March: 7 hard dance releases you need to hear this month

Audox 'Tried This, Tried That (Tried Everything)' (IDEAL)

2016 was a massive year for Chris Kerry, as he launched into the upper echelons of elite hard dance producers with a string of big tracks and collabs. He’s now dropped his first solo release on the back-in-business Ideal imprint, and it has everything you could want in a track: a gorgeous original vocal, huge melody riff, electro-styled bassline, swirling chords and so much more. This is the sound of hard dance music in 2017, and a small glimpse of what a very talented artist is capable of.

10/10

Evil Activities & Digital Punk 'Jealousy' (Neophyte Records)

Firing on all cylinders after an immensely success year, Evil Activities and Digital Punk have combined forces for this full-on hardcore beast which first saw light back on the latter’s ‘Adapt Or Die’ album. This isn’t happy or feel-good; it’s straight-from-hell madness at its greatest. It almost feels like you’re somewhat lulled into safety with the happiness of the breakdown, but that quickly vanishes when the drop piledrives into your ears.

8/10

JoJo & Dave Owens 'Dance To The Record' (Hi Oktane)

JoJo has been working hard the last few months, putting together an artist album of absolute bangers for those deep, dark and dirty dancefloors around the country. One of our favourites is this off-beat throbber featuring rap chops, little tricks and FX – and, of course, a giant hoover riff in the breakdown, EQ’d perfectly so it doesn’t get lost when it slams back in.

8/10

Random But Raw 'Micro-Niche' (Fruition Records)

This is probably our favourite big hard house track of the month, mainly because it’s so angry and yet so silly, too. Granted, not much happens until after the breakdown, but when it does the whole track disappears into a lingering moment of nothingness, before an absolutely absurd chopped-up hoover riff arrives out of nowhere, cleaning your ears out and melting the skin from your face. It’s music for 5am, when you’ve lost your mates but don’t want to go home.

8/10

Technikal, Steve Hill & Luca Antolini 'F.I.R.E' (RVRS BASS)

A track that somehow manages to make a cheesy pop vocal chant sound cool, the quality is absolutely top-notch in terms of production. With its gorgeous, uplifting riff, it’s yet another reverse bass banger from a young label that’s becoming famed for them. Powerful off-beat bass barrels along throughout the whole track, and a brilliant riff in the second half of the track finishes it all off.

9/10

Wayne G 'Master G' (Frantic Digital)

We love tracks like this, which take elements from other styles of music and fuse them perfectly with the tough stuff. Yes, the entire breakdown is stolen, but this track is still so fun and energetic, with an infectious vocal loop and thundering bassline.

8/10

Technoboy, DJ Isaac & Tuneboy 'Bitches' (Dirty Workz)

Dusting off a classic and shining it up for 2017, ‘Bitches’ isn’t a genre-blending rerub, but more of a heads-down reminder from three of the best names to ever do it that their sound is always getting better. With buckets of driving energy and a huge melody spread across a pitch-kick selection of clarity and aggression, it’s predictably top-notch.

8/10