Kings Of A Little Kingdom

The plucky little Gung-Ho! Recordings label has made quite a name for itself since setting up shop 5 years ago, attracting well-established talents like Zoo Brazil and Gus Gus to their roster (releasing some of the best tracks of their career in the process), as well as discovering acclaimed crossover talents in the form of The Japanese Popstars and more recently Burn The Negative. Here one of their brightest stars Richard Murray mixes together some of their recent biggies alongside exclusive new beats
 
We’re off to a fidgety, wonky start with The Yank and Arveene & Misk bringing some party vibes before Zoo Brazil gets a bit serious of the dark, moody bruiser Ten Inch Nails. The Japanese Popstars come up trumps on Electronic Poet, tech, acid and electro all fusing into one thumping melting pot, with more big-riffed fun coming on Richard Murray’s remix of Burn The Negative’s Wonder Why. Arveene & Misk inject some old skool flavours into the mix with Blow Your Whistle – the contemporary edge kept in check with warbling, dubsteppy bass – with Lievense & Magavok’s remix of Bubba & T Bone’s Pushcomestoshove delivering some tight electro-tech goodness thereafter.
 
Things get epic as we edge towards the finish, the lush trancey breakdown of Richard Murray’s Cannibal smashed to smithereens by a huge, undulating techy bass drop, and the razor sharp riffs of Zoo Brazil’s Technik recalling some big moments from last summer’s festival season. Mark Webb’s Look Up is an exemplary slice of banging electro house, rocking a great groove with a multitude of rude riffs and plenty of twisting and turning, with Liievense & Magavok’s remix of The Japanese Popstars’ Rush Jabb coming across like a mid-‘90s Euro dance classic given a serious seeing to by an army of phat synth sounds and rushing FX. All that’s left to do is for Greg Churchill to finish us off with another beefy b-line on Clown Punch.
 
It’s a storming mix that’s perfect for pre-game action at home before a big night out, and shows that Gung-Ho! are certainly maintaining the high quality they are known for. There’s still life in electro house and its near relatives – but as the compilation shows, it has to be done right.