Gerald is back, reclaiming his Jamaican culture via his ‘90s jungle roots. And this amen-fueled track does take you back, to an era when raw tunes were gushing out of Bristol and London like a just-tapped oil geyser. While not the breakthrough track that “Energy” was in ‘95, “Is Man In Danger” makes a clear statement via multi-timbral percussion, sizzling bass throbs and a repeated patois vocal. Welcome back to The Don Drumma.
Trim & Scratch Trim & Scratch
This emcee duo bellows ferociously “You‘ve ‘eard us before and you know that it‘s raw”-and I haven‘t, but they are…raw that is. So raw that some of their made-on-the-spot verses nearly miss the target, but their hooky, back-forth lyric interplay draws you back in. The grimy instrumental version is in Black Ops/Wiley territory, punchy and gangsta-limping through the estates with razor-sharp snares and Tazer synth noises. Stay tuned to this pair for future badness.
Anchronix/Eye-D/Kid Entropy/DJ Hidden 640K EP
This Atlanta label‘s fourth release will please fans of Violence, Freak, and Barcode. Pulling no punches, the dark synths and pitched snares ooze out like a sinister blob enveloping an unsuspecting metropolis, dissolving flesh and bone on contact. Hard, evil darkstep business.
Ed209 Vs. Dapper Dan Ting Dem
It‘s another wild ride from Hardcore Beats-but I‘ve got news for all the label‘s nu-skool breakbeat fans: this is a rave record. That‘s right-think Prodigy, Utah Saints, and Acen; mad hip-hop samples buried in dramatic stabs, tweaked synths and radioactive basslines. This ain‘t head-bobbing, get-funky and sip a lager gear; rather, it‘s get-off-your-head-on-a-dozen-pills-and-trip-the-fuck-out-bathed-in-green-lasers music. You‘ve been warned.
Loefah & Skream 28G
Lurking through the shadows Jack The Ripper-style, “28G” was a highlight of Tempa‘s recent Dubstep Allstars 2 comp-it‘s a track that‘ll rattle your subwoofers for all their money‘s worth. On this single-which is as desolate and granular as the Sahara-Loefah and Skream use precision percussion and reverb-soaked alien synth sounds for a truly blackhearted slice of dubstep.
Trae featuring Fat Pat and Hawk Swang
Done as an homage to the late, great Fat Pat, “Swang” represents Houston car culture like no song since ESG‘s classic “Swang & Bang.” Pat‘s brother Hawk contributes a verse and trades barbs with Screwed Up Click alumnus Trae in between Fat Pat‘s classic line from the Houston hit “25 Lighters.”
K-Rino No Love
A blunt look at the other side of Houston 2005, this single hits hard and leaves only the best standing. K-Rino is like the old sage of Houston rap and he‘s seen everything from Day One. With all the articles professing how hot the city is now due to the success of the Swishahouse, K-Rino reminds the listener of all the folks who paved the way.
Kenika Drag ‘Em Out The Club
Possibly the hottest female voice to emerge from the South since Trina, Kenika walks the line between reality rap and club jams like no one before her. On this single, known in the streets as “Drag A Bitch Out The Club,” Kenika takes no shorts as she cleans house on haters and fools trying to get in her mix. Beat by Jokaman is laidback and aggressive at the same time, almost sinister.
Jan Jelinek Kosmischer Pitch
Leaving the precision mathematics of his Farben material behind, Jelinek returns to Stefan Betke‘s ~scape label, descending deeper than ever before into superbly disconnected territory. All formulaic constraints removed, the album unfolds like an uninterrupted daydream. The soft, cycling cadence of “Planeten In Halbtrauer” and “Vibraphonspulen” rolls weightlessly alongside tracks like “Lithiummelodie I” and “Western Mimikry,” which draw on fragments of obscure instrumentation and calm, melodic facsimiles to continue the hypnotic orbit of the work as a whole. Starry-eyed and spontaneous, Kosmischer Pitch steps out through the space-shuttle door and doesn‘t look back.
Secret Mommy Very Rec
Six months worth of clandestine field recordings, ranging from tennis and basketball courts to ice-skating rinks and child daycare centers, are the starting point for one of the most entertaining electronic albums to come down the pike in years. You can truly appreciate the sound of a public swimming pool once it‘s been digitally obliterated and re-fabricated in a vivacious, bit-zapped format that you can bug out to in your car. This concept would only be cool for a few minutes if it weren‘t for Mommy‘s brilliantly spastic and deeply perceptive production style…which makes it really, really cool for the full 44-minutes, that is.
