- For the latest Y4K mix, Distinctive Breaks invited recent visitor to Australian shores, who wowed the crowds with his combination of DJ mixing, live drumming and scratching (courtesy of Davey Dave) - Uberzone - who alongside the likes of The Crystal Method is responsible for lighting a beacon for West Coast US breakbeat and electronic music.
First off the mark is a cover track, Uberzone and Afrika Bambaataa do a breaks cover of Manu Dibangu's Soul Makossa giving it a dancey, electro feel using deep basslines, electro stabs, a melodic sax part and African tribal chants. The last time these two teamed up was back in 1998 for the classic "2kool4skool" and to hear this new effort is a treat.
Elite Force, another recent visitor to Australian shores turns on the tech-funk for Driving Me Crazy - a more soulful affair featuring a repetitive male vocal sample and melodic bass line before getting right into General MIDI's (yet another recent visitor to our shores!) bassline killer remix of Aquasky vs Masterblaster's Seville.
Uberzone teams up once again with TCR boss Rennie Pilgrem for Fuego, a track filled with hard hitting synth stabs and electro arpeggios. The final Uberzone tune on this release is the beat oriented Drunken Monkey combining old skool/hardcore style beats with tribal percussion and digital scratching.
Turn Me Out by Christian J and Matie has become a breaks anthem lately bringing the Kathy Brown classic back to life. Rolling bass lines, punchy drum beats and that vocal sample - "turn me on, turn me out, make me scream, make me shout!" - sing-a-long breaks galore. Koma & Bones' Take Me Back squeezes in afterwards featuring the vocals of Robert Owens and appears in a bass fueled remix done by BLIM, before General MIDI returns once again with his Bass Rokkaz taking the bass to even darker levels.
Another one of Tasmania's finest exports Andy Page contributes Mr Rush pulling out the quirky electro samples, bouncy drum patterns and dark basslines before the mix closes off with Ferocious Mullet's Cakewhole providing a deeper and more laidback mood to close the CD.
This release is actually quite unusual - a US DJ/producer takes and mixes a collection of tunes mainly from UK artists who play and produce a sound that has its origins from the US West Coast to be released internationally from a UK based label... Oooookaaaaayyyy! It features great tunes, however I just didn't find this mix to be as fun to listen to as FreQ Nasty's - which spawned off an anthemic bootleg mix, and got massive crowds rapping along to it! Still Uberzone's Y4K keeps to Distinctive Breaks' focus of showcasing the latest breaks and giving breaks fans a taste of the chosen selectah's record box.