- The first release on Place No Blame, a label run by former Honest Jon's employee Pietro Barbieri, Ain't Got No Time presents a couple cuts from German newcomer DJ Slyngshot and a pair of remixes from Japan Blues, Barbieri's former co-worker Howard Williams. The 12-inch continues the smash-and-grab feel of Slyngshot's 2014 debut, a cassette called Sumn From My Heart, nabbing a couple samples, finding a groove and coating it all in a pleasing lo-fi muck.
"Ain't Got No Time" is one of the best house tracks of the year, but in attitude and feel, it's pure hip-hop. Slyngshot has hit on a winning formula, mixing tough, chunky drums with sentimental piano. (His appropriately named The Grand Piano EP openly cops to this affectation.) The title track revolves around a pair of trilled chords, a bit of record scratching and an MC cooly saying he doesn't have time "for the buillshit." Before the beat drops, it could sound like a sketch from DJ Premier, but Slyngshot eventually flips these elements into a Detroit beatdown tribute, adding a low-slung kick, hand-triggered snare and a four-note bassline that could bring the dance floor down in the right context.
Japan Blues specializes in psychedelic dance music, epitomized by "Half Deaf Pulse," his re-work of a prescient 1981 tune by Japanese band Colored Music. He takes a dubwise approach to Slyngshot's source material, and turns "Ain't Got No Time" into a meditative roller. His remix of "O Town" bests Slyngshot's version, eschewing the original's dusty piano to focus on a buoyant, nuanced drum break. Both versions of that track feature the "whoosh" sound from banging on a spring reverb. With quick and dirty tracks like these, there's room for such happy accidents.
TracklistA1 Ain't Got No Time
A2 O Town
B1 Ain't Got No Time (Japan Blues Remix)
B2 O Town (Japan Blues Remangle)