The new installment on The Sound Of Limousine, or TSOL to its mates, comes courtesy of Reflex Blue, the Berlin-based but Melbourne-born DJ and producer, who has had a superb bunch of releases over the last few years. With labels such as R.A.N.D Muzik, Space Lab, Craigie Knowes and Kalahari Oyster Cult all knocking his door, you know that this is a producer who’s going places. His “Twisted System“ EP is the second outing for Gene On Earth’s sister imprint to Limousine Dream and it doesn’t disappoint.
The wonderfully bouncy opener to the EP is “The D.C.S“, which straddles the house/UK garage sound superbly well. Reminiscent of something which could have come out on a label such as Wiggle in the early 00’s, it has a nifty bumpy drum pattern, which is accompanied by hollow bass hits, a rumbling low-end main bassline and little vox clips from some UKG tracks from back in the day. There are some lovely swirling pads and synth sounds which weave through the track, adding warmth and rhythm (or perhaps that should be “riddim”) to the overall feel. A superb bumpy club cut for both house and garage/UKG DJs alike.
For the A2 we have “Scat Man“, which luckily isn’t a cover version of Scatman John, but instead is stabby vibe with a softly underpinned ravey drum break in the background. Only occasionally does the “scat” vox element come into play, so the title is suggestive, rather than being a full-on description of what you’ll hear. This is a fun track, one to put a smile on the faces of the dancefloor, whilst working their hips at the same time.
Heading onto the B-Side vibes, it’s fair to say that the bassline of “Bass Masta” is influenced by the Deep Dish remix of Sandy B “Make The World Go Round“, which isn’t a bad thing at all here, as it lends itself really well to the flow of the track. As the title indicates, this is all about the bass, so the emphasis is on the aforementioned chunky bassline a’la Sandy B, but there are also interludes using an alternative chord-like bass rhythm, breaking up the track neatly. Occasional whoop-like FX make themselves known along with female vox hits, giving this track a tasty cheeky vibe, one which will sound great through hefty speakers.
The final track on the 12″ is “Rocking The Boat“, perhaps the best cut overall on the vinyl, as its emphasis is less on 90s-influenced sounds, but instead is a brilliantly fluid acid-influenced workout. The vox implores you to ‘get down’ and to be perfectly frank, you’ll find it hard not to get down to this, as its wriggly vibe nags away at you, the percs nudging your ears and the delayed synth hits pulling at your hips, you’d be a fool to resist the charms of this groove. A brilliant closing track for what is a great club-aimed EP.
However, that’s not the final track, if your penchant is to play digitally, because on the digi release you’re treated to a bonus track, namely “Greetings From Dick Jonkey“, which heads into broken beat territory with a stabby bassline and some cropped vocals added for good measure. The bassline gets a big thump in sound in the second half of the track, giving this some real “ooomph“ through the speakers. Vibey sounds abound!
Words by Al Bradley
Torture the Artist 