Joker – Tron/VIP [Kapsize]

This is a track that can’t be stopped, a certified anthem that has to be unleashed on the public while it’s hot. It’s so hot it can’t be left until Joker finishes his album the track is just too big to be confined and sat on. It’s not to often an anthem comes around that you’ll hear everyone in the dubstep scene and a fair few beyond play out, but ‘Tron’ is one of them and has been for some time, maybe pre-dating the last scene wide anthem ‘Hyph Mngo’ and the latest upstart ‘Footcrab’. At a time where there is so much talk of the scene expanding and bleeding in all directions, ‘Tron’ shows that there is still a united core at work behind dubstep and one with depth too if you take those three examples. So to write words about this track seems almost futile, as you’ve either heard it and even sung along to it’s twisted synth lines, hell you may have even choreographed a dance to it… But if you haven’t heard it, first of all where have you been? And come inside you’re in for a real treat, you’ll be throwing gun fingers from your neon glow bike in no time.

The 5th release on Joker’s Kapsize label is born: ‘Tron’ takes Joker’s hyper addictive synth funk aesthetic and really lets it wile out. It’s smoother than breakthrough anthem ‘Gully Brooke Lane’ but more deranged than ‘Digidesign’. It’s a track that sounds like it’s born out of the last few years of Joker playing bigger and bigger raves, a track that doesn’t hold back. It’s smooth yet hyper-filth all at once, blurring the lines of dubstep and grime along with crunked out hip-hop. The intro springs into action like a hyped up circus/big-top soundtrack and not unlike a grimy vision of Quest’s ‘The Seafront’ before really letting loose. Then you get the drop, THAT drop: pent up energy, compressed and unleashed through vintage synths and hyeprfunk melody lines that burst and flutter as they progress over fat bass tones and punchy drums. The nearest you’ll get to ‘Tron’ in Joker released material is his work with the badman that is Ginz, but if you’ve stepped inside one of Joker’s sets you’ll no doubt know, ‘My Trance Girl’ and ‘There She Goes’ are on a similar tip.

The VIP is a hot one too, smoothing out the edges and upping the funk to create a track that is what you may imagine the rumoured Silkie collaborations to sound like if/when they surface. Smooth supped up late night street soul. Plus it’s a welcome twist up of the original to throw the floor, which is handy when the original is so well played. Joker blurs the lines and leads the way with his dubstep meets grime hybrids. Fitting in with Terror Danjah and Swindle as much as he does Gemmy and Guido, let alone Skream and Benga. ‘Tron’ is finally unleashed it’s a firm declaration of intent by Joker to shake up dance floors.

Joker "TRON" (original mix) by Multiverse

Joker "TRON" (VIP Mix) by Multiverse

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