Oneman – Rinse: 11 [Rinse Recordings]

You’ve got to love a good DJ: One that has the skills to match their selection, one that digs deep into their crates just as much as they dig for the party anthems, one that brings personality to the mix and brings disparate elements together like they where always meant to be… Well Oneman is that guy. He came to prominence a few years back by mixing up old garage classics with dubstep and bringing a refreshing twist to the table that helped re-energise the scene. Since then he’s just continued to shine and bring different elements into his sets from all over the spectrum of sounds vaguely related to the uk bass underground. Rinse: 11 shows Oneman in fine form.

Opening with an unreleased gem from the LHF crew’s Double Helix which has that Keysound vibe, a found sound urban atmosphere that ushers us in perfectly before melting into a percussive number by Ramadanman and the spaced out broken funky of Martin Kemp. Already you’re in to an interesting mix before he throws the almost Clash-like Martyn mix of The Detachments, a track that’s never floated my boat before but works well in the flow. Oneman keeps the twisted uk funky hybrids further with a double header of Kode9 and Martyn who bring the smeared synths and driving bass. The stripped back carnival drum machine workout of ‘Klambu’ is a killer too.

But its when he drops the calm before the storm that is Martyn’s beatless remix of ‘Acid Bells’ by Efdemin into the mix to really mellow it out that you know you’re in the hands of a master deck-smith. It slows down the vibe and makes for a brilliant segway into some rougher funky. Which comes in the form of a Oneman special of Ms Dynamite & Geeneus anthem ‘Get Low’. Sticky keeps the auto-tune dancehall/funky vibes going with ‘Jack It Up’ before the massively addictive ‘Rubberband VIP’ that somehow manages to meet somewhere in the middle ground between bassline/funky/electro and sound good. A trick Bok Bok also manages to pull off with the insane rave-up that is ‘Citizen Dub’ with it’s ascending descending bass motif, but not before the detuned electronic steel drum coda of ‘The Flying Saucer’.

Another switch up happens with the certified crossover anthem ‘Hyph Mngo’ where Oneman picks up the pace but spaces it out to by dropping a bit of 140-dubstep-ish after all the ‘what u call it?’-130-ish... Hyph still packs a punch and gets juxtaposed nicely against the badman riddim ‘Hard’ by the Newham Generals and Breakage, which is find by ‘Mweei’. The twisted grimey hyper-funk comes next in the form of Desto, Joker, 2000F & J Kamata and Starkey who bring their unique wonked-out synth styles to the fore, Starkey’s ‘Rain City’ sounding very much like a big melodic crescendo of epic proportions just like the Brackles closer ‘I Love London’.

Oneman takes us on a journey showcasing his unique DJ vision and some of the hottest tracks around, dropping a vibrant selection in a way not many can pull off. If you’re familiar with his Rinse FM shows you’ll know what to expect here and if you’re not then this is a good a place as any to see what the fuss is about.

http://www.myspace.com/1mandj

http://www.rinse.fm/