April has seen the sun push its UV rays back into the lives of many a Londoner and after a good few months in hiding its welcome return seems to have brought a whole crate of upfront and exceptional releases to the fore. With emphatic returns from Starkey, Ramadanman and TRG (all be it under his new CosminTRG moniker) the dancefloor is looking like a pretty ominous place to aim your tunes at the moment, but a few of the newer producers are bringing their worth and staking a claim right from the off.
One such producer is Blawan; snapped up by Ramadanman, Pangaea and Ben UFO for the 13th release on their co-run Hessle Audio label. Information on the lad is minimal other than a geographical reference to his South Yorkshire base. His fractured drum workouts kind of speak for themselves though with ‘Fram’ fusing a stick heavy drum break against ascending muddy synths in a similar way to something Actress might’ve done on his swampified ‘Hazyville’ LP. The flip ‘Iddy’ works more with a broken drum palette as the echoes and clunks of his drum lines bubble and force movement. Once you’ve heard it a few times his tunes sound effortlessly ‘Hessle;’ considering that it’s a debut release, the quality of drum build and prevalence of the sub low bass are impeccable, with the synth touches just hinting at an atmosphere, remaining withdrawn and forcing the rhythm to be the main focus.
Meanwhile Hessle affiliate’s James Blake returns with an astounding EP, ‘CMYK,’ on the much heralded R&S imprint and Joe has finally unleashed details of his next 12” release, following up last year’s ‘Grimelight’ b/w ‘Rut’ platter with a duo of similarly sculpted tunes for Appleblim’s blossoming Apple Pips label. ‘Digest’ and an untitled beat really build upon the slow broiled creeper aspect of Joe’s Hessle release, becoming more and more infectious the more you hear them. I mean ‘Grimelight’ is still an SR staple after all this time and when you consider the frequency and volume of new tracks the fact that it still stands out against some amazing productions is nothing short of a big feat. Joe’s Apple Pips tune’s minimality is also a key hook; driving drums, thick voluptuous bass and soft touches of synthesized pads or snatches of delayed samples are the only components and the tunes lend themselves beautifully to the blend.
Al Tourettes, an Apple Pips alumnus himself, is also reappearing on the dew dappled horizon with a single on Wedge’s Bristol run If Symptoms Persist label, following up work from Wedge and Gatekeeper. If you’re unfamiliar with Al’s work it’s hard to describe without sounding like you’re quoting from a catalogue of genres but he manages to bring a little of that drum machine stomp from electro, with the bass stabs of techno and the polyrhythms of electronica at the pace of dubstep. Yep, he’s somewhat of a descriptive clusterfuck but his tunes are endlessly impressive. A side ‘When I Rest I Rust’ is a rolling technoid workout propelled by Al’s unique sense of rhythm as he works on beat bass stabs with scattershot drum lines, extreme shards of reverb and distinctly unsettling atmospherics. The B side ‘The Next Meal’ is more the ‘traditional’ dubstep track as he wobbles bass notes in that tried and tested Benga style but covering it in such a pure electro beat, that it shares similarities with the old time DMX Krew era artists then anyone releasing on Tempa.
Rinse FM’s breakfast show host and purveyor of some of the most insistent and worm-themselves-in-your-head funky tracks of late, ScratchaDVA, is also back on his fifth release on the DVA label. Containing self produced cuts, the mind melting ‘New World Order’ whose bass literally pummels you into submission and the bouncier ‘Schizophrenic’ which feels like grime’s sense of humour finally made it to the dancefloor in one piece, it also features a Bakongo remix of Soule:Power’s ‘Lost’ and S.chu’s ‘Quick Foot’ which takes the plate even further into dance territory with the tribal rhythms keeping things skewed and primitive.
Leeds based producer Hackman, one of the artists featured on fabric’s ‘Elevator Music’ compilation back at the start of the year, is hitting out with his second release after the Well Rounded label – those chaps partly responsible for the meteoric rise of Deadboy – put out his ‘Bodies’ 12” earlier this month. Shifting Peaks, a new label based in rural Devon, are entering the retail world with the ‘Always EP,’ and personally the female vocal on the A side is a little too much, oft repeating the lead phrase and in all honesty distracting from Hackman’s impressive melodised percussion. Handy then that they’ve included the instrumental, along with another Hackman built roller, ‘Multicultural,’ that sounds like a flowery carnival before the bass shards attack. Blunted Robot, Brackles pops up on remix duties too, manipulating ‘Always’ in his own characteristic organ splicing, breathy snares kind of way – a trait shared with his recent one sided 12” for the Brainmath label ‘6am El Gordos.’
Brackles also pops up remixing the debut single ‘What It Is’ by the mysterious West Norwood Cassette Library. In similar style to James Fox’s break out anthem ‘Put It Back,’ ‘What It Is,’ repeats the title phrase at optimum times whilst the undercurrent gets peppered by playfully pitched Shortstuff style percussion, and sheets of swathing synths. Brackles’ remix puts it more in house template, slowing the beat down to reveal a bit of space which he colours in with swirls of down bent computer funk.
Returning for their second split single the Infrasonics imprint again display a duo of productions from the Berlin based Ike Release who seems to be really coming into his own of late blending the rung atmospherics with skipping garage beats on ‘Iridescent,’ before he takes it deeper into his adopted country’s native territory for the Scuba-esque home made percussion of ‘Nature Manipulation.’ Manchester producer xxxy, the 2nd of the discussed artists to have been included on ‘Elevator Music,’ also marks himself out further one to keep an eye on, unleashing the simplistic but infectious plod of highlight ‘Blue Flashing Lights’ that unfurls into a deeply bassy roller beneath the 8 bit chords.
Our favourite Canadian drum funketeer XI returns this coming month too, launching the Orca Recordings label with the ominous ‘The Ghost,’ which makes perfect use of the snare on the 3rd beat drum pattern positively thumping out the accent whilst the delayed vocal sample intertwines with the blooping bassline. Backed with a Headhunter refix that emphasises the power of the beat by teaming it with a descending and expertly EQed bassline, getting you right and centre in the chest every time, it’s obvious Orca are coming with taste and from the whispers of forthcoming artists and tunes that last statement ain’t a floosy by any measure.
The energetic side of dubstep is getting a good going over too with new producers like Swindle and SRC stepping up to bring a bit of that loud and brash, grime style attitude back to the dancefloor. SRC’s ‘Gold Coinz’ EP is forthcoming on Numbers demonstrating that he’s got more to his bow than computer games samples (though he utilizes them incredibly well on ‘Fantasy Mix’ and ‘Lemsip’) coming brashy with the eponymous track and the 808 infused ‘Brakedance.’ Swindle’s ‘Airmiles’ EP is due shortly on Planet Mu and takes that upfront force of Joker’s latest and greatest beats (see ‘Molly’) and properly fuses them with that anything goes/don’t give a fuck Terror Danjah attitude on beats like ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Coffee.’
And finally, it’s finally official that Guido’s ‘Anidea’ album will materialize in shops and download stores come the end of this coming month. Harbouring the breakout rhythms that made him so well observed in 2009 – beats like ‘Beautiful Complication,’ Orchestral Lab’ and ‘The Way U Make Me Feel’ – these 12 tracks really do mark him out as something special. Whilst some of his drum sounds might sound a bit cheap or purposefully primitive in places it’s the varying melodic hooks he employs that should be constantly be [re]focused on. Tunes like ‘Cat in The Window,’ ‘Tango,’ ‘Woke Up Early,’ and ‘You Do It Right’ epitomise the press’ recent obsession and ever repeated love for the ‘purple’ sound of Bristol: full of bass, endlessly colourful yet Masonic and hypnotic when played loud on a big rig. ‘Anidea’ is furiously inventive in terms of ideas; ‘Mad Sax’ is hide and tail above 80% of beats in this vein that have been released to date, with its epic porn soundtrack horns signalling Guido’s second coming kind of poignantly.
Words: Oli Marlow for Sonic Router
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