Ike Release vs Hot City - infra12001
NB: Please note, we’ve had a issue with the manufacture of the vinyl. It’ll be with us shortly :)
Mastered by Transition
Distributed by Cargo.
Design by fréya.
Artist Info
Reviews
Cargo Records
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.
Phillip Sherburne for Wire Magazine
After a pair of well received 10-inches, East London’s Infrasonics label shifts to the 12-inch format, showcasing the work of two emerging producers working at the intersection of techno and dubstep. Like fellow Berlin resident Scuba, the Chicago-raised Ike Release is fond of lush, fizzy chord stabs that stretch across the tack like a billowing tarpaulin. Keenly syncopated kick/snare patterns and knife-sharpening hi-hats on “Misdeeds” are clearly indebted to drum ‘n’ bass, while the bass line itself is born of London’s long obsession with low end at its most nimble. “Jenova” follows a similar pattern, fluffed up with gorgeous dub pads, but its rimshot syncopations reference 2-step garage’s approach to tension and release. London’s Hot City, meanwhile, shows himself a keen student of breakbeat hardcore, slathering “Set Me Free” and “No More” with sickly synth strings and piano stabs, slowing the tempo to a broken, 4/4 prowl; he bookends the garage continuum with 2-step flourishes and, from the US, Todd Edwards’ choppy sample play. Both tracks feint and jab with exhilarating energy and restraint.Or check out a scan of the magazine.
Boomkat
“Spatial’s Infrasonics imprint expands its remit with a new release featuring the debut productions from Ike Release and two gems from underground stepper Hot City. While the label has become known for Spatial’s pristine 2-step refluxes, this instalment moves from the darker edges of the floor into the dancing zone with Ike Release’s two breakstep meets dubtech styles, carving out hard-skipping rhythms and low-rubbing garage bass under bright and airy dubchord sequences sounding like the best of London’s current rave styles transplanted to somewhere in Berlin. Hot City makes sure it comes crashing back to London on his pair of winners though, starting with the EBM kicks of ‘Setting Me Free’ fashioned into something far funkier and late-90’s urban-garage-bleep styled. Check his killer Fact mix for all the reference points that never really reached the North back then! His ‘No More’ cut follows with a very tasty rave-house anthem in the making. Massive twelve.”
Resident Advisor
“The first 12-inch release on Infrasonics is a milestone. The first single of its diameter (both of its predecessors have been 10-inches), it also harbours the first material not produced by Infra boss Spatial to be released on the label. Bringing back the concept of a split single, Spatial’s enlisted two of future garage’s brightest hopes in Ike Release and Hot City for the honour. Chicago-raised Ike Release shares more than a passing aural resemblence to the previous output on the label, with airy pads delayed for eons supported by a rough and punchy 2-step beat and super high-pitched vocal snippets that scream at the perfect moment. “Jenova” pips the post of Ike’s work on here with its constant Detroit pulses and clean sine wave bass clawing for a little more attention than the rough thunder of his drum work on “Misdeeds.” London’s own Hot City – who came to light after a sterling effort on the Highpoint Lowlife label – is a bass producer with a subtle difference. His passion for rave music is undeniable with waify intro melodies skipping through primitive percussion and on into the leading piano workout on “Setting Me Free,” but he doesn’t sound as excessively throwback as, say, Zomby or Shitmat. The melding of rough bass, the simplicity of his skipping drum samples and the general tinny cleanliness of his piano samples on “No More” proves this, and offer a glimpse of a wholly original producer fighting to break through the hordes of producers painting dubstep-not-dubstep by numbers."