We're stoked to announce that we're part of a new initiative over at respected music retailer Bleep.com. Bestowing on us the great honour of giving us the first installment, the #001 - if you will, of their brand new podcast series, isn't something we took lightly. Asking us to provide a monthly podcast and giving us expansive access to the past month's releases has resulted in this, an 60 minute long snapshot of their September.
Think of it as an hour long mix of music thats been released over the past month on Bleep.com, just to point out a few things, uncover a few bits you might've missed and maybe, as a chance for us to play you things we dont get a chance to play you on our radio show.
One of the regular producers whose unreleased productions feature on our Hivemind.fm show, Austrian producer Simon/off, just dropped a free track for the Elevate Festival website. He’s the latest in a line of festival performers to do so with the site already hosting tracks from DJ Spinn and Pursuit Grooves whilst it promises more from people like Girl Unit and Altered Natives.
Gumpf:
“This year's Elevate Festival is marked by numerous innovations! Following on from the previous festival compilation, the new MP3 podcast will be available as a free download at the festival-homepage. Offering weekly new audio-excerpts from the music programme 2010, the podcast will feature artists including DJ Spinn, Elektro Guzzi, Pursuit Grooves, Over At The Stars, Simon/off, Girl Unit, Walls, Re-lay, Altered Natives, Piece Of Shh..., Chrissy Murderbot, The Tweakers, Dead Fader, WoO, Fontarrian and many more. Finally, a collection of all tracks will be made available as the Elevate Festival 2010 compilation.”
For more info on the 2010 edition of the Elevate Festival - which features headline slots from players like Mount Kimbie, Joy Orbison, Claro Inteleco, Sandwell District, Emeralds, Oneohtrix Point Never, Actress, Hudson Mohawke and Merzbow amongst those already mentioned and many more - head over to the website: http://2010.elevate.at/
Jus Wan has always been a producer we’ve watched. In the same way as DJG he’s been pushing the boundaries and blurring the perception of dubstep music Stateside, releasing music on labels like [nakedlunch], Pushing Red and Appleblim’s Apple Pips imprint. With all his music released to date there’s been a telling level of quality. His frequencies pound and swell in the right manner, his drums trickle like gloopy cough medicine - coming thick and fast with sickly sweet remnants – and his melodies have always backed off enough to allow his rhythm section to dance in the limelight.
After a relatively quiet 2010 he today sent word of a ‘pay-what-you-want’ album project called Miles Away. Something that both excited and saddened us as it came with word that he’s “basically given up writing music, so this is probably my last hurrah so to speak.” Intrigued, we exchanged emails trying to pry without being too intrusive; quizzing him on the 12 track project...
Sonic Router: So what’s the idea behind Miles Away?
Jus Wan: One of the feelings that has inspired me to make music is being miles away from home in some remote place. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling with a mixture of excitement and melancholy. I've tried to evoke that sort of vibe with my tunes.
It was never written as an album right? Do you think it flows as one even tho it wasn’t expressly made that way?
I've had the idea of an album in mind for a while, but I've never really been able to think with that big of a scope when writing tunes. However, I think there is a thread linking them together. Most of these tunes were scheduled for release on various labels but never came out for a number of reasons. I've put them together in as cohesive a manner as I could.
I recently asked DJG the same question when he offered up his ‘Voids’ series but, What makes you want to give these tunes out for free? I mean I know how much time and effort tunes and music in general can take - so why dish them out for nothing? What’s it all in aid of?
For me, it's just wanting to get the music out there. I've recently come to see the light in terms of digital distribution and I like being able to determine how my music is presented. And there's an element of me trying to cut myself lose from music by just putting everything out there and releasing my attachment to it.
You mentioned that it’s kind of like your last hurrah with music. Why so?
It's a long story man, but suffice it to say that I feel like I've said what I had to say creatively. It's been an obsessive thing that sort of took over my life very quickly. I may come back to it someday, but it feels like this is the end of the road for Jus Wan. Thanks for reading!
::
You can download the Miles Away project for whatever price you like via the widget below.
Since their earliest releases, which saw them travel through dubbed-out, post-Mystikz headspaces, London-based Hyperdubbers LV have stubbornly resisted pigeonholing at every turn. Revisiting the likes of 'Globetrotting' and 'Dream Cargo' now, the clues were always there as to their shifting identity - the former a rootsy stomp as comfortable played from midsummer speakers as headphones on a cold winter evening, the latter a more muscular take on Burial's melancholy images of London. After 'Turn Away', which brightened the opening segment of Hyperdub's 5 compilation with a shot of synthesised colour, the 38 EP earlier this year was a drastic departure. A concept album in miniature, it mapped the psychosocial spaces of a London bus journey, moving in and out of different personae like quicksilver. Sonically it saw the group experiment with form and tempo a little more, but unless you'd been paying attention to their interview and excellent Okzharp mix for Blackdown earlier this year their latest for Hyperdub would, I'd imagine, come as a real surprise.
In the wake of a trip to South Africa (his country of birth), LV's Gerv started to piece together a spring-loaded, London-soaked variant on the kwaito/house flavours he encountered there. The result is a formidable dancefloor double header: both 'Boomslang' - the most maddeningly catchy track this side of Mujava's 'Township Funk' - and 'Zharp' brim with a restless excess of nervous energy. There's so much pent-up tension in the skeletal beat of 'Zharp' that it sounds spring-loaded, liable to burst at any time - it's the kind of tune that could take someone's eye out. Fittingly for the African/reptilian implications of the title (and the glorious artwork), it's a snakelike riddim, slithering and shuddering to a sudden pinpoint stop. The A-side is likely to decimate dancefloors for the foreseeable future, and perhaps the only worry it's possible to hold onto for too long is that it'll burn itself out through overplay, in the manner of 'CMYK' or 'Footcrab'. Durban MC Okmalumkoolkat's semi-nonsense chatter drifts between tightly syncopated stabs of bass and snare, and its central bleep melody lasts for a tantalisingly short period of time before disappearing again. Both tracks are short, sharp shocks, far removed from LV's previous material, and point towards enjoyable new developments, even if this 12" proves more a one-off than a wholescale change in direction.
Since Christmas last year one of Silkie’s unreleased productions has been running around my head. The video below captures when I first heard it; the Anti Social crimbo-spesh on Rinse FM where a track that was simply so full of vibes that it’s been playing on my mind ever since. It turns out that track was ‘80s Baby;’ a track you can hear on City Limits Vol 1.2 - the bridge gap between last years fantastic City Limits Vol.1 album and the follow up, unsurprisingly called Vol.2 - the first in a series of limited 12”s whose cuts you won’t find on the next album or the last.
‘80s Baby’ has a rolling street soul feel to it like a London variant on Detroit techno, all midnight tempoed machine funk that refuses to leave quietly. Sweeping pads, bumpy rhythms and funk stabs made from plastic sax and lounge piano fuse with 80s tinged funk synth keys that sound like they’ve been beamed in from a forgotten Cameo record. It all comes together with a hypnotic loved up vibe that’s just irresistible. The flip ‘Bass Junkie’ sounds like the tougher brother of ‘80s Baby’ it hits hard instead of rolling; its rattling breaks shimming over bass pulses and funked up synth lines that sound like aliens shooting the London breeze. Keeping that blissed out funk Silkie’s blessed with producing, ‘Bass Junkie’ manages to live up to its moniker, twisting itself into slab like gnarly shapes that are pretty relentless.
Punch Drunk serves up a massive collaboration from label boss Peverelist and collaborative tour de force Hyetal, whose first release on the imprint came sharing production duties with Blunted Robot Shortstuff at the turn of the year. Following big singles from each part of this production team - Peverelist’s ‘Better Ways Of Living’ came out recently on Punch Drunk and the freshly minted Orca Records released ‘Pheonix’ from Hyetal a month or so back - it’s not the first time the two producers have worked together with Pev’s remix of Hyetal’s debut release ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ twisting the original in a trippy number that still sounds like nothing else around. This time the two hook up for a duo of original productions with Peverelist’s knack for hypnotic techy dubbed-out sounds and Hyetal’s bittersweet melodic sensibilities merging perfectly.
The two tracks ‘The Hum’ and ‘rrrr’ feel like early electro experiments that were forgotten but dug up, rearranged and lovingly finished especially to move dancefloors. There’s a retro feel in there but it’s one that’s brought on by the melancholic melodies and synthesized sounds rather than any kind of revivalism. You can hear Peverelist’s swirling dubbed-out percussive ticks and bumpy rhythms and Hyetal’s knack for shimmering synthesized melody in both of these tracks and as a result the rhythms feel hypnotic and introspective but the bright synth tones and subtle funk keep them from being ultra deep eyes down material. With a slightly unnerving uplifting quality the tracks hit that magic bittersweet middle ground that never fails to deliver in the dance.
Bristolian producer Gemmel Phillips, better known by his shortened nickname Gemmy, blossomed out of the so called ‘purple’ quagmire. Spearheaded by fellow producers Joker and Guido, the trio’s penchant for naggingly catchy leads and squalling computer funk made them an instant hit in the dubstep world, servicing beats that were often drastically different to the deep and pressing bass loaded soundscapes. Feeding more off the energy and insistency of grime music, Gemmy’s debut release on the Punch Drunk label – a Bristol based label famed for bringing the emerging sounds of the South West to the wider world – ‘Bk II The Future’ b/w ‘Bass Transmitter’ wailed and staggered through contrasting synth lines.
Inebriated with the sound, his consequent release for the Planet Mu label ‘Supligen’ rewired the template whilst the flip side, ‘BT Tower,’ showed a different side to his productions, positively bruising speaker stacks with its pummeling array of low end frequencies. Following it up with the ‘Jonny 5’ double pack – again on Planet Mu – it was obvious Gemmy’s sound was maturing, deviating rhythmically from the halfstep template, he riddled the stand out track ‘Dolla Digital,’ with tom tom rolls piled on top of erratic snares.
Hard at work on his debut album, he's just dropped a freebie ahead of his performance at fabric on the 24th, which you can download below.
DJG has been a great compatriot of the Sonic Router operation since day dot. His words of enthusiasm, encouragement and music (including his contribution to our ongoing mix series) have been a great source of inspiration to us. Its people like him that’ve given us that vital boost when life takes over and post frequency wanes, so when he got in touch to tell us about a unique and innovative project he was pushing, it was our pleasure to be able to reciprocate in the encouragement stakes.
Today his website, djgsound.com, went live with 12 unreleased tracks, bundled as two EPs: Voids One and Voids Two available on a pay what you want, Radiohead style scheme. With the generosity and production levels both riding high we caught up with the man himself to explain, in his own words, the thought process behind his recent actions.
Sonic Router: So... what’s the concept behind the ‘Voids’ series? I mean the name itself suggest kind of a vacumn thats sucked you in...
DJG: Ha! I guess the title came about when I was thinking about where these kinds of tracks belong, and ultimately where my music belongs inside the context of dubstep or whatever genre. Since 2008 I’ve kinda walked this line between wanting to make more personal and experimental music but wanting to retain a dance floor edge, I’ve never really been able to pick one side or the other and I think in many ways this sometimes puts me in a bit of a funny place. My music is not entirely this but not entirely that. It just sort of exists in this void I suppose.
What makes you want to give these tunes out for free? I mean I know how much time and effort tunes and music in general can take - so why dish them out for nothing? What’s it all in aid of?
It honestly is not in aid of anything – I really hate cynicism and I’m not looking for anything in return, I just want the music to be heard and presented in a way that I feel good about. Purely; I had this folder full of songs I just thought man, I don’t know what will become of this stuff unless I do something myself. I just think the music marketplace is such a polarized place these days and I was shuddering at the thought of trying to work with a label to push this stuff in the right way. I’ve had some really positive experiences with record labels, and some where I felt like little care had been given to the release and I just wanted to try it myself I guess. I’d always wanted to give music away, there is something really satisfying about it to me – and I feel good with the way I’ll be doing it by allowing people to pay whatever price they want.
When you release music through a record label there are all these entities between the artist and the listener – the label, the distributor, the store, graphic designers, marketers, press, etc etc. In this case I get to be all of that, and it’s all like a personal adventure.
I had a lot of people tell me that I was crazy to give away so much music, that people look down on things that are free. But I don’t know, I think that’s probably because so much sub-par music is given away for free with very little effort or thought put into it. I hope that people can see I’m not trying to do anything like that.
So they’re not just like unfinished bits or ideas you had lying around on some hard drive someplace?
No; not in the slightest. In fact the majority of these songs have been pulled from various labels and projects over the last three years, for one reason or another. Nearly all of them have been supported by some of the biggest DJs in dubstep. All these songs were written over the last three years, with ‘Doodlebug’ being the oldest (2007) and ‘BC3’ the most recent (about two months ago). These are just songs I still love and feel connected to, and strongly believe in.
You mention that they come in two parts. Can you explain the difference? I mean Part Two definitely seems more melodic in a sense...
Voids One is really for the ravers & the DJs: it represents a sound I pushed hard in the club over the last few years: dark, energetic, techno fused moody rave vibes. Voids Two is more personal, a bit lighter maybe, and closer to my heart.
What else have you got coming up in the future? gigs/releases etc.
My 12” for Transistor comes out September 29 (‘Time Is The Fire’ b/w ‘Escape Pod’). I’ve got a track on the Wheel&Deal album called ‘NYC’ and Kutz and I did a collab called ‘Hella Tight’ that’s coming out on his album on Soul Jazz.
I’m playing a gig in San Francisco on September 25 with Mount Kimbie, Mary Anne Hobbs and DNTEL. Then on September 30 with Club Root, Djunya and Jon AD. I’ll be in the UK in November playing gigs in London and Bristol with more TBC.
Voids One & Two are available to download now from djgsound.com.
This edition of the Sonic Router column for respected web portal theQuietus is live now. Focused entirely on the work of Icelandic producer Hypno it comes equipped with the 55th Sonic Router mix.
"That playful aspect in Hypno's music is obvious as soon as you listen out for it. What may sound like micro programmed percussion lines and over studied drum programming is the sound of a producer completely immersing himself in the 'fun' aspect of making rhythm. There's seldom been something so endlessly satisfying as writing a groove that can drive, thump and swing all at the same time; and in places, on tracks like the aforementioned 'Over The Top' and 'Telescopes', it's hard not to grin as the drum hits bumble over themselves repeatedly." - Oli Marlow
1. Kerri Chandler – Mommy, What’s A Record? (Downtown 161) 2. Orlando B. – New York Tale (Yore) 3. West Norwood Cassette Library – Blonde On Blonde (Teal dub) 4. Maddslinky ft. Omar – Special (Karizma mix) (dub) 5. Hypno – War Demons (PTN) 6. Missing Linkx – A Short History Of… (Philpot) 7. A Made Up Sound – Alarm (A Made Up Sound) 8. Hypno – Over The Top (PTN) 9. Girl Unit – Shade On (Night Slugs) 10. Shortstuff – Galaxy (Ramp) 11. Twice As Nyce – Fittest (Twyce As Nyce) 12. Joe – Claptrap (Hessle Audio) 13. Brackles & Shortstuff – Pipey D (Blunted Robots) 14. Hypno – Sunkin (forthcoming Ramp)
If you’ve followed us on here or over on our associated Quietus Column, you’ll be aware of our bias towards the Wigflex imprint but the forthcoming WF004 by former Sonic Router mix giver and rude boy techno master, The Hizatron, definitely carves its own niche. Full of squeals and bubbling leads that fumble around the pummeling 4 four kick drum on the A side, ‘Telescope Dope,’ it’s the forgotten EP we couldn’t live without. ‘Executive Ball Scratcher’ on the flip harnesses the lower frequencies of bass pressure with huge stabs permeating the multicolour drunken melodies, epitomizing the stylistic approach of the HZA man perfectly, before ‘Klondyke’ then descends into saw tooth propelled darkness.
After his low key announcement on dubstepforum recently, we tracked down Wigflex boss Spamchop, to discuss WF004 and the end of his Nottingham club night’s summer hiatus.
Sonic Router: It’s been a little bit quiet for Wigflex over the summer. What’s been going down? What have you been up to?
Spam Chop: It has been a little quiet, I guess it's because Nottingham becomes a bit of a ghost town in the summer, what with the student's going home and people going to festival's/holiday… We don't really put any nights on as it would be hard to fill the venue we are at. We have launched a Wigflex night up in Manchester though and had MCDE, Actress, Darkstar, Cooly G and Deep Teknologi pass through the basement of Sound Control so far. I'm looking forward to next couple of guest's we have booked for these sessions a lot!
Your coming back strong with a new EP from Hizatron. Tell us a little bit about that in your own words? What made you want to come back with that?
I just love the tunes really; it’s that trippy filth that Hiza's so good at making. I’ve been playing these out for a while now and they always get a good reaction in clubs, so it just made sense these would be the next release.
Hizatron – Telescope Dope [Wigflex]
Hizatron – Executive Ball Scratcher [Wigflex]
Hizatron – Klondyke [Wigflex]
What else is coming up for the label? That Metaphi LP done up yet? Hahahaha…
Hehe, yeah man it’s ready and it’s rather good if I do say so myself! That’ll be Wigflex 005… After that we have a Lone tune coming out and an album by Taylor.
So the nights are back on in Notts... what/who have you got coming up?
We have some big lineups planned for autumn in Nottingham as well as up in Manchester. I’m currently creating some collectable fliers with cut out Wigflex character nets on the front for these events… We are going to run some sort of competition for our favorite photo of these toys I get back, not sure what the prize will be yet mind.....
October 22nd @ Stealth Nottingham
James Holden, Luke Abbott, Ikonika, Untold, Cooly G, Pariah, Kavsrave, Lone, Spam Chop, Metaphi, Erra, Spare
November 6th @ Sound Control Manchester
Roman Flugel, Spam Chop, Taylor
November 19th @ Stealth Nottingham
Jamie XX, Joy Orbison, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Hudson Mohawke, James Blake, Jackmaster, Lone, Spam Chop, Hizatron
The name Crackazat first came up in conversation with Rekordah. A Bristol native Cracka had a remix on the 7” that Rekordah put out on the Spanish Lo Fi Funk label, refixing ‘Cherry Coke’ into a slow mo house haze of pulsing synthesizers. One that incidentally perfectly soundtracks a wandering mind pumped full of 500mg co-codamol tablets. Also featuring on the Astro:Dynamics album, his name cropped up again on ‘Party In The Clouds,’ where he displayed a unique talent for supplementing his beats with the kind of knowing boogie and production panache you’d expect from a seasoned vet.
Straddling the slower tempos with an skewed and accomplished pomp he's a young talent and a player whose output we’re watching out for with a close very close eye and he just put together our 54th Sonic Router Mix.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Crackazat: I'm a producer, arranger and musician. I grew up in Bristol. I moved to London in 2007 to study jazz at university. Now I teach, play and compose electronic and acoustic music.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Outside of producing, I work as a bassist and I compose for my own ensembles. I teach instrumentally and run music workshops.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?
I started tap dancing to jazz when I was very young. When I was 14, I started making music on guitar, and recording on my computer. My brother played drums, and we started a band. Shortly after, I started making beats on my PC.
Through music, I can be myself and deliver my messages.
Crackazat – Loop De Loop
What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?
I use a mixture of synths, samples, and live recordings. My favourite bit of kit in the studio, is the simple ability to record and loop ideas. I like the idea of composing with loops, and building on an idea; using layers; it’s like being your own audience. Acting and reacting, almost simultaneously.
Where do you take inspiration from when making music? What influences what you make?
I take inspiration when I'm listening to others. I listen to who they are, and what they are saying. If I'm moved by the experience, if it resonates with me, I take inspiration from it.
You had a beat on the awesome Astro:Dynamics compilation and you remixed Rekordah on his 7” for Lo Fi Funk. Without limiting you to this ‘beats’ context, what can people expect from your music? To me there’s a bit more of a boogie element to it…
Absolutely. House, funk, soul, boogie, samba, jazz…. It’s all in there. I guess this beat/electronic movement has opened up the platform for electronic musicians; especially now that everyone has a computer and a music program. Everyone’s including all their influences, all their character.
As for myself, yes, I am particularly fond of the boogie funk.
What other projects have you got in the pipeline?
My next release will be an EP, which I am releasing with Rekordah on his Astro:Dynamics Label. We are both very excited about it.
Tell us a little bit about the mix you turned in for us…
I certainly enjoyed making the mix. It explores various downtempo musics and mellow funk. As well some new ones of mine, I've included some unreleased material from two great producers, Type Sun and Linkling.
1. Erroll Garner – Stormy Weather 2. Koushik – Morning Comes 3. Skalpel – So Far 4. Lukid – Saddlebags 5. Super Smoky Soul – Compromise (Original Mix) 6. Flako – Hump 7. Sam Irl & Dorian Concept - Untitled One 8. Moo – Spacetravelin' 9. Slope Ft Capitol A – In The Mix 10. Crackazat Ft Evergreen – Flight 11. The Clonious – Emora 12. Louis Bordeaux – Ecstasy 13. Mr Beatnick ft Ahu – I Know All The Bitches (Bullion rmx) 14. Type Sun – Untitled (album draft) 15. Iinkling – Hiliya 16. Crackazat – Hermeto (Tribute Groove)
It’s easy to end up with a spot of tunnel vision when you’re locked to the constant shifting of sounds and styles going on in a scene, so when I say Jam City’s anthemic refix of Endgames’ ‘Ecstasy’ is hotly anticipated, it’s hard to really gauge whether that excitement spreads beyond the borders of the usual Night Slugs/UK bass followers. Still, it ought to – while the track’s been doing the rounds on dubplate for what feels like an age now, it’s just as good as it was when it first started appearing in mixes from Bok Bok, Greena and the rest of the London crew.
The first thing that strikes when needle hits wax is just how stripped-back and lo-fi Jam City’s production sounds. It was initially tempting to write off its canned feel as a product of the low bitrate mixes it appeared in, but placed alongside the highly buffed sheen of everything else coming out at the moment, ‘Ecstasy Refix’ stands out as a maverick and entirely successful experiment. It helps that its percussion is perfectly pitched - 808 hits rattle around the mix, seemingly in a hundred different places at once. Played off against the hypnotic repetition of its maddeningly catchy central motif the overall effect is one of stasis, of having to run flat out just to stay in the same place. If that sounds like strange praise, it’s probably not quite doing justice to the jittery, adrenal feel of the whole thing, or its compulsively twitchy charm.
On the flipside, JC offers another pair of reimaginings: a venomous house refix of DJ Deeon’s ‘Let Me Bang’, replete with an insistent drum hook – clearly an emerging trademark – and an odd but very interesting Wiley-styled ‘Devil Mix’ of DJ Bone’s ‘Shut The Lights Off’. Considering the unrelenting nature of Bone’s own productions, its spaced out eski-stylings come as a surprise, but a welcome one. Once again it relies on a central hook around which to hang incremental change – in this case an abrasive, grinding sub – and burns itself out over four airy minutes, and rounds out a 12" that may well be the best Night Slugs have yet put out there. It's certainly their finest white label so far, and to be honest if you haven't managed to snag a copy by now it might well already be too late. Still, it's well worth the effort to track down.
PTN are seemingly very much ‘on it’ right now; the freshly minted offshoot of Ramp Recordings specializes in the house orientated heaters that have been heating up the wider, for want of a better word, bass music scene. With previous releases from 'Elevator Music' earmarked artists like Hackman, Doc Daneeka and Hypno the label’s 4th release stems from Breach, the house alter ego of producer Ben Westbeech, and the tribal anthem ‘Fatherless.’ Having worked dancefloors over for what seems like months it was only recently confirmed the tune would be seeing wax on PTN and Breach’s mix for Mary Anne Hobb’s Radio 1 show only cemented the appeal of this new wave of Westbeech’s productions.
It’s the raw physical power the simple elements of the hard hitting tribal drum workouts combining with the looping flute phrases that make ‘Fatherless’ such an instantly gratifying tune. It keeps rolling and rolling pretty relentlessly the booming kicks, snare splashes with the tribal percussion you can pretty much sing-along to never letting up, making it a lot more powerful in the mix than on a solo listen. The icing on the cake though, is the quick fire sample declaring the mantra “Fatherless,” playfully pitched it pipes up on the offbeat, providing a knowing call to the dance.
The much in demand Doc Daneeka brings the original’s almost dubstep sounding lilt, given the prominence of the bassline and super simplistic layer arrangement, further into house territory with a four four kick, relentless fizzling snares and pulsing bassline. It doesn’t add that much but it doesn’t detract either, conveying that slightly different vibe Daneeka’s excelling in of late, perfectly. The b-side cut ‘Man Up’ is a subtler production from Westbeech but its just as tribal, looping chants and swirling tabla’s that get twisted out of all proportion and really bring the energy rush before the drop.
The A side is pure dance floor fire; and even though it’s been rinsed for an incredibly long time, it’s still as big, brash and seriously addictive as it was when you first heard it.
Despite the runaway dancefloor success of Martin Kemp’s brilliantly oddball releases on Blunted Robots, there has been comparatively little of the same sort of stuff appearing from other sources. It could well be because Kemp’s take on broken house is a delicate kind of alchemy, and one that’s difficult to replicate outside of optimum laboratory conditions. It’s certainly true that the tricky sense of swing and timing that makes ‘No Charisma’ and ‘What U Got’ so fiendishly addictive – and impossible to avoid dancing to – is a tough balancing act, and one that very few have managed to match. Cooly G’s new 12” for Hyperdub is one contender, though both ‘Phat Si’ and ‘Up In My Head’ are still tied to a far more traditional house template. DVA’s upcoming Hyperdub release again touches on similar territory, but so far this new release from Bowly is the closest anyone’s yet come to matching the unique tension between rigidity and flexibility that marks out Kemp’s tunes.
Bowly’s not entirely there, in the sense that both tracks still pivot around a recognisable house pulse, but they aim for something else entirely. With its slow pace and delicate conga rolls, ‘Bleeps’ is a slightly more contemplative take on the UK funky sounds Geiom’s recently been putting out, hitting similar humid notes as ‘Sugar Coated Lover’ or the best of Hackman’s music. ‘Idee D’un Tropique’ is the more interesting thing here though, and it’s a fantastically supple track, riding off a broken beat that seems to contort into a thousand different shapes over the course of its five-minute runtime. What’s most enjoyable about both these tracks though is how strongly they remain connected to the evolutionary lineage of UK bass music – you can hear grime’s heatshocked synths exploding in the backdrop of ‘Idee’, and the descending chords of ‘Bleeps’ are straight out of the first wave of funky. But alongside the likes of Cooly G, Kemp and Hackman they’re breezily unconcerned with where they end up along the way, and all the better for it.
T.Williams’ first EP on the freshly minted Local Action label is still a personal favourite; with Mr. Williams rolling on a dark, teched out stompy flex that gets pretty addictive considering the insistent nature of his pounding kick drums. After the last two releases on Deep Teknologi from Zander Hardy and J.Bevin, both maintaining the quality levels of his own output, the label boss steps up with a three track EP all of his own that picks up where the Local Action EP left off, evolving into something that could easily slay a bigger room dance.
Opening with ‘Chop & Screw’ we walk right into peak time on some hazy Ibiza dance floor; bumpy disco and funk loops building like a filter house track – a trick you wouldn’t necessarily expect to hear on a dark edged UK funky release. At first it’s a bit awkward, seemingly a little hard to get on board with; but when the beats drop into that punchy, rolling rhythm with the deep flexing bassline and skittish snare hits, it’s hard not to lose yourself in it.
Things get darker with the rest of the EP, ‘Hard Cash’ and ‘In The Deep’ sound like they’ve been carved out of heavy summer heat, shaking themselves free from a dense haze of dubbed-out bass frequencies. The basslines on both of these get thing moving; ‘Hard Cash’ pulses and drones until unleashing deadly down turning rave stabs and ‘In The Deep’ has an impressive pulsing funk to it. Maybe its Williams’ grimy side coming out again but both of these are dark with a restrained swagger that means business.
T.Williams - Chop & Screw [forthcoming Deep Teknologi]
The importance of pirate radio stations in London has been frequently documented, with the impact of these small pockets of fiercely original producers and DJs pushing their own sounds out over the vast expanse of the city; sitting pretty between frequencies on your FM dial. Rinse FM is without doubt the most influential former pirate station to broadcast in London; starting 16 years ago as a primarily jungle station its constantly provided an outlet for British underground music, housing legendary shows that featured appearances from people like Skream, Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal and Wiley – whose Ustream binge has kept us locked to our screens for most of today even though he’s done very little –giving them and a whole host of other incredible DJs and shows a global audience when the station harness the power of the internet and began broadcasting online.
As should be common knowledge by now, earlier this year Rinse was awarded an FM license, something the station have been pushing for since mid 2007 - something Dan Hancox described more eloquently than I ever could in a piece for the Guardian newspaper - so it comes as something of a double celebration that the station’s 16th Birthday party is happening next Friday at fabric in London, with something of an epic lineup – just peep the flyer below.
Rinse have been giving away an exclusive mp3 every day over at the site with the promise of delivering a full 16 tracks before the event itself on Friday 10th September. So far producers like Roska, Bok Bok, Zinc, ScratchaDVA and more have dropped peaches for nothing, just the price of a couple of cursor clicks. You can go here for a handy run down of the downloads or keep an eye on Rinse’s twitter for up to the second updates.
So... in celebration of the FM broadcast license and their 16th anniversary – which the internet tells me should be celebrated with the giving of silver holloware or the gemstone peridot - we’ve been given the honour of giving away two pairs of tickets to the event, with one lucky winner obtaining the bonus prize of an exclusive ‘I Am 16’ t-shirt (pictured here).
To be in the running simply email us the answer to the following question by the end of play next Wednesday.
Q: Who mixed the latest Rinse compilation, Rinse 12?
Please note: The winner will be notified by email on Thursday. Please make sure you can attend the event before entering.
As besotted as we got with Dynooo’s beats around the time of our Sonic Router mix with him things fell a little quiet in the aftermath, with us having to stay content listening to his gun sound percussion on repeat. With that said the Belgian producer has today linked us with the exclusive download rights to his reworking of Craig David’s ‘Rewind’ which was one of the highlights of our early Hivemind.fm shows.
His Mac Fly imprint is curating a night at Nijdrop on the 10th September in his native Belgium featuring Mike Slott and Dimlite with support coming from a special combo set from Dynooo himself and beat sparring partner Cupp Cave alongside Richard Colvaen (whose beats stood a mile out on Dynooo’s SR mix) and Sagat. For more info on that go here.
Look out for more info on his new projects as soon as we get it...
With a healthy heritage and background in drum & bass, Icicle's music at the slower dubstep tempo retains alot of the hallmarks he's become reliable for: interesting atmospherics, tough drums and mammoth bass lines that work soundsystems properly and with vigour. After releasing his debut brooding dubstep 12" on Friction's Shogun Audio imprint we got wind of his inclusion on Tempa's forthcoming Dubstep Allstars 6 EP - where he appears alongside luminaries like SBTRKT and FaltyDL alongside people like Benga and Skream - and after a quick investigation it was obvious that his newer productions showed more than a hell of a lot of promise, sitting effortlessly in the midst of such established company.
So... in an attempt to shed light on what we felt was some of the weightiest and spacious, ominously moody dubstep to hit SR HQ's speakers in a while, we caught up with the London based Dutchman, who in turn provides the wider internet with our 53rd Sonic Router Mix.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
My name is Jeroen Snik aka Icicle. I’m from Eindhoven in Holland but moved to London 2 years ago because of music. I’m predominantly known for making and DJing drum & bass and am signed to DJ Friction’s Shogun Audio label. I’ve been making techno and dubstep for a long time also and have just started putting that out there more.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Outside of music there isn’t a lot going on right now. I’ve studied mechanical engineering but put that on hold when the music took off for me a few years ago. I moved to London and decided to put all my time to the music and give myself a couple of years to just follow it and do it right.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?
I started playing piano at a really young age and a bit later the drums as well. When I was about nine or ten or something I remember getting this massive old Casio keyboard from my grand parents with built in drum tracks and loads of different voices and I started recording myself jamming with a little tape player. Then when I found out you could use computers to program music I was hooked and never looked back.
What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?
I’ve got a mac based studio running Logic and I rewire Reason into it for certain elements of my tunes. I’ve got a motu feeding the industry standard Mackie hr824’s, 2 valve compressors to beef up beats and a Mackie desk. A Roland sh-101 because it’s just too much fun, not because it’s actually essential to my sound. But my favourite thing has got to be my SSL Duende, the channel EQ’s from it are so brilliantly transparent and precise, you can make everything sound crisp.
Icicle - Minimal Dub [Shogun Audio]
You’ve recently started making dubstep stuff after along time doing d&b… How did you get into this current flux of dubstep?
Well, it’s more like I’ve (relatively) recently decided to send some of my stuff to some people in dubstep, I have been listening to it and making it for years. I just found solely putting out d&b wouldn’t keep me happy in the long run, after all there are so many great styles of music why limit yourself to just one. Drum & bass will always be special to me and the backbone of my sound, but ultimately I would love to just be known as a producer of good electronic music and get out of the pigeonhole.
How would you describe your sound? You just had a 12” out on Shogun Audio that shows the new direction… it seems like you’re heavily vibed out on DMZ/Kryptic Minds kind of slow brooding stuff… would that be right to presume?
I am definitely into the DMZ/Kryptic/Headhunter etc. sound and I guess my stuff that’s floating around now draws from that a lot; in a way though it’s just a slowed down version of my 170 sound. I am also very influenced by techno and want to explore the dub techno side of it all a bit more in the future also.
Do you think the energy of 170 bpm music translates into what you’re doing now or is it something completely different?
I personally look at it as very similar music but the fundamental difference is that, with d&b, you have the intense energy and with dubstep you trade that for sonic space. In other words, drum & bass Is the more hyped, and dubstep is the more spacious and detailed side of essentially the same dark deep and sub driven sound palette.
Where do you take inspiration from when making music?
Other great music, new pieces of kit, collaborations and deadlines… I always find it so pretentious when people that make lyric-less music say life etc haha. I wouldn’t know how to turn making a piece of toast in the morning into a hi-hat pattern.
You’ve got a cut, ‘Anything,’ featured on the next Tempa Allstars release. Tell us about that… and how does it feel to be in such esteemed company – Skream, FaltyDL, SBTRKT etc…?
It’s great to see it finally come out; Tempa signed that tune about a year ago now. The whole EP is very much to my liking, its great to be a part of it. And to be on the flip side of what in my opinion is Skream’s baddest tune in a while; ‘Rolling Kicks’ is icing on the cake!
What other projects have you got in the pipeline? What’s happening with you in the rest of 2010? Gigs, releases, personal growth etc?
The big project right now is my debut album forthcoming on Shogun Audio. I’m really close to finishing it and it features d&b, dubstep and techno. Gigs wise, its business as usual. I’m playing dubstep next at Outlook festival the first week of September. When my album is finished I’m going to take a little break from the studio routine make weird music and de-stress for a while.
Tell us a little bit about the mix you turned in for us… What made it so? Are there mad exclusives on there? Etc etc…
Hmm... maybe I was just happy on angel dust. I enjoy doing non-drum & bass mixes though because it’s something I don’t do as much. There are some bits in there definitely. A couple of new and unfinished things by myself some collaboration’s I’ve done and some forthcoming bits by guys like Addison Groove, Untold, Cyrus, Joker D etc.
Over the last couple of years, since the dazzling blast of Ikonika’s ‘Please’ first electrified listeners, the impact of the sort of hyperchromatic fare she’s renowned for putting together has dulled slightly. Its less due to any failings on her part – or on the part of many producers writing tracks within similar regions – than a sense of over familiarity, the deliciously new and alien feel of those early tracks gradually settling down to something approaching a formula. Having said that, out of the many synth driven mutations currently bursting out of dubstep’s cracked exoskeleton Ikonika’s sound retains an intangible brilliance that’s tough to isolate in many of her contemporaries. The muggy, lo-fi feel of her excellent Contact Love Want Have album was a welcome shot of gritty adrenaline, and this follow-up EP on Planet Mu retains many of its traits to much the same effect.
The DCKHDBTCH EP, then, is Ikonika doing what Ikonika does best. Hardly a complaint when what she does is so compulsive, though the tunes here largely fit with the languid flow of the first half of her album than the jet-propelled pace of the final few tracks. The title track will be instantly recognisable to anyone who’s been to see her play in the last year or so, though taken apart from the sheer pace and frenetic energy of her DJ sets it’s a considered move though purple-tinted territory. ‘Ingredients’ is cut from the same cloth, riding off a peculiar broken beat that never really goes anywhere, instead choosing to hang somewhere in space between head and floor. That’s perhaps the one criticism it’s possible to level at the EP – it’s a little tough to figure out where it’s supposed to take you – though as usual her ability to infuse even the most wispy tracks with a real sense of melancholy remains fully intact. Final track ‘Shouldn’t Be Here’ is its real gem then, all muted synth pads and distant vocals over a slow-mo house pulse. It points in an entirely new direction for her music, as it drifts into view and remains for what feels like an all too brief moment before disappearing again.
It’s been pretty hard to ignore the massive expansion in column inches given to the Hotflush label in the last year or so, and certainly since a certain ‘Hyph Mngo’ burst onto the scene. But beyond the obvious big hitters like label boss Scuba, Joy Orbison or Mount Kimbie, the imprint’s success certainly seems to have allowed Paul Rose to branch out further with the artists and sounds he’s supporting. This year, that’s taken the form of a host of special one-offs (tracks like Ation’s wonderful ‘Lover’s Dub’, which crept out with next to no fanfare), but it’s also been seen in the continued output of some of the label’s longer running, but less well-known, artists.
Since the release of his first twelve for the label, ‘Bruised’ b/w ‘Expansions’, in January 2009, James Sigha has been one of its quietest but most prolific sons, putting out three further releases on the Hotflush Two subsidiary since. His latest, the Shake EP, pulls together a typically varied collection of music – the title track is all monochrome, slow and ocean-deep, but ‘Shapes’ is pacier, clocking in somewhere close to that hallowed region where dubstep reaches techno. Its ascetic nature and lack of obvious melodic development has tended to ensure that’s exactly where Sigha’s music tends to be categorised, but over the last year or so it’s felt as though he has finally begun to shed its London exterior to reveal a rapidly pulsing Berlin heart.
They’re certainly a far cry from anything as obvious as build-drop dynamics or catchy vocal hooks, but the four releases he’s clocked up so far have been hypnotically addictive. We caught up with James to find out a little more about how things have been going, and why Sonic Youth still inspire him as much as Marcel Dettmann does.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who might not know you with a bit of background info?
Sigha: I write music and DJ predominantly under the name Sigha. I’m lucky enough to be part of the Hotflush family, and my last EP dropped on Hotflush Two at the end of May.
Outside of music, who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I don’t really do much outside music to be honest. I still work one day a week, but even that’s in a record shop (London's BM Soho), so it’s literally permeated everything I seem to do. I’m starting to paint to give myself some headspace from it really - its good to be passionate, but to escape sometimes would make me a happier person I think.
An average day for me is waking up mid morning, checking my emails in bed, drinking A LOT of coffee and then heading downstairs into the studio. If things are going well in there, that’s where I’ll stay for the majority of the day. If not, I might head out to a gallery, watch a film, read a book, just try and pick up some inspiration really.
You’ve said before that you originally started off playing in bands. What changed your perspective and led to you start making dance music?
I generally don’t find working with other people very easy. The collaboration process itself can be great, especially if you’re writing with a friend, but I think that often the end product is watered down in terms of the original concept, and keeping that pure is something that’s very important to me. When I first started experimenting with electronic music, I was really inspired by the fact that it was just me and a computer, there was no one there to tell me this wouldn’t work, or if I did that it would sound bad. That was really key in shifting my emphasis towards dance music. I could write a whole track by myself, and so was totally free to be as self-indulgent as I liked. At the same time I was going to a lot of warehouse parties at the weekends, and I was hearing sounds I’d never heard before, or at least not in that context. All this came together at the right time and I just fell in love with it as a way of making music.
How did your experience in bands translate across into electronic music? Do you enjoy the difference in process between playing in a band and making music by yourself?
Um, it’s really different. I don’t have to run my ideas past anyone else first, which like I say is a major plus. It’s probably given me an insight into music, both the creative process and sound itself, which I probably wouldn’t have had if I’d started out writing electronica/dance music. I’m fairly solitary, so over all it suits me well.
I do really miss playing live with other people though, the connection you get when you’re jamming and it’s going well is incredible. I miss that a lot. At some point soon I really want to work on a live project.
Do you think that your music as Sigha still takes influence or inspiration from the non-electronic stuff you listen to?
I think so - more obviously in terms of what drives me creatively though, rather than the sound pallet. I listen to bands like My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division and Sonic Youth on a daily basis, more so than any single electronic artist probably. I’m sitting in my kitchen listening to Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' right now. There’s so much raw energy and power, combined with moments of really intense beauty, in what they have done over the years. If I can translate even a small amount of that into what I’m trying to do I’ll be really happy.
What’s your production set-up like?
That would be telling! But it’s nothing too exciting I promise. I’m a big believer in the idea that 'its not what you use, its what you do with it.' I suppose given that I should have no problems revealing all, but I reckon a little bit of mystery is good.
“for me the best music seems to do nothing at all, but somehow manages to hold your attention for its duration.”
There’s a lot of Berlin in your music, but there’s also a lot of London in there. How have the sounds of those two cities inspired your music?
I’ve lived in London all my life, so part of that is always going to be lurking in what I do somewhere. It’s got a great history for music and is a real melting pot of different sounds, so it’s been really inspiring growing up here musically. I think though that I’ve become a little numb to it, just through over familiarity... It’s easy to take what you’ve got for granted. In terms of electronic music, drum ‘n’ bass, garage and dubstep are sounds that run deep here, and they've definitely moved me.
Having said all that, I feel more at home musically in Berlin these days. There’s an amazing creative vibe in the city that’s incredibly inspiring. I suppose it’s because the cheap cost of living has encouraged a kind of artist migration over there. So much great music has come out of that city over the years, and the place itself is magic. East Berlin feels like it’s in this state of slow dilapidation, there’s a sense that everything is decaying which is very beautiful to me.
Marcel Dettmann’s just remixed one of your tracks, and there’s obviously some influence from the Berghain school of techno in your sound. I presume you’ve been to the Berghain - did the club itself and hearing techno in that kind of environment change your perspective on your music?
Berghain seems to be at the center of this revival in techno at the moment. It’s brought together some very talented likeminded artists and DJs, which has been really important to give people a focal point I think. Before I’d even been to Berghain, I already had a very strong impression of what it was and what it would be like inside. They've created a really powerful brand with the club, which is definitely helped by the no photos rule and strict door policy. Everything about it seems to go hand-in-hand with the music it represents, which only serves to heighten the experience for a techno lover. I don’t think there’s another club in the world you can get quite so lost in both figuratively and literally. I was listening to, playing and writing techno before I visited the club, but hearing Dettmann play for four hours at eight in the morning was a real eye opener for me. Obviously his sets are legendary, but it was the crowd that really blew me away. The place was packed and full of energy on Sunday lunchtime - that isn’t something you can find in the UK week-in-week-out. That really made me think, ‘I’m in the wrong city’.
Your sound is really stripped back and lean, with little in the way of obvious melodic development. Is that a style you specifically aim for, or is it just the way it seems to come out?
I’m not a big fan of anything too obvious in music. I try to create soundscapes that are really immersive and that the listener can really get lost in. For me, when I write and listen, music is about introspection, and big melodies always seem to get in the way of that. Development of a track in general is something I’m really particular about - for me the best music seems to do nothing at all, but somehow manages to hold your attention for its duration. I suppose that’s what I’m aiming for. There is something in UK bass-oriented club music that is very extrovert, from the way the tracks are constructed, with huge emphasis on the impact of the drop, to the individual sounds used. I’m fairly introverted and have always like my music 'eyes down' so to speak, so that comes out in my own tracks I guess.
Your tracks, especially the slower ones like ‘Rawww’ and ‘Shake’, have that weird ability techno has to put people into a trancelike, dreamlike state. Is conveying that sort of mood something you consciously work towards?
Music is a really powerful thing. I just mentioned the UK’s obsession with impact, and that in itself can deliver a huge buzz when it’s done right. But personally I love the otherworldly feeling that good techno or house can bring. Repetitive rhythms actually cause your brain to produce serotonin - and what’s more repetitive than a four-four beat, right? To immerse yourself completely in the music and the feeling of hundreds of people around you sharing this experience is truly amazing. So yes, after all that, it’s definitely something I bear in mind while writing. Maybe it’s the most important thing, in fact.
You obviously have a connection with dubstep and garage, especially in your earlier Hotflush releases, but recently the techno and house influences in your sound seem to have moved further to the fore. Has that been an intentional shift?
Since my first release with Hotflush I think that it’s been a really natural move from one side of the dubstep/techno divide to the other for me. ‘Bruised’, for instance, was totally influenced by a Dettmann track specifically that I was playing again and again at the time. I couldn’t find anything that was 'dubstep' but had that same vibe, so I tried to write what I was looking for. People seemed to pick up on those influences and noticed the Berlin references in the track. Now with tunes like ‘Rawww’ and ‘Shake’ the tempos dropped, and they are both out-and-out techno tracks, but people have pointed out UK dubstep and garage influences throughout both of those tunes.
I think I’ll always have that connection to dubstep and garage in my sound - as I mentioned earlier, living in London it’s hard not to - but Sigha has grown very organically into a techno project. To start writing dubstep (whatever that is now) or garage would feel like a step back rather than forward. That’s not taking anything away from either of these styles at all, I mean in terms of my own personal development. I’m still writing dubstep under a different alias, and I’m going to be pushing that more over the next twelve months.
What are you listening to/watching/reading/etc at the moment that’s really inspiring you?
I’ve been reading a lot of Ernest Hemingway and Christopher Isherwood recently. They both have a beautifully simple and engaging style of writing. I’m a massive fan of sci-fi, Philip K Dick particularly. 'Valis' is one of my favourite books of all time. I’ve just re-read Ian Bank's 'The Wasp Factory' as well. I think in terms of books, film, art etc, I like things that make me think differently.
I’ve become a bit obsessed with watching physics documentaries right now. I’ve always been awful at science, and have no idea what they are talking about; but that’s what I love about it, that sense that there are these huge fundamentals that are just out of my reach. It’s a feeling that’s really hard to put into words, but that is what inspires me more than anything.
Your music’s got quite a cinematic feel – are you influenced by films at all?
Totally, films like Solaris or The Fountain, that again seem to suggest something intangible just out of sight, or are really, really depressing, haha. Something like Requiem for a Dream for instance - it’s so dark and bleak, but intensely beautiful as well. I don’t know where I’m getting that sense of beauty from, everyone I’ve spoken to about this seems to think I’m nuts, but to me it’s a heart-wrenchingly beautiful film.
More so than most other labels, Scuba seems to have pulled together an incredibly diverse but very like-minded set of musicians on Hotflush. When I spoke to Dom Kimbie about it the other week he described it as being more of a movement than a label. It must be inspiring to be a part of such an exciting musical community?
Yeah, I think he’s hit the nail on the head there really. It’s a really great thing to be a part of, I feel very lucky and proud, but it can feel pretty intimidating too! Mount Kimbie, those guys are so talented it’s crazy. To be on a roster alongside guys like that, Scuba, Joy Orbison, it’s pretty intense. I feel really lucky that Paul’s got such an open mind too. You mentioned earlier how my sound has developed over the last year and a half - I doubt that I would have had the scope to push out in the direction I wanted to on many other labels. He’s built a great thing in the label, and I feel blessed to be a small part of it!
What projects have you got in the pipeline for the future? Any imminent things coming up?
The main project I’m working on right now is the launch of my own label, 'Our Circula Sound.' The first release will be out in August, with a Dettmann remix of my own 'Early Morning Lights' and a new track by myself called 'Over The Edge' on the flip. The site is still in development but should be up soon, so keep checking www.ourcirculasound.com if you’re interested. I’ve got some big things planned for the imprint, so watch this space basically!
Apart from that I’ve just finished a remix for Commix's Re:Call To Mind LP on Metalheadz, and am working on more for Kevin Gorman’s Microwave label and Echochord. I’m starting to think about a larger scale Sigha project as well, and planning the next few 12”s.
Keeping busy, basically…
Any words of wisdom for our readers?
Stay true to yourself, Do what makes you happy. And buy my music.
Seems like German record label !K7 have been commissioning some really insightful remixes of Jimmy Edgar to promote the release of his new album 'XXX' as fresh of the back of the Machinedrum rework we posted on last month they've dropped us the Instra:mental rework to give away.
Instra:mental of course are a duo of producers pushing the deep, spacious half time drum & bass through their NonPlus label and their heavily analog take on dubstep tempoed music released on respected labels like Apple Pips and [nakedlunch]. Reportedly the final 2 'layers' in their and dBridge's Autonomic podcast series are due imminently too - keep an eye on http://club-autonomic.com for those to drop.
The latest release on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint is a four track double pack from one of their finest new signings V.I.V.E.K. It comes on the back of his first Medi release last year ‘Kulture’ b/w ‘Meditation Rock’ and countless dubplates that you’ll no doubt have heard if you’ve checked the Anti Social Entertainment on Rinse FM. Fusing digidub, soundsystem deep bass, rolling percussion, a hint of Berlin techno it all adds up to those ‘Medi’ style vibes; eyes down, blissed out, heavy weight music.
The title track, ‘Feel It’ kicks things off in fine style with some of the most infectious rolling tablas - his percussion is just sublime. A vocal sample declaring the weight of your bass and the largeness of your soundsystem is all the track needs to usher in a chest thumping sub sonic bass tone and there is no way back you’re sucked into that soup of sub bass frequencies. ‘Grandfather Clock’ counts down to a dance floor meltdown when the metronome-like sample, half tempo drum patterns and hefty bass melts into blazing techno buzzes that just keep coming, it’s those killer synths that make it, truly coming from nowhere.
The deeply blissful ‘Motherland’ is one for the meditative crew, subtle but weighty bass pulses roll off half stepping rhythms, tablas and all that good stuff all accented with Indian vocals instrumentation. It’s so deep, minimal it would make Youngsta proud. The final track ‘Strategy’ is a roller with a garage kind of swing to it, it skips along with big room dub techno chords twisting in and out of the bumpy beats it really comes alive and picks up the pace.
Sonic Router contributor Rory Gibb has taken the reigns over at the respected music portal, Drowned In Sound, this week, putting together a series of articles on a decade of dubstep. Already featuring an interview with FaltyDL, and opinion pieces documenting the rise of Skull Disco and the scene in general he's put together a mix chronicalling the genesis of our main squeeze.
