Jack Dixon – E / Find Shelter

Label: Hotflush

It’s good to know people can turn things around. Although Jack Dixon has been knocking around the scene for a year or so, his releases never really offered enough dance drive to truly hit home. At the same time, the releases of the once-lethal Hotflush haven’t been up to their usual standard (especially those of label-head Scuba, whose former inability to put out a bad record has been quite dramatically turned on its head in 2012). But with his Hotflush debut, Dixon absolutely smashes it, issuing the label's most raw and vital release in months in the form of two gorgeous slices of bassy house.

 

EP Clips

Dixon proves his finger is right on the pulse of the current scene, elegantly fusing the detailed atmospherics of the post-dubstep world with the bounciest of house beats in E, all augmented by a bouncing bassline. Here Dixon cranks up the tension like a pro, all euphoric rising synthlines and a restless soundfield that offers more clever detail the harder you listen. Quite a feat while still remaining a dancefloor knock-out. All that said, the A-side only serves to wet the taste-buds for the scorching highlight that is Find Shelter on the B. The stomping beat is swung wide this time, twinned with an unstoppably catchy synthline. But listen out; the beat is accented by clipped horns and a perfectly jarring locked loop, the vocal is subtly rewound and looped throughout the track, and it’s hard to miss the fantastic false drop, replete with panting breath samples. Find Shelter is that rare track that will dominate the dancefloor while giving the headphone-listener more than enough meat to chew on, and explicitly states that Dixon is truly a force to be reckoned with.

8/10