Review Summary: Don't stop
"Don't stop" is a perfectly apt mantra to be repeated ad nauseam on the all-guns-blazing opening track of
Turbo Rave Artillery. UK electronic label Hooversound's newest release by Sam Langley aka Samurai Breaks barely gives you time to breathe before diving headfirst into another stuttering breakbeat, blaring synth, or vocal sample. At a brief 19 minutes over the course of the EP, however, there's no real need–or desire–for respite from the aural assault.
As far as aural assaults go, there aren't many as fun as
Turbo Rave Artillery, and the name of the EP just about sums it up. Samurai Breaks provides music that is heavy and mechanical but infinitely danceable. Like much of the genre, Samurai Breaks is interested in rhythms and percussion, and with these elements, he masterfully toes the line between playful and intense. The title track is about as maximalist as can be, but Langley cleverly gives it a sense of progression with boxing vocal samples calling out round numbers. The jittery beat feels like the jumpy movements of a boxer, each percussive stab a jab landed on his opponent. The most abrasive track of the bunch, Langley keeps it brief before it overwhelms your ears or your feet.
While the back half of the EP–"Jitterbug" and its remix by drum & bass mainstay Coco Bryce–is, relatively speaking, tamer than the first half, it doesn't lose any urgency.
Turbo Rave Artillery is another terrific entry in the already-illustrious catalog of Hooversound, a label that always seems to get the best out of its producers.
