Available on: Dress 2 Sweat 12″

The duo behind London club night Night Slugs, Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 release their first official collaborative EP, in what is also the last release on Glagsow’s Dress 2 Sweat label before it – along with Wireblock and Stuff – becomes part of the city’s mother label, Numbers.

The pair provide two tracks each, both around house tempo (a significant indicator of the club night’s malleability; its roots are in 140bpm grime and garage, but their last rave at East Village was played closer to 130; house DJs Christian Martin and Cooly G the guests). Bok Bok’s ‘NNTF’ kicks off the EP, and it’s definitely a DJ’s track: on the surface its sparseness makes it seem a little static, but when heard in the mix, as it was on Starkey’s Starkbass CD, it can be a set’s climax. His second contribution, ‘Ripe Banana’, is much more rich and fulfilling on its own terms, and is my favourite track on the EP. Fans of Geoim’s ‘Bubbles’ or Scratcha DVA’s ‘Jelly Roll’ should be all over its vibrant elasticity.

L-Vis 1990’s ‘Run’ and ‘Hide’ are like close cousins: both on a tribal house tip with synthetic basslines stretched to the limit and unashamedly bashy vocal samples. The EP also comes with a mix CD from Dress 2 Sweat label boss Jackmaster that finds him drawing musical links between these tracks, not to mention other recent D2S singles from Piddy Py, Starkey and Rustie, and the Baltimore edits the label made its name on.

Tom Lea