Keep Up!, the five-strong collective from south London, present another super heavy 45 of dancefloor mayhem to follow their huge first release: Keep Up! 001. In keeping with the formula, the boys have gone for an uptempo A Side for that heat of the night spin, while the AA Side is the neck-snapping speaker blower to set the vibe.
Debut artist Avé Blaste joins Lopez to bring you the hip-hop influenced, funky disco soul of Drakefield Soul. Avé, AKA Zac Vibert, has been delivering superb DJ sets to the masses at Hospital Records? Hospitality night and, of course, Keep Up!?s own tip-top nights in Brixton town. A certain female star leads us into a snapping beat that even J Dilla would have been proud of. The main groove is a piano-led series of hooks with reggae fx fizzing around the mix. The three sections of the tune each produce their own bass line, making the tune twist on its heels throughout. This is a perfect helping of the current craze for disco and great for your party in the club or at home.
The flipside heralds the return of Lopez (the three-man Paraguay-Tooting expansion team) with Barrio. We told you to watch out for them and, true to form, they?ve delivered another slice of latin-edged hip hop. Leaning firmly on the past, but with a foot in the future, Barrio cleverly uses the influence of a certain latino icon and smashes it up with a huge twisting bass line that should make any basshead bug out. In other words, it?s big and nasty. Super-subby kicks work with the warping, mutating bass line, which should suitably bang heads whatever time of night you rock this one.
Fans and support includes Toddla T, Hint, Rubberfunk, Wrong Tom amongst others
Barrio: ''Can i feel it? Yeah my chest is hurtin? from that bassline? DUTTY!!..''
Toddla T (1965, EMI Records)
?The Keep Up kids do it again with another pair of surefire midtempo bangers. Drakefield Soul is a classy 60s soul piano workout with a hint of disco?
Dr Rubberfunk (Jalapeno Records, GPS Recordings)
?Both great summer tracks. Barrio is my favourite. Chunky and soulful - I can imagine it ringing out over a few sun-drenched fields this festival season!?
Hint (Tru Thoughts)
Drakefield Soul: ?Good gosh - latino jazz twisted into spaced out disco until it becomes my idea of a perfect record! i badly need a solid copy of this"
Wrongtom (Hard Fi?s DJ)