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Ziger – Razor (Juicebox Music)

Ziger adds to a string of outstanding releases recently with his debut on the ever-excellent Juicebox, backed by remixes from Simos Tagias and Color Ray & Praveen Achary.

Ziger’s original version of ‘Razor’ is a sleek, powerful piece of progressive house, with searing percussion and two basslines lending the track huge uplift, and subtle hooks and clever, distinctive vocal work providing the cream. Gentle ripples carry ‘Razor’ out of the breakdown, but it’s not long before Ziger guns the engine once more. Superbly constructed and fizzing with energy, this would be Ziger’s best this year if his ‘Systematic’ hadn’t already set the bar so damn high. Simos Tagias plays up with melodic side of Ziger’s track, building a chunky, nicely layered groove punctuated by bright stabs, and saturated with warm bass tones. The breakdown lets the melodies sweep in, building to a sparkling, exhilarating second half that throws further swirling synths into the mix, all the while using Ziger’s vocal samples really effectively Finally, Color Ray & label-head Praveen Achary drop the tempo a little, and offset busy, hypnotic melodies against old-school snare builds, and a bassline you’ll feel in your chest cavity. The effect is addictive, though the remix’s highlight may be the spacious yet urgent main breakdown, which marries haunting atmospherics with attention-grabbing blasts of bass.

All three versions of Ziger’s track on offer here from Juicebox are superb, with the label keeping its track-record for quality firmly intact once again. That said, Ziger’s pulse-raising original is probably my favourite of the three.

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