Various

Scattered Snares Vol. 1 first arrived on the shelves last year as an import-only introduction to Twisted Funk, a new label run by 4 Hero’s Marc Mac. Through the partnership with Public Transit Recordings, it comes to us again in a slightly different form featuring Canadian names and a revised title, Scattered Snares: Across The Tracks. The latter is a reference to PTR’s well-publicised love for the TTC as well as their active participation in the broken beat scene’s global community of sound. While we love to make note of our own, the sonic-cultural distinctions between Toronto and West London producers here is hardly apparent. Every artist on Scattered Snares is on par when it comes to banging out the geometrical beats and jazz-inflected synth-lines of their chosen genre. Rustic Hut sets the tone of the comp on "Fathead Paranoia,” when amidst a surreal atmosphere of down-tempo funk, analog chaos and cyclonic filtering, a warbling voice emerges with a mantra to "keep it all inclusive.” The elated electro-funk stylings of Getnice and Cold Mission thus sit at ease with the manic bass rumblings from Greyscale and Nubian Mindz. The rhythms are athletic on all of the tracks, but on Hopper’s "Spiritually Active Understanding,” it’s the cybernetic dance between voice and frequency that takes centre stage as the producer tweaks Carina Andersson’s lyrics into a black hole of infinity. Moonstarr and MC Voice push for a more earthly expression using straight-up hip-hop and poetics on "BB Girl,” while Nu Era (a 4 Hero alias and therefore the godfathers to this scene) unlock the sublime with their gorgeous orchestration of two-step shuffles, angular keys and breathy harmonies on "Music Inside Machine.”