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Did you hear the joke about old ravers? They don't die, their glowsticks just fade away….

Layo Paskin and Matthew Benjamin, aka Layo & Bushwacka, have been making music longer than some of us have been able to speak in complete sentences; a precarious honour in the youth-driven world of electronic music. So, are they just coasting till it's time to hang up their headphones? Absolutely not. Things Change is a slab of vinyl that effortlessly puts most of the younger generation in the shade.

Things Change oozes panache and experience. Layo & Bushwacka have evolved capably through various stages of house, breaks, tech house and techno, and appear to have reached a point where they are master of all styles and in thrall to none.
The title track is a compulsive, clever, richly textured cut that marries minimal percussion to a languid melody with a cocky little swagger at its core. You could play this anywhere from a Mulletover bash to an Ibiza Sonica chill-out set and it would feel right at home. As much as anything it seems to be saying, hey, kids, this is how it's done.

On the flip The Next Level gets tribal house, rave, minimal techno and swirls them together into one dark, deep, intoxicating record that is both thrillingly modern and as old-fashioned British as chips and gravy. It evokes the sound of drumbeats echoing around the thin corrugated walls of a warehouse, the static fuzz of pirate radio, the unmistakable sensation of being off your head somewhere in a muddy field.


With subtle precision it recalls an era of unlimited possibilities and explosions of joy, which makes it not just a good record, but a necessary record. To round things off there's a meltingly good digital-only mix of Things Change. Happily, an indicator that whatever else changes Layo & Bushwacka's talent for rocking a party won't.