I spent a fair part of last year blowing my load to the squealing highs of ‘When I Look At You’ and now, faced with Emalkay’s latest release, it’s time to throw on a pair of clean undies and see if I can control myself. STORM016, which dropped on promo just over a week ago, features ‘Solid State’ and ‘Battle Suit’, two tracks laden with weighty expectation. Of course, I’ve heard snippets of them circulating the tubes and rearing their heads in various mixes, but getting your hands on the final incarnation always proffers an entirely different experience.

Although neither track is as mighty and affecting as ‘When I Look At You’, there is no lack of low frequency clout on offer here. The rasping and relentlessly pulsating heart of ‘Solid State’ would surely hit a rave like a hefty shot of benny and the monstrously heavy sub encompasses you like the middle of the ocean at midnight. ‘Battle Suit’, on the other hand, feels a bit thinner and seems to fizzle and whirr rather than electrocute and traumatise. I did, however, have a strange affinity with the snare which sounded nothing short of perfect and if I heard it on a huge system, I’d probably put my head between my legs and try and blow my sweater into a life jacket. ‘Solid State’ is the undoubted superior of the two tunes, but both stand as pretty respectable follow-ups to a classic.

STORM016 featuring ‘Solid State’ and ‘Battle Suit’ is out now on Storming Productions. Grab it at Chemical.

Emalkay – Battle Suit

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Buy Emalkay tunes at 7digital.

Here’s a video of Emalkay being interviewed at “And Here it is, The Return of Fall Massive” in Baltimore a couple of weeks back. He chats a bit about how the UK and US dubstep scenes differ and mentions a few producers he’s currently hot for, it’s all very civil.

The best part, however, is the fact that he’s from Birmingham and doesn’t even mention the Bullring once. I swear to God I’m telling the truth…

This is the first instalment of a weekly periodical that we have so wittily dubbed ‘Mix Monday’. Basically we’re going to post mixes every Monday (and all week round, but only on one day without fail) and you’re going to listen to them and hopefully enjoy them. We’ll even give you a money back guarantee. We’re quite gullible too, so we’ll probably refund you even if you love it, or at least, Oldsy will.

This one is a 30 minute promo mix from Portuguese kuduro advocates, Buraka Som Sistema, gifted to us by the folks at Fabric in order to promote the upcoming release of Fabriclive 49. It comprises a host of decent tracks including some sick material from L-Vis 1990, Emalkay and Deadmau5. I would embed it, but it’s in a frame and they make me shiver, so head over to Fairtilizer and enjoy its unashamed bounce. Full tracklisting after the jump.

Hold tight, there is more to read »