Having impressed with last year's Don't You Remember the Future full-length, Jamie Jones has kicked off 2010 by showing he has no intentions resting on his hard-earned laurels just yet. Following collaborations with Gadi Mizrahi, Deniz Kurtel and Lee Foss, Ruckus EP is his first solo effort since the release of his album, and stands as the debut on Jones & Foss' new label Hot Creations.
The title track is Jones doing what he does best; a big, bouncing bassline underpins a futuristic disco sound and some heavy sample use; the most recognisable of which comes courtesy of J.B Smoove trying to explain to Larry David why he shouldn't be blamed for a suspicious stain in his bedroom. "I brings the ruckus to the ladies!" Thankfully it's not a case of style over substance, and the chopped vocal perfectly bridges the two parts of the track. In the second half, Jones moves away from disco and heads straight for the grooving tech vibes that populated the majority of his artist album. (The Discoid Dub on the A side dispenses with Smoove's vocal and stays on the disco side of the track for the duration.)
On the B you'll find arguably the strongest track of the package. "Say What?" is a ridiculously groovy deep house track with a catchy (yet totally indistinguishable) vocal sample. It's the kind of thing you can't help singing, even though you have no idea what the words might be.
"Masterplans" takes a completely different path, at first coming across like downtempo deep/minimal before grating synth stabs completely take control of the track. There are shades of "Miura" here, but it's a long way from that sublime piece of music, at times feeling quite disjointed. Three out of four ain't bad, though, and it does nothing to detract from what is another excellent EP from the tireless DJ/producer.
Buy Jamie Jones - Ruckus EP at
Tracklist: Jamie Jones - Ruckus EP
 A1.Ruckus
A2 Ruckus (Discoid Dub)
B1 Say What?
B2 Masterplans
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