Black Barrel: Labyrinth EP
Dispatch Recordings
Sustance: Kaiten EP
Dispatch Recordings
Fresh beats from Dispatch Recordings. Up first, the five-track Kaiten EP is the first outing on the label from Sustance, though earlier material by the London-based producer appeared last year on Dispatch LTD, Vandal, and Invisible Recordings. Kaiten's an unusual affair in that a powerful soulful quality permeates two tracks, whereas the other three register as dark, lazer-focused drum'n'bass workouts. If the EP exudes a rather lethal vibe, it's likely intentional; we're talking, after all, about a release whose choice of title (plus a sample) came about when Sustance, decompressing after a long studio session, happened upon an old documentary about torpedoes used by Japanese suicide bombers in the war.
The title track's an undeniably artful stepper whose thudding kick drums and hi-hat swizzle argue strongly on behalf of Sustance's production acumen. As body-moving are “Dark Dreams,” a rouser bolstered by swirls of atmospheric effects and vocal touches, and “Gundem,” a ragga-tinged dynamo elevated by bold echo and vocal treatments. As mentioned, two cuts accentuate Sustance's soulful side. Had Burial decided to create drum'n'bass rather than garage, the result might have sounded like “No Love Lost,” a deep, late-night trawl through city streets drenched in rain drizzle and haunted by melancholic vocal musings. Soulful also but less suggestive of Burial is the aptly titled “Soul In the System,” which neatly works an emotive vocal element in amongst a head-rushing drum'n'bass pulse.
Also new is the four-cut (one, “Time Tombs,” a digital bonus) Labyrinth EP from Black Barrel, a twenty-five-year-old Russian producer who calls St. Petersburg home. Though tech-funk and minimalism are key parts of his arsenal, Labyrinth isn't as stripped-down as such a description might imply: its material stimulates the synapses with a non-stop barrage of detail, never more so than during the remarkable title track. A dramatic mood-shifter, the cut ricochets rapidly between flickering electronic treatments, squelchy bass gurglings, and soulful vocal yelps, all of it powered by a lightspeed pulse and oscillations happening so fast you're left scurrying to keep up.
With Gusto aboard, “Seeing Explosives” opens the set with an explosive groove and writhing bass throb leading the way; atmospheric textures are threaded in amongst the high-velocity pulse and vocal flourishes, the sum-total an energized exercise in tech-funk design. Almost as captivating as the title track, “Shrike” dazzles the ear with a non-stop flow of unusual sound treatments, including wipes, smears, babblings, and pretty much anything else you might imagine. If Labyrinth adheres a little more strictly to experimental drum'n'bass than Kaiten, it's no less effective for doing so when the level of stimulation is so high and unrelenting.April 2018