Shortstuff – Progression/Relapse/’A’ [Formant]

Badman Shorstuff is back again with his second solo 12” after the fantastic offering on Ramp. This platter for the Texan label Formant follows on from their last release by Hyetal perfectly and takes his broken tech infused sound into deeper territory, maybe deeper than we have ever seen him go before.

We open up with ‘Progression’ with its sweet and soulful hot butter popcorn bleeps and the broken grooves that Shortstuff does so well, it sounds like he’s taking the garage swing and twisting it into new shapes. The dubbed out echo’s smooth out his 8-bit synths and create some pent up dance floor energy.

The second track ‘Relapse’ almost has a boom-bap hip-hop feel to the beat, which is coupled with some big bass pressure that really adds tension to the piece. The synth lines here really remind me of early Planet Mu or Warp releases, they have that twisted echo drenched smeared sound. The melancholy bleeps of ‘A’ usher the 12” to a close in a melodic fashion. The rolling breaks and sweet bass tones make for a hypnotic listen.

This is some seriously nice work from Shortstuff it shows a deep and subtle side to his music, he’s shown he can spark off an energy rush with high-octane neon synths and pure dance floor tension but this takes us down a different road altogether, its one for the eyes down crew.

Originaly writen for Sonic Router.

http://www.myspace.com/djshortstuff

http://www.myspace.com/formantrecordings

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