Despite the amount of times you’ll have surely read that “Bristol is like a ‘small London’ in terms of forward thinking bass music,” it doesn’t make it any less true each and every time the overworked sentence is used. In fact, I never tire of hearing it, possibly due to the fact that I am jealous as hell that I've never been. Yes that’s right, like a speng, I have never been. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying the sonic progression emanating from there though, oh no, not one little bit; especially when the likes of Phaeleh arrive in my inbox. He’s carved out the next plate on Surface Tension Recordings, his 2nd for the label it includes his brand new tune 'Lounge,' and its accompanying Geiomix, and his (Phaeleh's) remix of Vaccine's 'Atrium.' Putting the whereabouts of producer’s aside, as it is completely irrelevant when it comes to this release (as the label owner is from America alongside Vaccine, Phaeleh is from Bristol & Geiom is from Nottingham) one vibrancy that brings them all together is garage.
Nobody can disagree with the fact that Garage, (2-step, speed, 4x4 or otherwise) albeit banal in some ways, was never really explored in its entirety, which is a shame as it is considered by a lot of producers to be either their 1st contact with dance music, or even their favourite genre. Examining today’s progression, it’s easy to see how it's sexiness, dance-ability and general vibe has allowed dubstep to claw back a bit of 'musical' credibility and has inspired a generation of producers to push past the aforementioned genre and into a world of moody-but-sexy, swung to fuck drones, with endless possibilities for exploration.
Many producer's, I believe, have used Dubstep as a canvas, adding each genre as a colour to make these hybrid's into something unique and genuinely engaging each time. None so other than the artist's featured on this latest release. Phaeleh’s ‘Lounge’ is an out and out roller, with a tiny little stream of hope included in the shape of the flute featured within, which keeps the progression up nicely; the Geiomix is fantastic, and really does re-carve the original, turning the bumpiness up and out under the kind of melodic progressions grime music harnesses so well. The ‘Atrium’ remix does is for me though, keeping to the OG structure, Phaeleh delivers, driving his smooth sine waves under the loose piano rolls, airy vocals and percussion perfectly.
Words: Alex McQuillan
Out: July ‘09
Links:
www.myspace.com/phaeleh
www.myspace.com/surfacetensionrecordings
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