Compilation Review: ‘Aquasky presents Bring The Ruckus’ (Passenger)

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★★★☆☆

Bass — a twin stroke turbo of skidding past your ears and shuffling your vital organs. Booty-hunting ragga — brought in to hype the party until the cops shut it down. And dusty dub — sent bouncing into a saw-toothed spotlight. Even if you think it’s a 19-track statement featuring a lot of familiar sounds, faces and samples — as big a rush as Bring the Ruckus provides, there’s no denying some same old stories — it seems to be filling a nice gap between EDM and bro-step through its big dipper of BPMs. See The Autobots & Dead Audio joining forces to get hands raised, and MadRush’s “Get Ya Vs Up” creating an elbow-skinning sea of two-fingered salutes.

Hectic yet schooling some of dubstep’s in-yer-face projectiles when the likes of RadioKillaz add the rave string to the bow, breaks shouldn’t start marketing itself as some intermediary third wheel. EDM’s sap and smiley simplistics aren’t up for discussion either. Rennie Pilgrem’s fireball “One By One” heads a pack constantly breaking the back of wack parties and revelling as the energy drink-mainlining renegade, with 601’s “Strobelight” looking for the nearest china shop to clatter into. Aquasky remind everyone of breaks’ energy levels that are never found dropping to show it won’t get left behind in the bass trends race. That title repels what others throw at it, creating some fearsome bottom end monsters as retaliation.

File under: Far Too Loud, Black & Blunt, Breakfastaz

Big Shot Guest Mix: Rennie Pilgrem

Rennie Pilgrem has steadfastly stayed true to his funky sound, spinning, producing and fostering breaks culture with gigs all over the world and his well regarded TCR label. Pilgrem has just released his new scorcher of a single, “Defy” feat. Francesca Guarino, and it’s one of the most powerful vocal tunes we’ve heard this year. The single is culled from The Best Of Rennie Pilgrem, a sprawling 21-track anthology showcasing his collaborations over the years with Überzone, Arthur Baker, BLIM, MC Chickaboo and Sarah Whittaker-Gilby from Mara. On his fourth Big Shot Guest Mix (!) to date, Pilgrem rocks his new track and offers up big tunes from Jurassik, Rack N Ruin and Rebel MC. Download and enjoy.

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Big Shot Guest Mix: Rennie Pilgrem

1. Rennie Pilgrem / “The End” (TCR)
2. Rennie Pilgrem feat. Francesca Guarino / “Defy” (Future Jungle mix) (TCR)
3. Rennie Pilgrem / “Respect Is Due” (TCR)
4. Jurassik / “Microphone” (iBreaks Bass)
5. Mz Bratt / “My Selector’ (2Bit Thugs booty)
6. RackNRuin feat. Jesse Ware/ “Soundclash” (Black Butter)
7. Rennie Pilgrem / “Erica’s Fix” (TCR)
8. Yasmin feat. Shy FX & Ms Dynamite MOS / “Light Up (The World)”
9. Unknown / “Prophecy” (Yoof’s 2011 version)
10. Rennie Pilgrem / “Dig” (demo) (TCR)
11. Kenna / “Chains” (Machines Don’t Care remix)
12. Hostage / “Desire” (Black Butter)
13. Rennie Pilgrem / “One By One” (demo) (TCR)
14. Rebel MC feat. Tenor Fly, Tenor Fly & Nanci Correia / “Get Ready” (Rack N Ruin mix) (Congo Natty)
15. Jurassik / “Wine Your Body” (iBreaks Bass)