The first in our series of compilations, Allstars Volume 1 rounds up the label's activities during our breakout year of 2010.
Among the familiar material is some of our greatest moments of that year: 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 halftime 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 “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. 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.