Gravious – Futurist EP [Highpoint Lowlife]

Sci-Fi has been an inspiration for many electronic artists even since the use of machines to make sounds existed, one such group of musicians were the pioneers of the second wave of Detroit techno; UR. They had a kind of throw back future sound that somehow sounded like the future and the past combined. You can hear this in tracks like Hi-Tech Jazz where the sounds are not from this world but the funk and soul is firmly grounded, and this is where the Futurist EP comes in. Gravious has pulled off a similar feel, in-fact it could almost fit into the UR catalogue, which is no mean feat.

The EP inspired by a short story about an outdated vision of the future called ‘The Gurnsback Continuum’, which is ironic considering all the hardcore continuum talk of late… takes on the future / past ideas and translates them into sound. The first track with it’s UR nodding name, ‘Jupiter Jazz’ skips and builds with deep bass, bleeps, emotive pads and machine funk that could have even been made by the story’s ‘mad-doctor chrome’ is a mesmerising dance floor bomb.

This is the sound of ‘The Tomorrow That Never Was’, and if you ever heard ‘The Sound Of The Big Badou’ by Laurent Garnier you will have an idea of what, ‘Vultures’ sounds like but steeped in dub culture with chants and half-step drums, it’s like a flying car ride into the abyss.

The finale, ‘World of Tomorrow’ is like a subtle mellow version of the first track, full of emotive strings tweaks, bleeps and some moving bass. It really could soundtrack an advert to a flying car or an episode of Look Around You.

Another quality production from Gravious via the excellent Highpoint Lowlife, it’s already had radio play from non other than Mary Anne Hobbs and rightly so. Grab it while it’s hot.

Buy: Gravious – Futurist EP