Dub Head: Template EP
Dispatch LTD
VA: Bassment Beats Vol. 3 EP
Translation Recordings
Anyone wondering how artful drum'n'bass production can be need only give the third EP installment in Bassment Beats a listen: on this excellent half-hour set, five artists provide a veritable master class in sound production and design. Unlike some EP compilations where each artist contributes something stylistically different, Akinsa, Fuj, Mark Kloud, Broken Promise, and RogueState all focus on drum'n'bass's dark, explorative, and experimental sides. There's no shortage of beat thunder in the tracks, but they're considerably more than one-note beat exercises. Augmented by deeply atmospheric echo effects and rich percussive details, a thudding kick drum carves a path through a viral zone during Akinsa's stunning scene-setter “Ichizoku Clan,” after which Fuj rolls out the heavy industrial machinery for “Tumbler,” a low-slung tribal roller replete with snare strikes that hit as hard as a punch to the gut. Broken Promise roots his “Blade” in crisp breakbeats whilst battering it with futuristic synth flourishes and smears of granular dust and noise; like some d'n'b-refracted Bomb Squad, “Origins” by RoughState stokes a voodoo spell using throbbing pulses, siren wails, and rumbling beat clatter as ammunition. At the more abstract end of the spectrum, Mark Kloud dazzles on “Coplanar” by infusing his muscular beat clangour with ambient-orchestral textures and an overall sound design that's both cinematic and panoramic.
Rather less experimental by comparison is Template, the first EP of 2018 by Ukrainian producer Dub Head (real name Vitalii Petko) and follow-up to his earlier Bad Signal EP. But if the five-track release is more focused on straight-up groove than the Translation set, it's still well worth your time. Four originals are included, two of them collabs with MC Fokus and Fat Tone, respectively, and an instrumental version of the vocal-based title track appears as a Beatport Exclusive. “Tenderness,” the co-production with Fat Tone, bolts from the gate before easing into a liquid drum'n'bass vibe. If electric piano sprinkles and sweeping atmospherics add to the sultry mood, the producers never lose sight of the groove and keep the pulse stoked from beginning to end. Fokus toughens up the title cut with a grime-soaked vocal turn that promotes action and self-engagement (“No piggyback / Put in the legwork / You got to earn your stripes / No spare parts, keep the circle tight”) as Petko serves up an equally tough beat pattern. The Dub Head solo productions “Giant” and “Genesis” see him clobbering a neurofunk groove with massive bass smears in the former and slathering wails across a low-throbbing rumble in the latter. And though it is a bonus, that MC-free instrumental version of the title track still gets under your skin when its funk-inflected groove is so punchy. Perhaps more than anything else, such material shows just how much can be done with a modest number of elements when a gifted creator's at the helm.April 2018