This latest release from Breakbeat Paradise finds Italian duo Phonomatt & Tommyboy at the helm under the guidance of The Captain a.k.a. Fab Samperi. It also demonstrates one of the label’s strengths i.e. it’s broad approach to breakbeat music, here manifested in a five stage voyage that, broadly speaking, sails through the brisker end of bass. 5 O’ Clock is a liquid dnb-ish EZ Rollers-esque affair for example, that the The Captain remixes into a more jump-up Aphrodite number and Badboe transforms into a dnb/ ghetto funk hybrid matched with a suitably growly DMX vocal. Bleepfest Unity on the other hand has something of a skanking 2-step vibe going on while XXX Funk returns again to sniff around jump-up territory and is the second track to appropriate a hip-hop vocal – in this case snatches of Sick Jacken and Funkdoobiest’s L.D. to provide the hook. Clear evidence, if it were needed, that not all Italian voyages capsize in shallow waters…
(Out 10 June on Breakbeat Paradise)