.

Greena – Tenzado/Actual Pain [Apple Pips]
Finally we get a 12” from Greena on the mighty Apple Pips. Two slabs of chunky bass heavy funky that rolls with broken tribal percussion. Actual Pain’s devastating bass pulse and twisted vocal samples kill it. Greena has this huge soundsystem shaking carnival vibe going on here it’s addictive.

Breakage ft. Newham Generals & David Rodigan – Hard/(Caspa & The Others ‘The Police Takeover remix’) [Digital Soundboy]
The instrumental ‘Together’ was always big but the Newham Generals give it a new lease of life by making one of THE grime bangers of the year. The Gen’s kill it vocally and add extra hype to a deep track. I’d love to hear more of the Gen’s on dubstep.

Joker – Digidesign (Om Unit’s Pop Lock remix) [White]
Quality hip-hop re-fix of the Joker favourite that has been locked in my head since I first heard it gets the Om Unit aka 2Tall treatment. He gives it a digital b-boy flex with loads of snap. Added playtime for a track I still can’t stop rinsing.

V/A – 25/11/09 EP [Ramp]
Sampha/Slugabed/Tokimonsta/Shortstuff/SBTRKT/P.U.D.G.E. celebrate the night in question with a super limited 12” EP with one track from everyone that played. Irresistible for the frozen remix of A Rustling that takes that track and goes all Wiley on us. Getting an original SBTRKT track that isn’t a remix is bless too. Tokimonsta brings her own brand of off-centre hip-hop and kills it.

Julio Bashmore – Um Bongo’s Revenge/World Peace [Dirtybird]
It took me a little while to get into this one, Um Bongo… is like a straight up peak time techno track with a funky slant and cheeky vocal sample that gets people smiling. World Peace is a subtler affair that keeps growing on you.

Ikonika – Sahara Michael/Fish [Hyperdub]
Taster of things to come from the wonderful Ikonika, who is all set to release an album in 2010. SM was on the ‘5’ comp and with its catchy funk its still lodge in my head. Fish stands up too, with more of an epic sound. Her twisted synths are kind of special. Now what we really need is her track, ‘Idiot’ its insane.