Bintus

This Friday’s Crack Mix comes from Milo Smee, better known as Bintus, the founder and driving force behind the much-loved Power Vacuum label.

Referring to Power Vacuum as a cult label may seem a little pat but in this case it’s apt – the imprint has amassed a devoted following of DJs and clued-up heads since its foundation in 2012, and it’s easy to see why: few labels are able to synthesise their influence – in Power Vacuum’s case electro, hardcore, techno, and punk – into such a unique output.

From Bintus’ own crushing acid workouts to EDMX’s punishing electro-industrial hybrids, Power Vacuum releases bubble with a chaotic energy that is rowdy without being macho, weird without being gimmicky, and totally primed to blow the roof off a club dropped at the right time.

Bintus is by no means Smee’s only alias – amongst others he also releases music under the name Kruton, a pseudonym reserved for more downtempo electro, and boogie-influenced productions. It’s this territory that he mines for the first half of his Crack Mix, digging early-80s hip-hop he describes as “fundamental to the evolution of dance music [which] developed in tandem with the first wave of electro.”

Things really kick off around the halfway mark as (after an interlude of Gregorian chanting, obviously) as Smee chambers some recent and forthcoming Power Vacuum releases for a raucous finish.

Bintus’ Crack Mix is, to put it bluntly, totally banging – a 67-minute head-trip that’s as colourful and characterful as the man behind it.