Coki Don’t Get It Twisted Vol. 2
The DMZ label often gets defined by Mala’s smokier, more introspective dubstep flavors, but his […]
The DMZ label often gets defined by Mala’s smokier, more introspective dubstep flavors, but his Digital Mystikz cohort Coki is really known to rough up the dance; his secret weapons are hypnotic synth patterns that can buzz around a dark warehouse like angry insects on a warpath. Like drum & bass producer Krust, Coki likes to hone in on a loop and then minutely twist it and turn it over and over. After a few minutes, your brain is in a vice grip… and it’s a feeling you either like or you don’t.
If you captured the first installment of Don’t Get It Twisted, unleashed in May of 2011, Volume 2 is more of the same: techy, modulated melodies endlessly warping over a landscape of crispy drums and Swamp Thing bass. It’s not quite minimal, but it is meditative, making for a serious head nod in the club or a descent into madness in the headphones. “Mid June Madness” is a crazy clown car spiraling out of control, causing little children to cry with its unhinged melody and menacing bass; it’s very reminiscent of a higher pitched version of Coki’s monster tune “Goblin.”
Despite the title, “Light Years” doesn’t let up the pressure, rocketing into the future on a spaceship made of skanking alien wobble and shot through with strange animal coos and screams, while “Onboard” teases with trance-inspired bits, which act as a momentary breather between more squealing and stuttering and squalling and steppin’. “Drop and Run” finishes off this wild ride with sad strings and stuttering, wide-mouthed bass—it’s like a soundtrack to Mickey Mouse’s funeral service if all the cartoons were dosed.
Don’t get it twisted, this music is twisted… and very demanding. It’s divine on the dancefloor but a bit overly pressurized for home consumption… unless you live in a madhouse, in which case, rave on.