12"s piling up here in N10. Working through the backlog.

Sileni / Actual Proof: Cold Sweat / Maybe we'll stay (Planet Mu) - 12"
Distance: Traffic / Cyclops (Planet Mu) - 12"
MRK1: Ready for Love (Planet Mu) - 12"
Soundmurderer & SK-1: Toronto V.I.P. / Soundclash Remix (Planet Mu) - 12"
More drumfunk from Boston-based producer Sileni. Cold, clinical, precise. This is how drum'n bass in 2006 should sound like. Distance makes his Mu debut with this midi-guitar meets dubstep collision. Sounds naff, but actually works a treat. MRK1 (formerly Mark One) takes Virus Syndicate's 'Ready to Learn' into more choppier waters. But it's Soundmurderer & SK-1 that throws the loudest musical tantrum here. 'Toronto V.I.P.' is a ferocious slice of rolling, edit-obsessed jungle.

Secondo: Breathe to the Rhythm (Dreck) - 12"
I know Secondo, and I can tell you he's a mild mannered Swiss. Reserved, quiet, softly spoken. Difficult to picture this embodiment of calm coming out with such rigidly funky output. 'Breathe to the rhythm' takes his trademark "spastic disco" to sunnier climes. Throw in a bassline that shifts midway and an orchestra of edited vocal stabs and you have a track bordering on genius.

Beckett & Taylor: Hired New Hands (Hand on the Plow) - 12"
These guys released what was (for me) possibly the best 12" of 2004 with the spastic-disco epic 'Work'. It sounded like a Prince track skipping. This is more of the same, but of the three on offer, its the Caro remix that impresses. Solid, bass-coated beats punctuated with wild yelps that jump out from the track. Class!

Mathew Jonson: Automatic (Wagon Repair) - 12"
Lazy Fat People: Shinjuku (Wagon Repair) - 12"
Cobblestone Jazz: India In Me (Wagon Repair) - 12"
Mike Shannon: Hang Ups EP (Wagon Repair) - 12"
Mathew Jonson's label suddenly gets active with four decent contributions to the record rack section marked 'minimal'. His own 'Automatic' uses a propulsive melody to drive things along. Might be overtly fussy for the dancefloor but is perfectly hummable material for home listening. The amusingly monikered Lazy Fat People manage to strike gold with the solid shuffle of 'Shinjuku', but I swear the B-side sounds like 'French Kiss'.

Cobblestone Jazz is Jonson plus his mates and they fashion an epic, progressive slice of slow-build house. Lengthy running time and near-indistinguishable B-side does nudge this into DJ fodder territory though. But the opening 2 minutes are addictive enough. Mike Shannon though is the winner though with his quirky take on 4/4. 'What's your pleasure' is the best example: clipped vocal soul samples and hand-claps punctuate a bouncy uptempo groove.