Enlightened Wax returns with a fistful of kick drums to the face and a whole load of crunchiness to boot. Part Analogue Cop, part Third Sider, part machine – the incomparable Marieu makes a return to his own label alongside Berlin’s rising analogue fiend, Hinode who makes himself heard right from the start of A1, submerging us into a shuffling, funked-out frenzy of samples and ruthless percussion. The A2 is another brutal monster, where bursting toms, cascading synths and analogue rawness align to form an irresistible peak-time burner; but it’s on the B1 that things turn really nasty – some seriously off-kilter percussion moulds seamlessly with gorgeous strings only to fall back apart into a winding bundle of slicing drums. Not much can be said about the B4, it’s just a classic “MG” (Marieu-Groove) bomb: dusty drums, shredded vocal samples and those jagged piano keys grinding their way into that seductive Enlightened Wax vibe. Marieu and Hinode packing some serious heat….Vinyl only for that extra punch! Words by Pietro Barbieri-H