Skul(l)duggery, noun, (skəl-ˈdə-g(ə-)rē)
(skull-dug-er-rrryyy). Meaning: making it happen by means fair or otherwise (usually otherwise).
For the better part of three years now Skullduggery’s been making moves within
trance, but the (less than!) shadowy figure behind it has been force for many
moons more. Looking to bring something new to genre’s fore, in 2015 he convened
a group of talented studio souls to form its label core. Rising higher with
every release, the collective waves made have been felt scene-wide ever since.
Now, chief Skull Greg Downey has gotten together with Stoneface & Terminal
– the label’s most illustrious signing – to portrait the imprint through the
‘The Art Of Skulduggery’.
Out this March, Skullduggery’s music and inspirations, past, present and – most
vividly – future are laid out across an irrepressibly fine deuce of mixcomp
discs. Featuring music & remixes from a roll call of the gifted (by way of
example: Paul van Dyk, Richard Durand, Lostly, Will Atkinson, Liam Wilson,
Ferry Tayle, Activa, Project 8), it also includes much new matter from the
label’s bedrock. None more so though than the main protagonists themselves,
with Greg, Henry and Matthi drawing on a wealth of studio-fresh productions to
outline Skulduggery’s Art in no uncertain terms.
Available from today (link),
label kingpin Greg frontloads his mix with a mini-album’s worth from his own
studio. Together, ‘The Tone’ and ‘Loco’ pitch the outer marker at ‘tech’,
whilst Richard Durand’s remix of ‘These Hands I
Hold’ and Downey/Alex Di Stefano collab
‘Among Us’ maintains the pressure. A few tracks down the line comes the
Irishman’s team-up with the legendary Sunscreem, as he recasts the classic
‘Perfect Motion’ in a decidedly uplifting form. Hot on its heels you’ll find
Sentinel 7’s redress of ‘Sense’, UCast’s acidic after-touch of ‘Razor’ and (in
its killer HP Source form) ‘P45’. Strategically positioned between are PvD
& Lostly’s stunning ‘Amanecer’, Project 8’s
more-than-persuasive ‘I Believe’, Ferry Tayle’s impressive redraft of
Basic Dawn’s ‘Pure Thrust’ and a whole lot more floor-firepower besides!
“15 years in and they’re making the best
music of their career” is how DJ Mag sees Stoneface & Terminal’s
current state of play. That’s born out by ‘The Art Of Skulduggery’s every-bit-as-extraordinary
second disc. ‘Thump’,
‘warp’ & ‘drive’ are your key takeaways from the German duo’s opening
salvo. Their own ‘Titan’ lights the mix’s match, while ‘Bolide’ and
‘Patient XTC’ cheerfully pour on the petrol. The results, well every bit as
combustible as you’d imagine. Further in Matthi and Henry’s redux of Will
Atkinson’s ‘Dusk’ and their own ‘Mind Games’ keep those flames burning every
brighter. Stephen Kirkwood’s ‘Rainbow
Six’, ‘The Wretched’ from Nick Callaghan, Liam Wilson’s ‘Get On The
Floor’ and a half dozen others sound out the rest of its floor-thundering 75
minutes.
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