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This latest in the Toolroom Knights collection comes from Swedish house master, John Dahlback. It features a selection of the best melodic house tracks about at the moment and 3 exclusive tracks of his own (“Feel It”, “Heroes” and “Escape”).

The two CD collection features tracks from Zombie Disco Squad, Mark Knight & Wolfgang Gartner and D Ramirez. CD1 kicks off a little mellow with Lovebird’s “Want You in my Soul” and progresses into a relatively chilled collection of house tracks expertly melded together into one hypnotic mix – there’s shades of a party feel throughout along with some latino and disco.

CD2 carries on the party feel with D Ramirez’s “8 Bit Trumpet” but this CD has progressive and more upfront tracks interspersed throughout, and the CD finishes off nicely with some excellent Dahlback tracks and a selection of more electro-house sounding tunes.

CD2 is by far my favourite disc of the collection, but if I’m honest, I was a little disappointed that the whole collection wasn’t more progressive house throughout. It was what I was expecting I guess and whilst the second CD has plenty to offer in this respect, it would have been nice to have two discs rather than just one.

There’s no doubt though Dahlback is a master at his craft and his own tracks on disc 2 are stand out tracks in their own right.

Check out the Toolroom Knights Soundcloud and the video clip below for a sample of what to expect from the album.

Out now on Toolroom Records.

“Lost” from Tech House king Marco Corona has been around for a month or so (released 9th January 2012 or 12th December 2011 on Beatport).

The Original Mix has a tribal feel to it and a hypnotic beat which ties in with the vocal sample which refers to being “lost in the jungle”.

The Total Groove mix pumps it a notch with a more progressive, yet still repetitive, beat.

Not the best from Corona, but if you’re into your progressive beats then this is one to chill out to.

The latest offering from Krone Records, is a tech house number from Gius. “Tik Tak” in its Original Mix form is full of repetitive drums with a bongo sound and a “tik tak” chant; The Kalos Remix upgrades the beat a little and gives the tune a little more depth, but it’s the Miky Falcone Remix that delivers the dancefloor hit – it has a nice progressive feel to it and feels less repetitive than the original.

If you like your beats minimal (or progressive for the Miky Falcone remix) then this is the track for you. Out on 5th March 2012 (from 6th February from Beatport) on Krone Records.

Jag Skills fans will be familiar with this track as it has featured in various mixes and compilations, but you probably won’t be familiar with the remixes that come with the original on the release of “9 Levels Of Power
“, released at the end of October on Toolroom Records.

As well as the brilliant original which remains full of dirty beats and martial arts samples, there’s remixes from Santiago & Bushido, Torqux and Unknown Error. In my mind it would be difficult to beat the original, but Torqux makes a reasonable attempt with a more dubstep-like version, but the remix that wins it for me is the Unknown Error “Bass Assault Remix” it keeps the underlying “yah!” synth-whine from the original and add’s deeper bass and drums.

This album was released back in March on Red Bull Records. Since then IPS have announced their split, which is a shame, because they were making some excellent music. And this album is testament to that.

A mini album featuring 6 tracks including the singles “American Trash” and “Not Getting Any Better”, the tracks are very musical, loud with a hard electro feel to them. In places there’s a hint of the type of music Pendulum produce but without the drum&bass element. That is, except for “Squid” which shows their softer side.

All in all a great album. IPS will be missed, but this album is great legacy and perhaps an indication of the greatness they could have achieved had they continued.

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