Moriarty was the arch-villian of Sherlock Holmes in Conan Doyle's detective stories. The only criminal to outfox the detective, he was a mysterious figure with an ingenious mind.
Moriarty – Brad Tanner & Steve Walker – aren't arch-criminals, but they do make ingenious music. Signed up by Westway for their dubwise electronic 'Boom Town' track last year, the guys have subsequently remixed Boogie Army, the Utah Saints and the mighty Dub Pistols and now come with this ingenious double-header.
'Lose It' is a big room, deep down and dirty electro-breaks missive with a memorable deep throat vocal emploring dancers to get lost in the moment. “Ladies and gentleman, welcome. I’m your DJ,” runs the refrain, building the runnings up nicely. “Feel the drums, get ready to explode.” This is a DJ-friendly track that’ll have punters climbing the walls around dancefloors everywhere.
'Flip The Switch' on the flip again rocks the electro sound, but in more of a house style.
Big things await Moriarty. Brad also produces under the name Tannerlogue, while Steve is resident DJ at Leamington's infamous Smack club in the Midlands. As Moriarty they've been playing out all over, and are currently working on their debut album.
Continuing to step up their game in the ’08, Westway have picked up rolling electronic behemoth ‘Drum Town’ by dynamite Canadian producer Myagi. And just for good measure they’ve got the Lo-Fi Allstars to give it a bad-ass b-boy respray on the remix. This is another essential release from Westway.
Andrew Mavor, aka Myagi, has released on labels such as Title Fight, Splank, West and Money Shot in the past, and remixed breakbeat titans the Crystal Method and Long Range. In a relatively short space of time he’s catapulted himself onto the international DJ circuit, playing everywhere from China to Australia, California to London. He’s now playing out a mash-up of house, electro, breakbeat and hard-edged funk that ‘Drum Town’ encapsulates perfectly. Bobbing and flowing with progressive sensibilities, this track can’t fail to make you move.
The Lo-Fi Allstars should hardly need any introduction. Barnstorming onto the scene a decade ago with blistering singles like ‘Disco Machine Gun’, ‘Vision Incision’ and ‘Battle Flag’ on Skint, they spearheaded the big beat wave along with acts like Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers – and, dare we say it, the Dub Pistols too.
Taking its cue from the Switch/Sinden & Herve ghetto cut-ups currently causing damage on the floors, the Lo-Fis mix provides a great contrast to the original. This bad-ass baby is gonna get busted out by all and sundry – get involved right away.
Germany’s biggest breakbeat act Boogie Army rock up to deliver their third single release for Westway. A double-header that further dismisses the cliché about Germans not having a sense of humour (anyone who has partied with these guys will know that this ain’t true anyway), it’s sure to further cement their position as party-rockers on the international breakbeat circuit.
‘Big Old Butt’ is a phat party tune that implores you to shake what yer mamma gave ya – simple as. On a Stantons/Deekline booty-shake tip, the vocal is offset by a familiar string sample that makes it ideal for peak-time club play.
On the flipside, ‘Robots In Disguise’ is one for big kids everywhere. Transformers is a hugely popular cartoon series and film, and this cut borrows judiciously from its theme tune for a robo-vox’d energetic electro workout. Optimus primed for warm-ups, this will transform any dancefloor and almost definitely save the day.