Read The Lastest Music News/Reviews

Merky Ace, from London collective Family Tree, has been bubbling up for a while now. On May 27 he’ll drop All or Nothing, one of two mixtapes slated for release this year.

With production from Splurt Diablo, Faze Miyake, Rude Kid and more, All or Nothing feels much more like a full album that a mixtape, with Merky’s ear for hooks coming through, and the compromises to other genres – dubstep and trap, mostly – sounding natural rather than forced. Those looking for a quick fix, we’d recommend heading straight to ‘Wack’ or the moonlit ‘All or Nothing’, but it’s all pretty strong stuff here.

In March, we highlighted Slick Shoota’s footwork remix of OL & ¥oin’s ‘Sink’.

Now, FACT TV premieres the video of the original. The full EP was released this Monday, May 20, through new label Fine Grains, and also features remixes from New York duo MikeQ & Divoli S’vere and Spanish grime head Noiapre. There’s a launch party for the EP this Friday, May 25, at Shoreditch’s Jaguar Shoes.

Selected Works 2009-2012" src="http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Vakula210513.jpg" alt="Vakula announces new full-length, Selected Works 2009-2012" width="685" height="456" />

Commendably operose deep house producer Mikhaylo Vityk has announced his first full-length as Vakula.

The Ukranian’s been a name to drop since the turn of the decade, putting out US-facing deep house with an off-key twist. Over many, many 12″s, he’s synthesised some good influences – the stewed sounds of Kenny Dixon Jr.; Levon Vincent’s pranging 4×4; Move D’s comfort house – into a gratifying whole. 12″s have come thick and fast since 2008, with Vityk gracing the books of Dekmantel, Best Works and Nuearth Kitchen, amongst others. He’s also put out a number of full-lengths under assumed names: last year’s The 13th District arrived under the V alias, and he also found time for an eponymous LP as Vedomir.

Vakula’s new album, first mooted back in early 2012, now has a release date  You’ve Never Been To Konotop-Selected Works 2009-2012 will arrive courtesy of long-time Vakula supporters Firecracker Recordings, responsible for recent releases from Lord Of The Isles and Fudge Fingas. The album, named after Vityk’s hometown, features twelve unreleased tracks recorded over the last four years, and ...

While Yonce is off filming adverts for International Conglomerate Number 7, Kelly and The-Dream are keeping it more real with their recent collaborations, first Rowland’s Dirty Laundry and now The-Dream’s Where Have You Been, a similarly solemn track, taken from his new LP 4Play:

Welcome to this long overdue edition of Armchair Dancefloor. Below, as ever, you'll find The Playlist, featuring a cluster of new and forthcoming releases worthy of investigation. But first...

Focus: Mount Kimbie talk Cold Spring Fault Less Youth

I can't think of many times in my life that a track has excited me on first listen in the way that Mount Kimbie's "Maybes" did when I first heard it back in 2009. It's drawn-out guitar chords, desperate-sounding vocals and cavernous beats felt human and emotive in a way that seemed to transcend the song's crude electronic makeup. More potently, it sounded completely unlike anything else around at the time; combining the powerful dynamics of experimental dance music with pure, organic songwriting skill. In short, it was an exceptional debut move and one which marked the band out as one of the most exciting new talents in the UK.

Since then Mount Kimbie - the duo of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos - have gone from strength to strength. Follow-up single

Available on: Matador LP

There

Club crew B.YRSLF have churned out another free olio celebrating the energetic and the antic.

The French clique have aligned themselves with a global network of beatmakers producing their own gaudy take on Stateside sounds, with Cedaa, DJ Hilti and Slick Shoota among the artists offering mutant versions of juke, Baltimore house and ballroom. They’re generous evangelists too, putting out a number of free compilations (including last year’s Summer Crisis set).

Their latest goodie-bag is Transistor Rhythm, a various artists compilation assembling 23 tracks from the wilder/goofier end of the club music spectrum. Subtitled ’808 & Ghettobass Special’, the collection features a host of footwork-indebted bass sounds. Embassy boss Distal is the biggest name in the set, with Fade To Mind graduate Cedaa and Russian rabble-rouser Pixelord also making the cut. Further acts include Visionn, DJ Taye and Seapoint.

A Facebook follow will earn you the compilation; click below to stream snippets of all the featured tracks. [via XLR8R]

Tracklist: 
SOUNDBANK # 1 :
01 @Pixelord – Floppy Room [EXCLUSIVE]
02 @Vlsonn – East Clipper [EXCLUSIVE]
03 @SlickShoota x @Principal-Dean & Snakefoot – Pussyclot Funk Dem 2013 [...