Smith n Hack - 'tribute' album     

        double 12" vinyl, digital:      click links for lofi mp3 extractions

       A 1. no gimmicks, no flash
         2. soul food (interlude)   
         3. footstomping smooker     

       B 1. to our disco friends      
         2. groove the young, rock the old (interlude)
         3. scratch your ass off

       C 1. ultra-range (interlude)
         2. for disco play only
         3. ultra-range sound process

       D 1. strength & inspiration
         2. waving goodbye (interlude)
         3. frederick

       mastering: rashad at dubplates & mastering
       cover: tasche 
       pressing: pallas via eldorado

Boomkat review

Bringing together two strands of the Hardwax Collective into one devestating collaboration, Smith n Hack is the work of Errorsmith (he of the legendary MMM series) and Soundhack. It's difficult for us to overstate just how influential these two have been in the evolution of electro and house (respectively) over the last couple of years. MMM's 'Donna' 12" being plagarised, ripped and copied by a list of electro bigwigs that's simply too large to mention here. Coming together with a loose plan of producing a musical tribute to Disco originator Hamilton Bohannon, this awesome double pack sees the slightest loops and phrases developed into a series of seriously heavy and micro-developed beat workouts. The opening 'No Gimmicks, No Flash' jumps straight into the fire with intricately tweaked discobeat loopage, cutup with the kind of attention to detail that is designed to astonish. The brief interlude (there are 4 in total) of 'soul food' sounds like Organ Transplants-era Stock Hausen and Walkman on a trip to the Delta Blues before 'Footstomping Smoker' turns up the levels and brings Disco to a decidedly modern home - complete with the kind of sparse aesthetic that could turn dangerous on a busy dancefloor. 'Strength and Inspiration' steals the show, however, with a riffed up intro (complete with the obligatory soulful vox snippets) developed into a seriously heavy (almost) b-boy stomp. Funky as f**k. Not your straightforward sampling fair, treat this record as a masterful 'how to...' guide to looping, sampling and cutting-up of any kind. Awesome.