Cornwall-based acid-electro / breakbeat veteran Luke Vibert re-emerged earlier this year with his latest album ‘Ridmik’ on the Hypercolour label, and a few months on this seasonally-timed 12” EP ‘Halloween’ offers up three new tracks that remain firmly in the acid 303 sphere. On the A-side, title track ‘Halloween’ comes on like Vibert’s own version of ‘Thriller’, taking things off on a rattling acid house ride that sees showers of handclaps and 303 squelches riding alongside horror movie theremins and a repeated sample of a girl asking “is it scary?”, as swelling bass synths inject a disco-tinged sense of groove.
Over on the flipside, in its original mix form ‘Jack You Whole’ shifts the pace down into acid-laced electro as Vibert’s signature 303 bass murmurs wander against robotically crisp snares and slurred, almost intelligible robo-MC vocals, only for ‘SDC’s 1988 Vibe Mix’ to strip things right back to just a shuffling drum groove whilst shifting the vocals into a clearer position at the forefront on the mix, offering up an awesome tribute to the likes of Model 500 that was easily my favourite of the three excellent tracks on offer here. From the evidence presented here, Vibert’s upcoming ‘Halloween Part 2’, featuring reworkings from Tom DeMac and Falty DL should be well worth checking out.
