Riva Starr’s been a tyro of the underground scene for the majority of this century, making gorgeously groove heavy acid flexed breaks as Madox and pretty much every genre under the sun under the Riva Starr moniker with which most associate him. This EP continues that immaculate prowess on Seth Troxler’s Play it Say it imprint, with the title track based around the robotic riff from Beastie Boys sci-fi b-boy classic ‘Intergalactic’. It’s certainly effective and really well put together, but for me it’s not really going much further beyond the pile named useful for the dancefloor. Good, but certainly not a classic.
The same however can’t be said for the flip. ‘Another Race’ is quite simply a stunning piece of tech house, boasting everything that the genre, so readily maligned in its modern ubiquitous form, should contain. It’s got the ballsy swagger of the genre at it’s finest, the pressure oscillating as it powers forward in relentless fashion with tinkling percussion, muted scenes and soaring synths subtly colliding forward as the drops looms ever nearer. If ever a record was made for a delirious Ibizan sit-down moment it was this, a modern colossus you can imagine DJs as diverse as Carola, Yousef, Sasha and, of course, Troxler rocking to kingdom come this summer.
5/5
Jimmy Coultas
