Roger the nearest chicken, it’s Carl Finlow! This man is one of the great unsung [or not sung enough] talents of UK electronic dance music, responsible for engineering the first 2020 releases while cementing his name as Random Factor, predating electro/80s obsessions of recent times while carving a mean swathe through any house-jiggling dancefloor he chose to point his throbbing turbo-wand at. Carl relocated to France a while back and, now domestically adjusted, is bursting forth again with a new album. But first comes ‘Beaten’, a springing rooster’s jock-strap of tech-house heaven, peppered with flickering melodies and the synth mastery which made his name. New 2020 signings Art Of Tones pile in with an all-enveloping strain of unsettlingly-atmospheric space-house remixes, complete with dub and destined to soundtrack early hours melon loss. What with the recent Lawson mix, Woolly album and this tour-de-force from Carl things are looking excellent for the label that this man helped start in a debauched Leeds farmhouse 13 years ago.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs