Following on from the recent LCSM remix EP, CoOp Presents continue with more certified bruk heat for 2021 - this one seeing the return of EVM128 and an all-new EP entitled ‘Dance Don’t Sleep’. Some sound advice.

A core-member of the Selectors Assemble crew, EVM128 is also co-label boss of the Dance Regular imprint and has had releases in the past on labels such as BBE, Studio Rockers, Local Talk, Rhythm Section, Wah Wah 45s and Tru Thoughts, amongst others.

As well as being nice behind the boards, he's an amazing Selector, playing regularly on the crew's Worldwide FM show, as well as Netil Radio monthly and past plays for Boiler Room and Dimensions Festival, with his eclectic blends of bruk, soul, jazz, house, garage, hip hop, ragga, afrobeat, UK funky and bass music.

EVM previously featured on the Selectors Assemble EPs - the track ‘Gamma Riddim’ in particular is still being rinsed in dances a few years later. His last release 'Bun Dat' appeared on the label's first compilation, ‘Plug One’, released late in 2020 and kicked off the year with a set of remixes of the same track.

‘Dance Don’t Sleep’ begins with the title track, setting off with Detroit-esque pads and JA clash samples, before a moderate-paced brukbeat kicks in accompanied by some squelchy synths and some sneaky breaks. Next is ‘Tell Me’ featuring the sweet soulful talents of Natalie May atop a percussive groove, gliding keys and bleeps. ‘UK Brukers’ follows (a play on UK Rockers), and it’s more bruk-step laced with ragga samples and a deep sub riding throughout, then into ‘Jazz Drumz’, which provides what it says on the tin - shuffling kits ride alongside piano and rhodes, all with EVM’s unique flavour. We close out with ‘Desert Island Bruk’; an off-kilter riddim with a slight UK Funky feel, completing a very dope 5-tracks that should ensure that you’re dancing, not sleeping.

As with the previous CoOp Presents release, this digital EP is again accompanied by some mind-blowing artwork by Mo Fingaz & Bee Graphics for Blood, presenting another genius part of the new CoOp universe.

With monthly releases stacked up for the rest of 2021, expect plenty more goodness to come from the CoOp Presents label imminently. Watch we work.

EVM128 - UK Brukers

Artist: Groove Chronicles
Title: Midnite Moves EP
Label: CoOp Presents
Released: March 4th 2022
Format: Digital
Cat No: COOP016

CoOp Presents crew enter 2022 with the help of some legends from the world of UK dance music; a three-track EP
of seriously uplifting broken step from the dons Groove Chronicles.
Groove Chronicles have releases dating back to 1997 and are legendary in the world of UKG.
Founded by Noodles, he is now working with longtime associate, Dubchild.
Noodles has been working in the music game for three decades, from spinning at raves in Paris when he was 17,
to serving it up behind the record shop counter, to running his own label, DPR. Responsible for bonafide classics
like ‘Stone Cold’, ‘Myron’ & ‘Poor Man’s Break’, his work serves as a blueprint for many sounds across the UK bass
spectrum.
Leicester legend, Dubchild, stems from a musical background of reggae, hip hop, house, garage & jungle. He’s
released an array of dubstep & instrumental grime records through various labels since the early noughties,
including Caspa’s Storming Productions & Heavy Artillery, amongst others.
The duo also combine under the moniker Nu-Agenda with their own hybrid house style, and have had collective
support over the years from stations such as 1Xtra, NTS, Kiss, Reprezent & Rinse, DJs such as Annie Mac, Zane
Lowe, Mary Anne Hobbs & Ras Kwame, and publications like iD, Fact, DJ Mag & Crack Magazine, to name a few.
So to the music, a triple threat of bass music, riding along at roughly 130bpm.
We kick off with some pure ‘Joy’, which does what it says on the tin. This is feel-good vibes straight from the edge;
the duo’s unique blend of broken 2step garage fusion incorporates skippy drums, soulful r&b tinged vocals, gliding
horns, smooth rhodes and some serious bassweight.
‘Take Me Away’ is on a more traditional 2Step vein. Another soulful vocal rides across a UKG backing, complete
with killer subs, organ stabs and a sprinkle of jungle chops scattered on top to liven up the dance.
The set closes with the BrokenStep mix of ‘Inside Stepping’. This is a slightly more stripped deeper one, but still
blending 2Step sonics on top of a brokenstep riddim, with soulful touches and clash shouts. Heads-down foundation
business for the steppers.
Groove Chronicles’s ‘Midnite Moves’ EP is released digitally worldwide on CoOp Presents, March 4th 2022.

Midnite Moves EP

01 Groove Chronicles - Joy (BrokenStep mix)

We are back this month with another premiere, this time featuring a remix from one of our own - EVM128 and his version of JV1080 taken from the new XL Regular EP dropping on ANMA Records Apr 8th!  Listen to the full EP preview on Soundcloud (hit that Buy button above).

Following up from last year’s Outlines compilation, where Rome-based DJ and producer opened the album with a track jointly produced alongside Future Jazz Ensemble, the new offering shares further insight into XL’s expressive ideas, influences, and openness to fusing the old with the new.

A clear influence of the BRUK scene holds a common thread throughout the release, where the undeniably iconic rhythms of Broken Beat are reshaped; simultaneously tipping the hat to the sound makers who’ve paved the way and reworking the drums, bass and percussion to accommodate the harmonies, overlapping counterpoint elements and tones of keys, synths and horns that add a different overall texture that is new, individual and reflective of todays’ emotive depth and complexity in the sonic movements of Italy, London and Europe’s electronic dance scenes.

The influence extends further into the use of adlib and the way it’s puncturing the rhythm of the tracks by means of its placement within the groove. However, the newness of the record shines through via XL Regular’s moulding of synthesis and merging of faster tempos (hear ‘’XL3000’’). As one listens to the record, the way each element is arranged leaves each track sounding as if an extremely tight live band was working those -drums, bass, synths, horns and vocals- live (hear ‘’Sometimes’’).

The bubbling and high-octave synth textures perfectly compliment the bass’ synthetic infusion while not overpowering the melodies, keys, vocals and horns that are sitting in the middle of the frequency range, where the magic of current new Jazz shines through by means of XL Regular’s creative expression via use of multi-layer harmony and shaping of tone that is becoming undeniably familiar to the sounds of the current London Jazz scene bonding with electronic dance productions.

The record explores time by providing high up tempos and by adjusting such tempos through each track to reflect the right mood of the moment. Whereas one track could be for the beginning of your night, the other could be for the closing of such night, all varyingly different and individually explorative, yet all a set of a common creative expression by one soul (hear ‘’Jv1080’’ for the slower jam).

However, the icing on the cake is EVM128’s remix of ‘’Jv1080’’, a more stripped, low-end heavier and dub-focused version of the track that iconically puts a familiar sound of 128’s, a tried and tested BRUK forefather, into the context of new things to come by means of further bridging the international separations of today’s turmoil in the world and melding the sounds and ideas of old and new into something personal, free and special by means of XL Regular’s first solo debut EP, which is just a glimpse of more rhythms soon come.

[PREMIERE] XL Regular - JV1080 (EVM128 Remix)

This is the first release from "Summer Rains Remix EP"

A bruk flip of "Find A Way ft. Rara Zulu", remixed by EVM128

Find A Way ft. Rara Zulu (EVM128 Remix)

The Cost

Dimensions Recordings’ fifth release sees the label step into the world of the longplayer with Istanbul native, KEREM AKDAG’s self titled debut album.

Kerem has already been winning fans of the ilk of Gilles Peterson through his previous output of dusty house and tripped out beats in the last few years, and of course via his Getdownsoclose offering on Dimensions’ debut release. His debut album however, sees Kerem deliver a mature piece of work, bright and timeless, equally effective in the club as it is at home and brimming with ideas, hooks and must have songs.

Across eight tracks Kerem demonstrates a breadth of skills that most artists would work a lifetime to achieve. From the stepping beats of When I Think Of You to his subtle vocal layers on Isolated and from the woozy beach vibes of Sultan to the squelching, rasping synths of Unite it’s clear that there’s very little that’s outside of Kerem’s arsenal. The album rounds out fittingly with Drums Please, which perfectly displays Kerem’s jazz tendencies, a slow grooving track whose crescendo of stabs and drums create a song that’s more powerful than its parts.

Kerem Akdag’s debut album clearly sets out the stall for a man who has a lot to say and has the capability to say it loud!

Pre Order

Kerem Akdag - Find Yourself [DIREC005]

EP3: Mov Clsr

Garage Days

This I've been sitting on for a while, played first at the CoOp presents Boiler Room session and after being asked so many times is this coming out, I decided to give it to ya'll !! 

Play it Loud!

BUGZ IN THE ATTIC - MOVE ASIDE (EVM128 REFiX)FREE DL

Another dancefloor assault from the CoOp Presents Selectors Assemble camp, as original don EVM128 gives a young Bow Wow the official Bruk salute. 

Read more: https://hyponik.com/features/first-listen-evm128-bow-wow-bounce-evm-refix/

@evm128
@cooppresents

First Listen: EVM128 - Bow Wow Bounce (EVM Refix)

Every Record

Drama - Mid Ground Remix

Featuring:
Oscar Connery on guitar 
Jack Purdon on trumpet 

Mastered by Karim Hayek

Erykah Badu - Drama [Mid Ground Remix]

CoOp Presents was launched in 2018 by IG Culture and Alex Phountzi to create a platform for new bruk talent in London and beyond. The label continues in the spirit of the original West London broken beat movement to support forward-thinking music and artists. 
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https://coop.bandcamp.com/
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EVM128 - UK Brukers

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