RSVP > 

BOK BOK
L-VIS 1990
KINGDOM
GIRL UNIT
+ special guest
HEAD HIGH
& more TBA

@ Oval Space
London E2 9DT

tickets: http://www.ovalspace.co.uk/events/view/osm-night-slugs-6th-birthday/

> Pre-order the CD @ Rubadub now!

That Allstars Vol 2 plays more as an album and less like a compilation is testament to the gradual collective process of evolution that we have been undergoing since the label’s inception in early 2010. Ideas in the camp are shared like memes, expressed musically through the dialog of our productions and DJ sets, and psychically through a collective understanding that few other labels can claim to share.

Allstars 2 charts Night Slugs’ move away from the early-digital world in which our music spent its infancy, and into a more developed, more textured universe.

On side A, the unstoppable GIRL UNIT expands on his gloopy, warehouse-sized rap beat “Double Take”. Teasingly previewed in the outro of “Double Take Part 1″ from his “Club Rez” EP earlier this year, now Girl Unit finally lets us have “Part 2″ in all its bittersweet glory. The drums and FX of the original are deployed this time over deep analog bass, gorgeous layers of synth melody, DX7 bells and flanged toms borrowed straight from Prince.
Few others could pull it off with such charisma.

On the flip, new NS signing, Kansas-based MORRI$ gives us “White Hood”.
Already sounding super confident, the young producer has cultivated a style that mixes subtle but powerful influences from Southern rap with highly melodic layered instrumentation and organic percussion. “White Hood” is driven by an irresistible accordion hook, framed by skittering hi hats, snare rolls and a massive 808 undercarriage.

Having mixed both sides of this release, NS executive producer BOK BOK takes the opportunity to strip down “White Hood” and pass its bare essentials through some lovely analog gear on the bonus cut, his “Accordian Dub”. Listen to that chorus sing!

Among the familiar material is some of our greatest moments of 2010: Lil Silva‘s own vocal hook drives the melodic “Golds 2 Get”, and his ever-potent “Seasons” makes an appearance as well. Kingdom‘s punishingly percussive “Bust Broke” takes militant syncopation to the next level. Velour contribute “Booty Slammer”, the porn-groove laden, synth-soaked stepper from their “The Velvet Collection” EP.  Girl Unit‘s reigning anthem “Wut” rounds off the album with a massive dose of crunk ecstasy.

But it wouldn’t be Night Slugs without the dubplate material and of that there is plenty: Mosca‘s “Square One VIP” is a new twist on the label’s first release, taking the track further in an upfront Club direction. L-Vis 1990 collaborates with Deep Teknologi’s T. Williams on their brutalist bassline-driven “Stand Up”. Egyptrixx gives a glimpse of things to come with the cosmic techno of “Liberation Front”, taken from his debut album. Bok Bok twists up Girl Unit’s futuristic club destroyer “IRL” into an acid grime ode to FWD>> circa ’04. The stripped-back dub of Bok Bok’s vinyl-only “Reclash” collaboration with Cubic Zirconia also has its debut.

Allstars Volume 1 introduces two new producers to the NS fold. The first is Montreal native Jacques Greene, whose debut on our friends the LuckyMe label is currently about to drop. Jacques gives us “(Baby I Don’t Know) What You Want”, a driving contemporary acid house piece, awash with hypercolour synths that place it right at home in the Night Slugs stable.
Second is London’s Optimum, a long-time collaborator of Ikonika, and Hum+Buzz label boss, whose “Broken Embrace” is an overt homage to the Detroit school of soulful, robotic techno, but pumped full of sub-bass.