Cardopusher/Ghosts on Tape/Pacheko & Pocz/BADXMAN: Silicon Summer EP
Shockout/Tigerbeat6

This brand new, digital-only EP from the Shockout and Tigerbeat6 camps features four diverse acts who excel at blending elements from a panorama of styles—dubstep, jungle, house, soca, and kuduro among them—into fresh beat-centric cuts. The rollicking burners from Caracas production duo Pacheko & Pocz are seriously infectious body-movers. In “Cohete,” dubstep, house, and soca come together to form thrusting rhythms that could easily propel dancers into convulsions (as could the tune's twitchy and wiry electro-funk melodies), and during “Tigre,” a dub-reggae bass line and galloping beat provide an infectious bottom-end while simple keyboard motifs hold things in place. In addition, San Francisco-based Ghosts On Tape brings the mechano-funk to “Midnight Moves” and dresses up its bass-heavy bump with an ululating swirl of vocal psychedelia; Barcelona producer Cardopusher twists dubstep and house into a jaunty, synth-drenched fusion in “Heartbeat Jam”; and UK producer BADXMAN pulls “The Deep End” out of a grab-bag of wonky synth fireworks and roiling beats. Artistic differences aside, the EP's material is polished and high-quality from start to finish.

July 2010