- One day, someone must have decided that sauvignon blanc, a native French grape, and Asian food went together like Astaire and Rogers. Perhaps it was someone with a similar mentality to Travis "Machinedrum" Stewart and Jim "Om Unit" Coles. OK, it's not quite the same, but Dream Continuum comes out of a shared realisation that footwork would work with good ol' jungle, despite the distance between their respective American and British birthplaces. Result? One of 2012's most euphoric records thus far.
"B Free" rattles with the amphetamine rush of early hardcore, complete with ravey vocals and squeaky sneaker-seeking polyrhythms. Things get decidedly more muscular with "Set It," which heads out at hip-hop pace, with a sped-up sample from The Orb's "Blue Room" for accompaniment. At the flick of a switch, it then whooshes off into Shy FX-style machine gun junglism before settling down to a nagging juke riddim.
But it's "Giv A Lil Luv" that's a game changer. Spun around a vocal sample from '80s Lancastrian pop songbird Lisa Stansfield, it's a joyous riot of plonking rave pianos, surging Altern-8 breakbeats, rumbling deep bass and itchy footwork. A soppy grin-inducing breakdown merely boosts its crossover potential. Travis Stewart is rapidly approaching hero status, and Coles isn't far behind.
TracklistA1 B Free
A2 Giv A Lil Luv
B Set It