When times are flush its hard to make Trip Hop stick in a crowded marketplace. Just ask Leeds-based quintet Stateless, who’s 2007 album, preceded by the 2005 single “Bloodstream,” quitely faded into obscurity despite being produced by then-hot Adele/Sneaker Pimps wiz kid Jim Abbiss. I have yet to fully get down to the full release despite being totally captivated by the aforementioned single, and especially with its remixes (as is to be expected of me). It is a quiet, emotional sort of record, with flitting pianos that seam to drown in their own warmth. The Pilooski rework foregrounds a set of dissonant disco toms and brushes gently through the piano motifs, pumping the tempo on the vocals and relishing the four-four thump of a live kick. This is an end of the night track.

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Club Action, the breakout hit by Tampa-based Homo Hoppers Yo Majesty, hardly needs an introduction. Its been banging on speaker boxes for over a year now, most often in the form of the New Zealand-based Bag Raiders‘ Enya-biting remix. It popped back into my head this winter when I finally tracked down the delicious Stanton Sessions III, released towards the end of 2008. The Stanton’s take on the track is in line with the rest of the mix – Dark UK Garage verging on Grime with dollops of pumping Baile Funk. I love that the UK Breaks massive is heeding the call of Rio. Just as Portuguese/Angolan Kuduro emerged in 2008 as its own thang (see Buraka Som Sistema’s Black Diamond), Baile Funk has freed itself from the confines of the Americas to bust the production chops of House heads around the globe. This is New Wave and Bass-inspired Southern Hip Hop filtered through the lens of a ganja-soaked strobe light.

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