Silkie - City Limits Vol 1.2 [Deep Medi]

Since at least Christmas last year a Silkie track has been running around my head, the video bellow captures when I first heard it, Anti Social where having a crimbo-spesh on Rinse FM and played a track I’d never heard before that was so full of vibes it just kept playing on my memories ever since. It turns out that track was ‘80s Baby’ a track you can hear on City Limits Vol 1.2 the bridge gap between last years fantastic City Limits Vol.1 album and the follow up Vol.2. A series of 12”s you wont find on the next album or the last and by the sounds of it Silkie isn’t messing.

This is the one I’ve been waiting for: ‘80s Baby’ has a rolling street soul feel to it like a London variant on Detroit techno, midnight machine funk that just keeps coming. Sweeping pads, bumpy rhythms and funk stabs made from plastic sax, lounge piano and 80s tinged funky synth keys that sound like they’ve been beamed in from a forgotten Cameo record. It all comes together with a hypnotic loved up vibe that’s just irresistible. The flip ‘Bass Junkie’ sounds like the tougher brother of ‘80s Baby’ it hits hard instead of rolling. Rattling breaks shimmy over bass pulses and funk’d up synth lines that sound like aliens chatting each other up. It keeps some of that blissed-out funk but twists it into gnarly shapes that are pretty relentless.

Keep the 12”s rolling, when Silkie hits his stride there isn’t anyone like him ‘80s Baby’ is pure vibes, hi-tech London soul through and through. With three more platters of material on the way before the second album Silkie will keep us doing that gangsta boogie right the way through.



http://www.deepmedi.com/

Originally writen for Sonic Router.

V.I.V.E.K. – Feel It EP [Deep Medi]

Four track double pack from one of Deep Medi’s finest new signings V.I.V.E.K. It comes on the back of his first Medi release last year ‘Kulture/Meditation Rock’ and countless dubplates that you can hear when you go see him play or tune into some Anti Social Entertainment on Rinse FM. He fuses digidub soundsystem deep bass culture with some seriously rolling percussion, a hint of Berlin techno and those Medi vibes, eyes down, blissed-out, heavy weight music.

The title track kicks things off in fine style, ‘Feel It’ has some of the most infectious rolling Tablas, the percussion is sublime. A vocal sample declaring the weight of your bass and the largeness of your soundsystem is all you need to usher in a chest thumping sub sonic bass tone and the track is off, there is no way back you’re sucked into that soup of sub bass frequencies. Tick-toc its ‘Grandfather Clock’ a big track, the clock counts down to a dance floor meltdown when the metronome-like sample, half tempo drum patterns and hefty bass melts into blazing techno buzzes that just keep coming, it’s those killer synths that make it, they come from nowhere. It’s one for the big rooms.

The deeply blissful ‘Motherland’ is one for the eyes down crew, subtle but weighty bass pulses roll off half stepping rhythms, Tablas and all that good stuff all accented with Indian vocals instrumentation. It’s so deep, minimal and all round good vibes. It would make Youngsta proud. The final track ‘Strategy’ is a roller with a garage kind of swing to it, it skips along with big room dub techno chords twisting in and out of the bumpy beats it really comes alive and picks up the pace. The Feel It EP is pure vibes all the way: Subtle, heavy weight music from V.I.V.E.K.

http://www.myspace.com/vivek321
http://www.myspace.com/deepmedi
http://deepmedi.com/

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Calibre – Tenopause/Discreet Dub [Deep Medi]

Calibre makes his second outing on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint; the first was a subtle rolling garage-like affair that had all the hallmarks of Calibre’s sound as well as Deep Medi’s the two are just made for each other. Dubstep and D’n’B have always had a dialog whether it be jungle influencing producers to make the music they do today, all be it filtered through a different prism or people from either scene stepping into the next domain to give their take on the sound. It’s been a fertile area for creativity with the likes of Instra:mental, Breakage and Kryptic Minds all finding their own voice in the dubstep world or Skream, Scuba and Ramadanman playing with D’n’B. Calibre flexes his dubstep tempo muscles here with two diverse productions.

The highlight here has to be ‘Tenopause’, Calibre’s knack for subtle rolling percussive bliss is in full effect. The hi-hats draw you in with their fluid forward motion and when they play off the kicks and that addictive bass line that pulses with a hypnotic energy before flailing off into open space like its ricocheted off a passing space cruiser, you’re into eyes down zoned out head nod territory. ‘Discreet Dub’ is a more spaced out affair, slowing things down to a half step and upping the atmosphere. Deep Medi really is fitting for this one; the bass seduces you into a state of bliss as it shifts amongst the eerie Middle Eastern melodies. Deep Medi bringing diversity in their deepness yet again and Calibre keeps things rolling.

Originally written for Sonic Router.

www.deepmedi.com
www.myspace.com/deepmedi
www.myspace.com/sigrecs1

Mizz Beats – My World / The Jester [Deep Medi]

East London’s Mizz Beats first made her mark producing grime beats for names like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and D Double E to name but a few, but came to prominence last year when co-producing the bubbling anthem ‘Purple Love’ with Silkie. But now as part of the formidable Anti Social Entertainment crew along with: Silkie, Quest, J5, Kromestar, Harry Craze and Heny G, she’s flexing he soulful dubstep muscles and where better to do that than on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint…

On the A-side comes the swirling funk of ‘My World’ with its skipping tight drum patterns and a digital groove carved from midi trumpets and buzzy bass tones. There is a meditative, laid back dubstep quality at work here; you can really feel the soul. The flip ‘The Jester’ takes us down the 8-bit route, with SNES-like sound effects fed through a haze of high-grade into a psychedelic soup of digi-funk.

No one quite does it like Deep Medi and the Anti Social collective; they melt together the roots of dubstep with all its space and bass with a trippy street-funk that echoes late night cityscapes and pirate radio like no other. Mizz Beats adds a bleepy dimension to the crew with this 12” and that’s a dimension that’s more than welcome.

http://www.myspace.com/mizzbeats

http://www.myspace.com/deepmedi

http://www.deepmedi.com/

Originally written for Sonic Router.

12”

The return of the semi regular, ‘randomly selected platters from my record bag that I’m really feeling right now’ blog post, maybe it needs a catchier name…

Joy Orbison – BRKLN CLLN/J.Doe [Doldrums]
Two 12”s, a few remixes and all the hype in the world. His first release on his own label, Doldrums, shows he deserves it too. BRKLN CLLN is the subtler cousin of Hyph Mngo, just as catchy and full of blissful energy. J.Doe takes the diva samples and throws it down old school house style.

Geiom & Shortstuff – No Hand Signals/Wardenclyffe [Planet Mu]
Tag team antics from two heavy weights, Geiom’s music is always special and Shorstuff makes some of the most exciting stuff around and together we get hyper coloured house variants built to move you. There is something grimy about Wardenclyffe, its like eski-acid house. No Hand Signals picks up the tempo but keeps the funky bump.

ASC – Porcelain/Focus Inwards [Nonplus+]
More Nonplus+ I can’t get enough… having missed the d’n’b boat entirely this is the first label that’s getting me excited about the sound. Super smooth half stepping d’n’b that’s so minimal it sounds like electro being fed through a wormhole. The flip takes in dubstep a tempo, big up the multi tempo 12” crews for pushing DJs to think and ride that pitch shifter!

Headhunter – Prototype (Modselektor remix)/Sex At The Prom [Tempa]
This 12” sounds massive: Modeselektor return the remix favour and make their own take on dubstep, which sounds like big room techno with a dark edge. Sex At The Prom goes deep with acid bubbles and hypnotic bass. It’s like Berlin and Bristol are tearing each other a new one on the same 12”.

Starkey Ft. Badness – Ok Luv/Ok Luv (instrumental)/Multidial [Planet Mu]
Taster of things to come from Starkey’s next album ‘Ear Drums and Black Holes’ due March 2010: super smooth hyper soul with grimy undertones and epic colourful melodies. Multidial, heads right to the dance floor with robo-bass and energy surges, killer.

V.I.V.E.K. – Kulture/Meditation Rock [Deep Medi]
Big room material from V.I.V.E.K., dub techno undertones pulled off in a very Deep Medi way, your soundsystem will shake. Things get ravey with Kulture,the filtered stabs re-live the hayday and make you want to loose it in a field outside the M25. But there is something else here too, an eerie blissful dub vibe... Which is where Meditation Rock picks up from.

Joker – City Hopper/Output 1-2 [Tectonic]
These tracks aren’t even the catchiest Joker tracks this year but I still can’t shift them from my head. He keeps it grimy and techy for Tectonic, Output 1-2 especially. City Hopper makes you want to roll around the city with your windows down, swaggering funk and irresistible melodies that somehow remind me of the circus.

Instra:mental/Skream – No Future (Skreamix)/Minimalistix [Nonplus+]
Minimalistix is THE one here: Skream takes it into tech infused stripped back and subtle roller territory while No Future tears the dance a new hole. It’s like the evil twin of his Zomby Float remix and will have to do until that drops fingers crossed…

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Back again with a mini round up of records from my bag, check out more in-depth pieces including interviews and mixes on the badass Sonic Router.

Gatekeeper/Appleblim & Gatekeeper – Hades/Tomb VIP [Immerse]
Dark doom fuelled steppa with a jungelist vibe and the ghost of Skull Disco looming near, you really can hear the original spirit of dubstep on this platter: Immense from Immerse.


Pearson Sound – PLSN/WAD [Hessle Audio]
It bleeps and bounces like a squirrel trapped in a box on the dance floor and is easily one of the most addictive 12”s around. PLSN goes a little deeper and WAD keeps it funky.


Karizma – Neccessarry Maddness/Drumz Nightmare [R2]
Some broken funky house with a raw edge from the US, the A side comes on like a sugar rush with its bleeps and breaks the flip takes things on a more soulful tip.


Goth-Trad – Dark Path/S.A.T.U.R.N [Deep Medi]
Big soundsystem bangers from Japan, one mellow and spaced out while the other one is on an intense techno-like tip. The more I listen the more I get hooked.


Shorstuff - A Rusteling/Stuff [Ramp]
Incredible first solo outing on a 12” from Shortstuff, A Rustling is so broken it hurts (in a good way), the bass is fucked and both tracks come on like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.


Spamchop & Geiom – Cave Rave/Sirius Star [Berkane Sol]
Speed boating into focus like a mutant techy garage hybrid, it wouldn’t be out of place on a SNES racing game, while the other side Cave Rave gives a broken energetic bleep out with an awesome bass drone.


Rustie – Bad Science EP [Wireblock]
Killer EP from Glasgow’s finest imprint, low swung crunked out bleeps and bass that sounds like your copy of Mario got a virus that gave it a mind of its own and it turns out he’s a bit evil. The title track comes on like Zombie Nation era electro trance being kicked down the stairs by Terror Danjah.


Unknown Artist – Space Invader/Human [Dancing Demons]
Mysterious 12” yet again from this new label, Space Invader jabbers and pummels you with bass before having to load up Atari style in the drop. The flip is deep and has one hell of a switch up after the drop.

Silkie – City Limits Volume 1 [Deep Medi]

Silkie has been producing since he was about 15 making grime and garage infused beats he was also about during dubstep’s rise on the London underground, places like FWD>> inspired him to make it himself and really get stuck in. Now as part of the Anti-social Entertainment crew’s extended family with the likes of Quest, Harry Craze and Henny G amongst others he has carved out a sound all of his own and got picked up by Mala’s essential Deep Medi label where an album was on the cards right away and after some quality, sort after 12”s from the man his debut full length City Limits Volume 1 is finally with us.

‘Concrete Jungle’ opens proceedings with field recordings of the city, horns, cars and a distant crackle this sets the scene for the huge purple bass tones and plastic horns. Silkie knows his way around a groove and every track on here has one, as a trained pianist he knows how to get a jazz infused soul vibe going too. He has an almost trade mark way of using keys and pads that echo the past not unlike the high tech soul of Detroit’s Underground Resistance.

The rhythms fit in somewhere between dubstep’s half-step moodiness and the skipping rolling funk of garage without really sounding like either of the two, Silkie makes his own broken soul variant that really takes these tracks forward. It goes without saying for a Deep Medi release that the bass is pretty damn huge and one of the main elements of each track. He has a deep distinctive warm sound that he twists and warps into some serious grooves.

There are plenty of highlights as the album flows so well but here are some of mine… The smooth electro beats and space age synth lines of ‘Sty’ that drop into some serious boogie bass and a dancehall chug-a-chug sample gets me into a blessed out bass bounce every time. The jungle-esq cut’n’paste breaks on ‘Quasar’ is a good touch and its no surprise to see L.D credited for extra arrangements here it has that rhythmic bump to it. The Mizz Beats collaboration ‘Purple Love’ takes twisted lazzer guided bass lines and synth arpeggios and creates a warm neon glow around a floorless and hypnotic track.

‘Planet X’ drops into one of the most addictive bass lines around along with heaps of soul and some quality skippy percussion in the top end. The industrial crunch and noisy dub pad of ‘Head Butt Da Deck’ really mashes up dance floors and that purple G-Funk infused Dr. Dre-like synth that plays over the piano breakdown really makes it special.

The final two tracks really make City Limits; ‘The Horizon’ is an absolute anthem the piano intro gives way to some almighty euphoric funk squiggles and spacey loved up, blissed out vibes this is only enhanced by the closing number ‘Beauty’, which has that end of night feel to it like you’ve been dancing for hours but have it in you for one last track there is a loved up sadness to it that the end of a big session brings.

With City Limits Silkie has made an essential dubstep album that really showcases his deep and soulful sound, he doesn’t deviate from what he does so well it’s a singular vision and all the better for it. There is a perfect balance of light and dark in Silkie’s work you get the rough and ready dance floor energy along side smooth grooves. He keeps the original dubstep vibes of space and bass then updates it with his own unique formula for today’s dance floors.

http://www.myspace.com/silkie86

http://www.myspace.com/deepmedi

http://deepmedi.com/

12”

More from the semi-regular rumedge through the record bag series, of stuff I didn’t get to review/missed, over at SR as we didn’t get promos or other such excuses. For upfront reviews, interviews mixes and more visit Sonic Router, but for now check out these beauties.

Silkie Feat. Mizz Beats – Purple Love [Deep Medi]
Purple in vibes and colour on a super limited platter, funked up slab of future soul with some of the most swung beats and vibrant bass around.

King Midas Sound – Dub Heavy - Hearts and Ghosts [Hyperdub]
Dark and dubby, ghostly sound system shakers. They will shake your teeth and send you in a trance, doom fuelled taster of forthcoming album.

Hyetal – The Last Time We Spoke/Amour [Formant]
Long awaited platter from Bristol new boy, A-Side pushes a dub techno vibe with digi-siren effects and melodic chords. Amour gets steppy with an ear for melody and a way with bass, deadly.

Emvee – Glitch Dub/Nocturnal [Wireblock]
Broken funky with a soca groove, fuzzy bass and infectious midi soul. Glitch Dub does things dirty and Nocturnal brings the boogie this will make you move.

Pinch & Moving Ninja/Peverelist – False Flag/Junction (Shed Mix) [Tectonic]
Latest Tectonic Plate 12” with main man Pinch on a half stepping dark as hell weighty collaboration as Shed turns Peverelist into a garage infused nugget of techno with a euphoric sadness.

Rossi B & Luca/EL-B– Jah No Dead/Son De Cali [Soul Motive]
Garage legends line up for Soul Motive’s 4th, Rossi B & Luca bring dark dubby 2-step, it sounds huge and so fresh. EL-B takes it breaky with a deep and soulful garage vibe that oozes quality.

All out now

Missing in Action

I’m in deep with the bass scene I just can’t get enough of the stuff, I write upfront reviews for the Sonic Router and even put some words up here, yet a lot of stuff still slips through the net one way or another. So as a vinyl collecting bass head I thought I would do a mini round up (when I remember) in bite-sized chunks of things from my collection that should without a doubt be talked about, especially while I’m down to one deck and can’t make a mix.

Calibre – Dutty/Stolen Shadow [Deep Medi]
Deeply soulful 140bpm exploration from D’n’B head into acid tinged dubstep and garage with sublime results well worthy of the Deep Medi tag.

Slugabed – Gritsalt/Lets Go Swim [Ramp]
Off-kilter, Neon-Hip-Hop with 8-bit riddims that crunch & glow in all directions with a shit eating playful grin; like Wario on Rainbow Road.

Starkey – Miracles (Jamie Vex’d Remix)/Creature [Planet Mu]
J-Vex’d drop a euphoric sideways slanting high-pressure nuclear fallout version, as Starkey unleashes evil Creatures with a stampeding growl.

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry vs. Kode 9 – Yellow Tongue [On U Sound]
Dubbed out variant on the Kode 9 funky sound, less smeary glow and a more spaced out hazy flow, devastating bass and skipping drums.

Untold – I Cant Stop This Feeling/Anaconda [Hessle Audio]
An energy rush of bleeped out minimalist future garage that you can’t stop! Backed with grime in clown shoes, eski played on toys and congas.

Kito – What If/Cold [Disfigured Dubz]
Deep & deadly dub styles with earth shattering bass and soulful vibes made for big rigs, strings and cut up vocals bring a melancholic edge.

I’ll try and keep these coming…