12″, AEntitainment, 2009
www.aentitainment.com
Roughly once a year, the German label has released an installment of “Whiteline”, their DJ-oriented 12″ vinyl compilation series. Like its predecessors, “Whiteline Vol. III” features a selection of tracks by established acts and lesser-known or new and upcoming artists from several points in the world. This time around, Aentitainment presents tracks by Igorrr, Mobthrow, Ebola, Larvae and Hello.JPG.
For those unfamiliar with insane French breakcore artist Igorrr, the opening track may come as something of a shock, combining crazy fast paced rhythms with sampling of vintage records, classical music and black metal. “Melting Nails” is your standard Igorrr track but unfortunately too short and not as psychotic as other material he previously released. Following up is “Bad Boyaa” by Greek dubstep/d’n’b wunderkind Mobthrow – an intense and well-constructed piece, consistent with previous offerings by this Greek artist. One of the staples of the breakcore and mash-up scenes, Ebola concludes side A with a playful and intelligently evolving dubstep track that isn’t just about the wobble.
Side B (or rather, side AA…) features tracks by Larvae and Hello.JPG, the first a more than confirmed artist and the other a complete wildcard (at least judging by the press release). Matt Jeanes’ “Auto Loader” is a competent and very pleasant break-based chillout piece and contrasts with the wacky tone in Hello.JPG’s closing piece “Transexual”.
The main merit of this release is throwing the spotlight on two relatively unknown artists, Igorrr and Hello.JPG. While the later is a complete unknown, Igorrr may be one of the best-kept secrets of the French breakcore (and associated) scenes and his schizophrenic sound certainly deserves to be unleashed upon the world. Likewise, Mobthrow also deserves some exposure (and his track in this compilation shows why) but his output remains scarce to say the least, which is quite a shame.
Though more coherent than its predecessor, the short duration format of this release will very likely have a adverse effect its appeal as far as the casual listener goes – being such a short release, it feels like little more than a teaser. However, it may well come in handy for many break DJs out there.
[7/10]
— Miguel de Sousa