ill.gates – Autopirate

Autopirate is one diverse album that skips from dubstep, hip-hop, breakbeat and allsorts in-between not unlike someone like Si Begg (who he has done remixes for so I just read). It’s the second album from the former Phat Conductor from Toronto and it’s a lot of fun, pure dance floor vibes all the way.

Ill.gates knows how to make some big bass that’s for sure every track is a phat as fuck bass bin shaker. So if your looking for an album that covers pretty much all urban street bass angles in a fun and interesting way then you have come to the right place. I like to hear this kind of thing from outside of the UK as it brings different flavours to the table, especially a nice hip-hop / breakbeat angle from the people over the water in Canada and the US. I use to be a bit of a Nu-Skool breaks nut, I mean I learnt to DJ with that, so this stuff hits that part of me that has been sleeping for a while and updates it with some fresh flavours in the form of dubstep and all that good stuff.

If I had to choose one stand out track it would be the massive head banger that is Sweatshop, which is a grizzly buzz steppa with some big time swagger and it’s pure filth to listen to, the beats punch a hole in your skull while the bass tenderises your bowls. Sweatshop is also available on an EP with some really good remixes as well just so you know.

There are plenty of other highlights too don’t you worry about that ill.gates is far from a one trick pony. The vocalists riding some of these bombs are a nice touch, you hear so much instrumental dance music it’s nice to hear vocals once in a while, especially when they are done this well.

Still however good the production and execution of each track is there is something missing for me anyway or something a bit to familiar. I feel like I have trod this path before in some form or another at the tail end of big beat and the start of nu-skool breaks. There’s not much wrong with that of course especially when Autopirate is a nice listen.