16th
Joe - Grimelight / Rut
Hessle Audio, HES007
I found this single (and this label) at a time when it felt like Dubstep and Grime could show me nothing new. Caspa and Rusko have ushered in a new era of Jump Up for Dubstep and promising Grime MC’s can’t seem to find a good beat.
These tracks, rather rhythms, just murder almost anything around at the moment. There’s a sleekness to them, all extraneous fat is trimmed off. There’s the almost circular bent of the rhythm that comes from a lineage of people like Pinch and Shackleton just making hypnotic, trance-like grooves. Each percussive element is a planet orbitting the kick and snare.
Grimelight comes in like a mean, half-stepper drum circle - hand percussion buoying the locked-in rhythm with hand claps occasionally punctuating the mix. A flute adds melodic flavour and the whole thing is tied down by a clean sine carving out the bass end. It takes a breather and a 5am club terrace synth pad washes over it. An enchantress simply utters “I”, over and over again and you’re in heaven.
Rut is a darker beast. Wind chimes float above a shaker marking time before it goes hard. Anxious metal beads and tuned percussion nail down a furious, seemingly polyrhythmic, groove. Dischordant piano stabs highlight the end of bars and a single note, rich in harmonics, rides the now death-defying drums. This is one of those beautiful moments when you realise that you have no idea where the measure starts or ends. And you don’t care.
YouTube Links:
Grimelight
Rut
Post by: LondonEyes
