Splitloop are the duo of Philip Byrne and Brendan Crowe who apparently met on the bus going to see a Prodigy gig in Ireland. Chances are this was some time ago when Liam Howlett was at his peak and Daedelus was 15. What’s the link to Daedelus? Well his album Love To Make Music To supposed to be a return to his rave roots as he manipulates his own ‘Pleasure Machine’. Apparently the idea behind Splitloops’ Pleasure Machine album is the opposite of going back to their roots as the pair broaden their horizons, looking outside of the breaks scene for inspiration and going “electronic”.

Crowe has said, “we really wanted to make music we thought was really good and move our sound forward, not worrying about what anyone else would think”. So you don’t care what we think! Well, you can’t say that Splitloop are new the doyens of IDM but Pleasure Machine gives you a thumpin’ good ride of what a breaks album should be in my book. Bangin’ beats with bouncy electro synths, a few housey vocals, a bit of rap and all turned up to full volume. This is simply a dance album with tracks that merge together like a great club night.

That said, stand out tracks are the 12” releases of ‘Frequency Rebel’ (that intro will get anyone’s attention), ‘Keep Running’ (that’s definitely going on my Nike+ mixtape), ‘Electricity’, ‘Release-Remove’ and my favourite, ‘Speak And Splitloop’.

The album ends on another highlight ‘Tweaked Out’ that has understandably gained the attention of BBC Radio1’s Annie Nightingale and featured on Fabric Live CD by Krafy Kuts (he being the boss of Against The Grain).

The only reason not to move to this album is if your dead and these guys must be even better live than on CD. You’ll have to catch them when you can as they’re going on tour to Oz in August. Now that should be some party!

Forthcoming Tour Dates
20 Jun 2008 - San Francisco Breakbeat Booty San Francisco, California
04 July 2008 - Life Festival Gort
09 July 2008 - Supercharged Audio, Brighton
11 July 2008 - Fabric London - Pleasure Machine Album Launch www.fabriclondon.com
12 July 2008 - Seville, Spain
August 2008 - Australian Tour Dates [To be confirmed]

Reviewed: Splitloop - Pleasure Machine (Against The Grain) Cat. No, ATGCD07 Release date:14th July 2008
Tracklisting:
1. Crazy Sexy (4:39)
2. Party People featuring Jax (4:52)
3. Beat That Smack That featuring Marvel & AnnMarie McBaron (4:26)
4. Pleasure Machine (4:43)
5. Frequency Rebel (4:12)
6. Electricity (4:26)
7. 100 Places featuring Evil Harrisons (5:42)
8. Go Down featuring Marvel (4:38)
9. Release Remove (Splitloop Vs. Arveene) (5:12)
10. Rush (6:23)
11. Keep Running featuring Marvel (4:57)
12. Ghetto Blaster (4:24)
13. Speak And Splitloop (5:08)
14. Tweaked Out (5:10)

LInks
www.splitloop.com
www.myspace.com/splitloop
www.superchargedmusic.com
www.myspace.com/atgandsupercharged
Daedelus blog www.myspace.com/daedelusdarling Tuesday, February 20, 2007 “On matters of Rave”
Been hearing a bit about Raving lately, lots of folks seem to be checking out that wonderful period in electronic music; post Acid House pre-everything else, and I thought because it is a passion of mine as well I’d put up some of my favorite artists from Rave in case the trusty internet can lead you to some excellent music (sometimes a name is enough)
1. Acen
2. Altern8
3. Bay B Kane
4. Shut Up and Dance
5. Hyper on Experience
6. Prodigy (this one is difficult, cause it all went so south around 1994, but worth checking the old material when it was just one producer and his dancer friends)
7. Ray Keith (who still makes excellent tracks!)
8. DJ Hype
9. Anything on Production House (label) from 1991-1993, lots of Acen on there
10. Anything on Suburban Base even their post rave early jungle is really worth the research.
Such a random list, but again please check a few out, and dance like no one is watching!