Jackmaster, the Glaswegian DJ who co-founded the Numbers club night and label, was on a cruise in the Caribbean when he got the call to be the latest guest for the prestigious DJ-Kicks series. It was a tight deadline, he didn’t have internet access, and things took a turn for the worse when he left his laptop, USBs, and new records in a taxi after the boat docked. The silver lining to the tragedy—aka every DJ’s worst nightmare—is that the incident forced Jackmaster to dig deeper into his record collection, and he was able to come up with “obscure and forgotten bits” that make up his mix (on CD) alongside new and exclusive tracks from artists like Tessera, Alcatraz Harry, and Denis Sulta. The eclectic and on-point selection of the new and old, as well as Jackmaster’s tribute to cities that influenced his musical palette (Detroit, Chicago & Glasgow) are at the center of the mix, and this LP version features some of the highlights from the 24-tracker, such as “Logohitz” from Ricardo Villalobos, “Orgy” from Playground Productionz,”A2” from Dean & Deluca, and “Tension” from the homie Eli Escobar.

• double vinyl LP
• selected tracks, unmixed
• includes mix CD
• music label: !K7 Records 2016

reviewed by donut savage 07/2016