West Norwood Cassette Library – 8 Track Cartridge

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While West Norwood Cassette Library’s output has more often than not focused on breaks and garage, he has always been most effective when putting out rugged house grooves. His first excursion into straight 4X4 territory was with the low-slung wallop of 2010’s ‘Blonde On Blonde’; its rough and ready percussive beats infinitely more enticing than the abundantly weak ‘classic house’ imitations 2013 was awash with.

For his most substantial release to date, and that most akin to ‘Blonde On Blonde’, the Londoner does not try to reinvent the wheel, offering up a package of no-nonsense old school house jams – all high-octane, rattling percussion and slugs of cudgeling bass – unearthed from his production vaults.

‘Acid Jazz’ – the LP’s highlight and bound to do some dancefloor damage in the months to come – opens the eight-tracker with a decidedly rickety 80’s rawness set to a breakneck 132 BPM, complete with hollowed-out percussive hits. ‘We Have to Live In The Future’ has the same clattering gait, but incorporates trippy, wiggling acid elements, whilst ‘Vibrations’ pulls things back into a more lolloping gallop.

Elsewhere, Bhamra falls back onto his staple junglist inclinations. ‘Bubble’ sees a clattering breakbeat merge with a squirming 303 line and grizzled vocal snippets. It’s wonderfully organic, at once upbeat and tempered. ‘Roots’ is more ramshackled, swinging between fevered drum n bass rhythms and flighty hardcore breaks.

A dizzy, excitable release, riding high on its own eclecticism and delicious tumble-down aesthetic.

Hypercolour | December | vinyl, digital

01. Acid Jazz
02. We Have To Live In The Future
03. Vibrations
04. Innervisions
05. Bubble
06. Roots
07. Body Rock
08. Time Loops

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