Cargo Records

Ike Release / Hot City – Infra12001 EP

With the shock waves of this imprint’s first two 10" releases from Spatial still resonating through global sub woofers, Infrasonics presents a split double A side four tracker from Ike Release and Hot City, both working different perspectives on UK bass music, but both referencing common threads therein. Ike Release, a Berlin resident hailing from Chicago, creates an energetic hybrid of deep, glacial synthetic textures underpinned by solid subs and UK influenced grooves that has already found favour amongst observers like Phillip Sherburne. The British rave continuum is clear and present across both tracks but re-contextualised and brought up to date amidst a discerning European sonic palette.

‘Misdeeds’ opens with an upbeat, energetic feel; the rhythm propelled by a driving sub bass groove… this is dubstep at it's most optimistic. ‘Jenova’ is killer technoid garage that maintains the same urgency, with a brightness, buoyancy and warmth that defies any stereotype of "deep" and pensive, preferring to move bodies on the floor. Hot City has been gaining quite a reputation on the London underground having recently completed mixes for Mary Anne Hobbs as well as the ever reliable FACT magazine series. He is also a resident at London's Wifey club night as well as the How's My Raving events at Cargo. Simply put, Hot City produces relentless, unselfconscious dance-floor bangers that neatly triangulate hardcore, UK garage and jacking Todd Edward's style New York House. With tight production and precision edits propelling his sound forward, Hot City seems to have successfully captured the ethos of the UK rave continuum and packaged it up into a driving 21st century sound that's found favour from DJs as diverse as Drop The Lime and Hudson Mohawke.

‘Setting Me Free’ starts with what could be a very early Prodigy string pad before launching into solid house groove reminiscent of Inner City. The track continues to build and surprise with clever edits, sampled vocal phonemes and euphoric breaks. ‘No More’ sees Hot City delve into 3am warehouse party territory, built around a stabbing bass note before opening into a piano chord that interplays with a doubling of the bass riff and the signature edits and breaks. It's unashamed hands-in-the-air material, recalling a time when the dance was less self consciously genre bound, and making that time now.