You may know Multiverse without even knowing it, they’re an umbrella organisation and studio in Bristol that has helped many artists and labels get their music out there. The network of labels alone is pretty special, with: Pinch’s Tectonic that’s been rolling deep at the forefront of dubstep since day one and it’s diverse sister label Earwax, Joker’s Kapsize with its purple hyper-funk, October’s techno offshoot Caravan and Baobinga’s rough house imprint Build all on the roster. As you can imagine a lot of ground is covered on this Dark Matter retrospective.
Storming out of the blocks comes Vex’d with their tough, breaky style. Ravey bass pulses with a ton of energy and dub accents. It’s an early highlight. October shows an early dubstep production off by remixing Circuit Breakers, if you ever caught that Immerse 12” last year where he really goes in with two grimy hard hitting raw slabs of it you’ll know what to expect here. Later on the compilation you’ll catch more of his techno-oriented stuff he’s doing at present… You’ll be in for a treat. Pinch makes his first appearance with a weighty number in collaboration with P Dutty, its full of space, bass and a pent up aggression. Skream turns in a big dubby production with some serious bass weight. But its Joker’s ‘Stuck in the System’ that really grabs you, the grimy favourite twists computer game strings and a dirty south aesthetic into a twisted synth workout, it’s a real peak. He smooths out that style on his collaboration with Ginz on ‘Purple City’ here too, with real sing along synths. A personal favourite of mine ‘Techno Dread’ by 2562 still hits hard, with its relentless bass line and skippy, addictive drum patterns. Bristol legend RSD offers up his sublime remix of Pinch and Yolanda’s ‘Get Up’, the smooth vocals ride his dubbed out basslines perfectly, it’s a track that keeps rolling with a joyful soulful vibe. The first CD ends on the tough broken house of Baobinga & ID which really pops and swings.
The second disc really takes off with Vex’d dropping ‘Pop pop’ a heavy skippy number. Loefah & Skream come together on the fantastic ’28 Grams’, which has a weightlessness to it, the wobbly bassline ricochets off into orbit while a solid slab of sub keeps it tethered to the ground. Cyrus follows that up with the sublime ‘Indian Stomp’ with, as you’d expect Indian samples and killer percussion that rolls and bumps hard, its one of the highlights of the compilation for me. If that wasn’t enough already Pinch comes and drops ‘Qawwali / Brighter Day’ which is just pure bliss. Its got that deep meditative vibe about it that’s so addictive and appealing about early dubstep. The bassline drones and pulses with a weighty pressure that draws you in deep as the drums, pads and melodies get your head nodding. Loefah turns up on his own this time with the spacious and powerful ‘System’. ‘Uranium’ by Moving Ninja shows off similar space but with added atmosphere, they really know how to build it from raw field recordings and synth pads. October is back and in techno mode, tough four to the floor kicks and microscopic samples get cut into bumpy shapes all over the place on the addictive ‘Three Drops’, which drops into as the name suggests a three drop synth loop that really gets things moving, and when it melts into wide screen synths its something else. He pulls off another highlight with ‘Euro Dance Hit’ which comes on like a lost Daniel Bell production fighting its way through a crowded room, its all space and tension. A killer 2562 track from his last album ‘Unbalance’, which is full of colour and presence gets book-ended by two impressive productions from Emptyset to finish off the compilation, the dub techno duo really bring it with the heavy ‘Gate 4’ which sounds like it could flatten a house and the more laid back ‘Demian’ which is so smooth and full of vibes its unreal.
The music speaks for its self really, a diverse bunch. Many of the tracks sound as fresh as when they first dropped. It’s a retrospective you can really get involved with and a good jumping off point for exploring the artists and labels involved. The Multiverse really shows what presence it’s had in the scene with this compilation; it runs deep to the roots of the genre and all its factions as well as showing how important it is to the city it occupies.
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’s Kapsize imprint has grown from strength to strength since it’s inception last year, from getting dubstep and grime heads excited to drawing in the hip-hop crowd and with the last platter gaining Radio One recognition.
His collaborations have always been special the aqaucrunk madness of ‘Play Doe’ with Rustie was a true meeting of minds. Now for the latest Kapsize offering Joker has hooked up with another pimp, breakbeat producer that goes by many name ranging from 30Hz to The Body Snatchers, right now he is in his fur lined purple suit as Ginz.
First up on the 12” is ‘Purple City’ with those snapping crunk drums and electronic bongo rolls then a set of almighty synth hooks that just sing to you like a fucked-up robot soul machine with a real raw edge. Then the sick bass line just adds even more raw energy with a sub low growl. It’s an anthem that’s for sure dance floors will drop with a pimp limp to this one.
Flip it and you get the ‘Re-Up’ which all you wire fans and drug dealers will know means the stash is coming and fuck me it doesn’t disappoint. The orchestral build up above the crisp snapping percussion that ushers in the bass drop is a needle drop to the top, spin back moment. It pulses with high-octane energy and gets the gun fingers going, get ready to brock out.
Joker and Ginz show they are big time pimps on this Kapsize each side oozes with quality cop it while it’s hot.
12” number two from the new label Kapsize, which is owned and run by the young talent Joker, the 19 year old from Bristol. The first 12” was a solo effort and features one of my favourite Joker joints 80’s, number two comes with even more fire power.
Side A is a collaboration between Kapsize head honcho Joker and Glasgow wonky beat maker Rustie. They fight over whatever equipment they have laying around the studio to create a track that is the best of both their worlds.
You get sparse lilting beats with that dirty south hiphop bump to them and deranged synths that Timberland wishes he could have thought of. Not to mention the massive bass weight, the low-end spectrum to this as with all Joker stuff is pretty huge and will make your teeth shake on a big system. I’m pretty sure they sample Busta Rhymes or something with the small vocal sample, ‘Ha’, but I could be wrong there. I remember hearing this on Generation Bass in Jokers set and thinking man this is a banger. Rustie brings a bit of a hip-hop swagger to the beats that is more than welcome, he gets his wonk on and makes this track a certified future R&B, Hip-Hop, bass bin shaker.
The flip side is Rustie flexing his 140 bpm mussels on his own, Tempered is a real treat I just love it when people like FlyLo and Rustie bring the tempo up to dubstep kind of speeds for a few tracks. They really know how to bring different things to the table. This track is no exception, it goes really well with the A Side and has a kind of aquatic vibe, with some massive 808 style drum work outs and a synth to die for. Rustie with his wonk on, keeping it bumping and aquatic.
This 12” is kind of special and there isn’t quite anything like it around right now. Kapsize are doing things differently and with style. Joker the young’un is tearing up floors world wide now as is Rustie. These two better keep working together when they find them selves in the same town, the Bristol Vs. Glasgow combination needs exploring more. Big up Joker & Rustie.
This is a super limited slab of one-sided laser etched future funk bass hype music. There are only 1000 12”s of this around at the moment so if you want it you will have to grab it quick or forever be looking for it on ebay for ridicules prices. This track is like a sugar rush and maybe one of Rustie’s best so far, which is saying something with his track record. Zig Zag is all over the place its so wonky it hurts, you feel like you are being taken in so many different directions as you can hear different tempos and pitch shifts at once. This is wonky wild pitch if ever I heard it. The sounds he uses are like some kind of freaked out mix of hip-hop and trance with a blast of electro for good measure. It’s like he gave Blaze a sugar injection and set him loose in the studio with sonic the hedgehog some extra hairdo to top up with e numbers and made him get his wobble on. Right now Rustie is making some exciting music as are people like: Joker (who has an up and coming 12” on Kapsize with Rustie), Starkey, Zomby… They all get their urban bass music going in some strange off-kilter future style.
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'jimi is the apex from which everyone else fans out of' NFR Blog
'so here's to jimitheexploder. The only name to trust' Worriedaboutsatan
'Jimi - whose enthusiasam for this remarkable genre is humbling - he say's "Now that's a single!" And let's face it, I know who I should be more inclined to take my dubstep recommendations from' Wendy Roby of DiS
You may know Multiverse without even knowing it, they’re an umbrella organisation and studio in Bristol that has helped many artists and labels get their music out there. The network of labels alone is pretty special, with: Pinch’s Tectonic that’s been rolling deep at the forefront of dubstep since day one and it’s diverse sister label Earwax, Joker’s Kapsize with its purple hyper-funk, October’s techno offshoot Caravan and Baobinga’s rough house imprint Build all on the roster. As you can imagine a lot of ground is covered on this Dark Matter retrospective.
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