Locked Union

Night Slugs’ Club Constructions series has a transparent manifesto: providing “stripped-back, raw and highly functional tracks made specifically for the club”. The clarity of this intention contrasts with the label’s general output which often conducts fluid, naturally ambiguous obscurity. However, a departure from uncertain sonic and visual imagination is justified through an equally meticulous approach to design and apt simplicity. The result gives visions of a dark, pulsating enclosure animated by streaks of light.

The third Club Construction is a salute to Baltimore club, a relatively isolated dance genre that has been a source of inspiration for recent UK-based production. 

A. Bring In The Katz (feat. PORK CHOP)
B. Bring In The Katz (L-VIS 1990 Dub)

Bring in the Katz — committed to wax here almost two years after its original release — supplies a usual Bmore template: Think breaks, bellowing 808 kicks and nonsensical, stabbing snippets that demand movement from every follicle. MC PORK CHOP’s beckoning commentary complements the track’s primal nature and (as evidenced in the footage below) stimulates crowd interaction.

L-VIS 1990’s minimal reworking serves as an East-London alternative. A sporadic cowbell and grime claps generate further angst, while a scattering, forceful drum arrangement and inevitable, swarming warmth elicit wall to wall trigger action. This is peak hour brutality for the energised.

Forthcoming 10/09/2012, available from:

Red Eye; Piccadilly Records

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The third release from Blawan and Pariah’s techno-tinged imprint She Works The Long Nights offers two stern, rugged floor-shakers.

Untitled 1 — with its charming vigour and obsessively haunting vocal — has left main-rooms captivated for the past year. The kick-drum rolls furiously, engulfing the track’s graveyard atmosphere, while persistent hats and warehouse-infused SFX add chaos to clamour.

Untitled 2 ascends with an ominous air siren, clattering wooden chords and that abrasive rallying kick. Above this surface there are lighter elements too: a gentle swing — prominent in the pair’s solo productions — is present, and the rhythm’s skip provides a lick of disrupted, hardened garage. These powerful touches delicately distinguish the sound of this heavy artillery crew that continues to set the standard for UK-orineted techno.

The 12” limited single is slated for a release in August (approx. 10/08/12), available from:

Piccadilly Records; Rubadub; Boomkat; Redeye