Punktuator – Neurobiotic

Psychaos boy grown up! There’s a really good balance of meaty and funky here and, while it’s generally about as subtle as a breezeblock, it’s no less powerful. New Sensations packs a punch straight away, a groove that starts out almost X-Dream-y before picking up more funk and fluidity. See The Music has a bustling, ravey atmosphere which will really magnetise people to the dancefloor. It picks up nice touches and flurries as it goes, but doesn’t soar through the roof making it ideal DJ food. Old Psychaos tune Chaos To Order gets a remix, and very tasty it is too – a seriously deep groove with a perfect balance of gnarl and funk. Punktuator escalates perfectly, with great layering, all the way up to this gorgeous, evil metallic demi-riff. I think that’s the best way I can describe it, you really have to hear it. Long Long Arms is a winner, and recorded with Hallucinogen you really can’t go wrong. Think Posford melodies over a Joti metallic spine… the marriage of the two styles works much better than you might think, and the result is a very distinctive and impressive track. Twinight is adequate but not special, Situation is metallic and stompy, but both pale in comparison to Live Fast Die Young, recorded with Dino Psaras. Anything credited to these two heavyweights has got to be worth a sniff: sounding a little like Wizzy Noise, dazzling escalation… It’s just the energy that it releases, it just seems to work. Utter class. Signals closes the album, which sees a collaboration with Eskimo so (1) it’s fast and (2) it’s got an Eskimo bassline. Only when the riff comes in does it get interesting, but with later progression into over-reliance on topend Euroey noises, it’s a bit of an unlived possibility. Okay, so it’s not as groundbreaking or exciting as Joti’s Psychaos output. But the production, energy and the sheer no-holds-barred meatiness of the standout tunes looks set to terrorise dancefloors for months to come.