Review: Wonk#ay Records - VA - Shaken

Based in Brighton and London, Wonkay Records pride themselves on a philosophy of free access - from rawkus parties to their ear pummeling brand of night time and progressive psytrance downloads.

This is the label's second compilation of more downtempo and dubstep flavoured tracks (download WONK#OUT vol.1 here) and I'm really loving the graphics by JOEK.

Download Wonk#ay Records - VA - Shaken (click through)


REVIEW:

1. Hermit - Pontain
Surprisingly for Wonkay we're eased in with tranquil flutes and the sound of running water. More Chilled Buddha Vol.78 than Headfuck Bleeps vol.2, but there's a rumble of boneshaking bass lingering there underneath the shuffling percussion. A nice chilled basscape.

2. Duskky - Say You
A seemingly unrelated sample of 'One man went to mow' precedes a menacing bass and rimshot delay intro. It builds around a soulful trip-hop vocal into a slow stomping atmospheric downtempo-breakcore track, laced with static infused piano samples. The track holds tension throughout - one for a pensive mood, albeit with a positive vocal message. "You can be what you wanna be" innit

3. ZenDeathSquad vs Roger - Superman Remix
If you're gonna sample Roger Trout's talk box vocals you can't really fail to bring on the funk. This is classic gfunk-infused glitch-hop with whomping lazer basslines. West Coast sounds from London baby. I hadn't come across these guys before, but I'll be keeping an eye on them from now! With props from ill.Gates and Dov, you can get their debut release from Additech here

4. Bunkle - Curly Fries
Label boss Bunkle weighs in with an industrial stagger, sounding like a drunk production line with a nervous tic, or Ministry trying their hand at dubstep. I'd suggest downloading a full set from this man to get the bigger picture.

5. Kursa - Nanocluster (DEMO)
Despite a promising intro and some good jump up energy going in, I find myself a bit dissapointed by this one. The bass sounds a little too generic in that angry sawing dubstep mode and I don't feel like it really gets anywhere past the first minute and a half. On the other hand, if this was dropped live I can totally see it getting the room bouncing. With some development it could become a stonker.

6. Coda - Pablo
Coda are a live dub / dubstep band who've been breaking up the monotony of this DJ heavy arena for sometime. Upbeat and refreshing two-step breakbeat, swirling synths and bright trombone dropping into an oscillating bassline, dubwise samples and guitar chops with mesmeric ease. It's far too short - gimmie more!

7. Scamp - Frequency
Scattergun drum patterns bubbling with menacing squelches morphing into a slogging elasticated kick drum snare with eirie nightime harmonics underneath. My girlfriend thinks this sounds like robots farting whilst having sex underwater. With samples like "What the fuck are those noises?" this is like a down-tempo mirror for the Dark psy sounds of Wonkay's full on dancefloors releases.

Personal highlights: 1, 3, 6
Overall: It's free - download it for yourself and make your own mind up!

Download Wonk#ay Records - VA - Shaken (click through)