Hardcore Breaks is certainly alive and well, and as if to prove it the Hardcore Lives crew have revealed that not only is Hardcore Energy Vol. 6 out very soon, but it’s a double album too – cripes!

Here’s the skinny, including fabulouso exploserous cover by yours truly, and an (almost) exclusive look at the tracklisting, too.  More info available at the Hardcore Lives Records website.

It’s been a hot day in the city and so it was on the balmy walk home that a promo copy of HCLD010 shuffled itself into my ears. It’s their latest EP from T92, and while intriguingly described as “more mellow than our usual releases” it’s easy to see why they’ve put it out – it’s one of their best yet, and I’m struggling not to say that it’s the best thing I’ve heard from their label full stop.

I always had a soft spot for Ben Venom’s The Dirty Mind way back on Hardcore Energy 2, and in some ways this EP – Sensation in particular – is similar.  Out are the big-room tunes of Weeky and 13Teen, and likewise absent are the mega-basslines of Autimate which I waffled about some time ago.  In their place is an evocative sense of atmosphere that places these tunes squarely in 1994, somewhere in a set by Ratty in a dusty tape pack in an attic miles and miles away.

When Sensation came on, the streets of Shepherd’s Bush melted away and for ten minutes I was at a friend’s garage, on the bus, or in my bedroom sorting through my brand new Dreamscape 6-packs. It’s a distinctive, progressive combination of bassline, subtle pads and chilled breaks that I hadn’t heard for a long, long time – the Hardcore Breaks scene tends to veer towards a general toughening up of the older style, which made this all the more a pleasant surprise.  If it was slightly more drum ‘n’ bass than breaks, it’d be in Kruder & Dorfmeister’s box, and nudging LTJ Bukem in the ribs.  Superb.

Breakdown! doesn’t, really.  Instead, it builds itself around an acoustic sample which if I’m honest can be a bit hard on the ears.  Far more dancefloor than Sensation‘s sofa, bass and synths return with a vengeance but never with the ferocity of T92′s previous singles.  It’s in all a more considered approach, somewhere between Chilly March and Richie K’s Sinister from the label’s previous EP.  Half the length of the flip-side, it’s a shorter excursion into a middle-ground we haven’t heard much of from this artist before.

Don’t just take this old raver’s word for it, though – try it yourself with the sampler below.

Hardcore Lives Digital 010 is available from Hardcore Lives Records.

Disclosure: I make sleeve artwork for Hardcore Lives Records.

A quick announcement to mention that Hardcore Energy 5 will be out soon on Hardcore Lives! Records, with some sleeve-y goodness by yours truly created some evening when I miraculously found I had some free time.

More music fun soon!