6 AM (THE BOYWONDER MIX)

CAN YOU DIG IT ? (THE BOYWONDER SOULFUL DUB)

ORIGINAL BOYWONDER – ORIGINAL DUBS EP
Downbeat Records

Once upon a time, Kevin Harper was simply known as Boy Wonder, founding member of legendary Leeds outfit Nightmares on Wax. Under his original alias and alongside then DJ/producer partner E.A.S.E, Harper was responsible for creating a string of pioneering “bleep techno” classics, including “Dextrous”, “Biofeedback”, “Aftermath” and “I’m For Real” – all timeless slabs of Yorkshire heaviness that remain popular almost 30 years after they first appeared in stores.

Now, you’ll find the talented DJ/producer operating as Original Boywonder. Following an album and a string of tasty singles over the last four years, Harper has decided to launch his own label, Downbeat Records, named in honour of the weekly Leeds party at which he made his name way back in the late 1980s.

The label’s first release fittingly comes from the man himself and contains a trio of Original Dubs – weighty, bass-heavy club jams designed to sound killer on sizeable soundsystems. 

Those looking for late night/early morning salvation should head for the saucer-eyed peak-time throb of  “Hard To Resist”, where cut-up, old school vocal samples and fluttering electronics rise above a groove rich in body-shaking sub-bass and tough, hot-stepping beats.

The wide-eyed naivety and loved-up enthusiasm of the UK’s infamous “second summer of love” rise to the fore on “Back to Basics”, where Harper brilliantly wraps sunrise-friendly chords, twinkling vibraphone motifs and soul-soaked vocal snippets around bustling beats and another ten-ton bassline.

Heaviest of all, though, is “Mentality (Militant Dubplate Mix)”, a mind-altering fusion of tough, skittish beats, wavy deep house electronics and bleep style sub-bass so wild and heavy that it’s likely to cause pandemonium out on the dancefloor. Certainly, we’re struggling to think of another track that so finely balances the loved-up bliss of Nu Groove style NY deep house with the guttural pulse of British bass music.

MENTALITY (DUBPLATE VERSION)ALBUM SAMPLER

original boywonder

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