Various – Frigio All Stars Vol. 5

2023 and Frigio return to one of their flagship collection series, Frigio Allstars. This fifth installment marks a new venture for the label with a spread of different styles explored by old friends and new monikers.

One fresh pseudonym is Starhawk & Friends, known from Vol. 1 as I-Land Beat, who offers up a broken beat belter guaranteed to put crooked smiles on faces. Returnees include Rambal Cochet with the rap infused elegance of “Metacortex” while Sons of Traders digs deep into dissonance and distortion for “I Don’t Inspire Hope.” Jack Carel is back after his appearance on Vol. 4 with two tracks that range from the hiphop inspired strings and snares of “4 Seasons” to genre bending daredevilry of “Friday Rocks." Delivering a stripped back New Beaty beast, Neud Photo returns to the series with “Spark Knock” which bares its teeth through a haze of static and angular melodies. Warped patterns and lost language are the chosen tools for a hypno-trip from Textbeak Defa Voctave before the industrial undercurrents of Death Posture (Daniel Holt to some) leads us out of a 12” that explores a spectrum of sounds across its eight tracks.