Terror Danjah – Bipolar EP [Butterz]

Butterz drop their debut release with three grime bombs built to shake floors by Terror Danjah and his evil twin D.O.K. who turns in a remix. The two Rinse FM grime DJ’s Elijah and Skilliam have been making waves of late tearing up the airwaves with solid sets of grime instrumental fire, it’s been a force to reckon with and a refreshing change of pace from MC led mixtape beats that all to often lacked the vitality and hype that grime can have. To lead the charge they come fully loaded with the Bipolar EP.

The gremlin cackle signifies Terror’s return and kicks into action ‘Bipolar’ bright and chirpy first with neon synth pulses before dropping into some gravely basstones. The whole track feels like Terror Danjah in dubstep mode, but with his very unique raw and energetic approach, it’s hype and dirty. The most addictive track here has to be ‘Air Bubble’ the bursting popcorn rhythms get under your skin and bring the boogie. The hyper-funk synth lines and bass manoeuvres twists and turn and play off the bubble-boogie rhythm loops perfectly. D.O.K. takes on a percy with his ‘Sidechain’ remix getting things moving with a geezer coda chanting ‘come on lets ‘av it’ and when the monstrous bass funk hits and the pumping kicks are let loose you’ve got to obey. By the time the next vocal comes in, ‘if I’m going to have it, I’m going to have it large’ it feels like you’ve been sucked into a techno party in another diminution.

Quality first drop from Butterz who’ve got plenty more up their sleeve, Terror Danjah and D.O.K. are on form here. Pair this up with their recent outing on Hyperdub and you’ve started a 2010 grime 12” collection.

Buy @ Uptown Records

Butterz001 - Terror Danjah - Bipolar EP from Butterz on Vimeo.

http://verybutterz.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/butterzuk
http://www.myspace.com/terrordanjah
http://www.myspace.com/dokmusic

P.S. If you’re a producer get over to the Butterz blog and pick up the parts to ‘Air Bubble’ for your chance to remix Terror Danjah, just for the kicks. Also, hear the remixes so far…

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Terror Danjah – Acid/Terror Danjah Ft. DOK – Pro Plus [Hyperdub]

Unless you count Joker Hyperdub haven’t released any grime before, which is a pretty amazing feet considering Kode9 has always been a strong advocate of the sound. Maybe there just wasn’t much need for grime on Hyperdub back then, the labels dark distopian sound in the early years may not have suited grime. But now the horizons have expanded and the raw synth led hyper-funk of more recent material opens the doors back up for grime and especially Terror Danjah and DOK.

‘Acid’ sees Danjah on an old skool rave tip merging his hard skipping hyper-funk with ’92 Hoover synths not far off being a homage to The Prodigy’s ‘Charlie’, minus the cartoon cat samples which have been replaced with some seriously big funk hooks and drum programming to die/dance for. ‘Pro Plus’ sees Terror Danjah hook up with the underrated DOK, thought to be his evil twin who stays in the shadows… who also has a distinctive hard-funk sound that’s maybe more percussive than Terror’s. Sub bass grooves and swirling synth melodies get things bumping next to a spacious drum groove. The two work together perfectly and unleash a twisted slab of hyper-funk that could give primetime Timberland a run for his money.

Two supremely funky grime offerings from two quality producers, they harness the raw energy of the genre and offset it with a musical edge that really brings things alive. Again Hyperdub bring the goods and open up their boundaries even more while keeping that distinctive sound firmly in tact.

http://www.myspace.com/terrordanjah

http://www.myspace.com/dokmusic

http://www.myspace.com/hyperdub

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Rude Kid – Jack Daniels EP [No Hoods No Hats]

Are you ready!?! That’s Rude Kid’s sonic trademark, when you hear that in the mix you know you’re getting a quality beat. The grime producer has been a staple of sets for so long now: shows or mixtapes hardly go by without you hearing that familiar sonic mem, it’s engrained in my mind along with Terror Danjah’s gremlin cackle and Silencer’s ‘Terrrrreeeey’ as a signifier for, ‘it’s going to go off’. It’s not his first time out on No Hoods No Hats either with the ‘Are You Ready EP’. Plus he comes hot on the heels of Royal T’s insane ‘1UP or Shatap EP’ and last years anthem ‘Next Hype’ by the one and only Tempz, but Rude Kid easily holds his own in such company with this new instrumental EP.

The title track ‘Jack Daniels’ is a freak hybrid of hard pulsing techno, dubstep, funky and grime. The four to the floor kicks and beefy bass pulses wouldn’t be to out of place in an old Laurent Garnier set next to ‘Crispy Bacon’ or ‘Acid Eiffel’. But they’re equally at home in the boxes of grime DJs too the track bangs hard and should add some energy to sets. Rude Kid then drops the instrumental to his shake up of Man Like Me’s ‘London Town’, it’s a bubbling garage number with a grime flex, piano licks, skippy drums, rudeboy bass and it pretty much hits the spot.

The flip is the grimiest: ‘Emergency’ brings out the big guns with its dirty, grizzly bass tones, raw funk and cheeky rave stabs that are guaranteed to make you skank. ‘Best Crawler’, a collaboration with Terror Danjah is the highlight of a solid package. It’s got the hard-funk and raw power of both producers, along with both of their sonic trademarks. Plus the flip between huge bass pulses, grimy violins, Gameboy-esq bleeps and propulsive, musical trance-like elements just kills it.

With grime’s instrumental releases picking up once again on vinyl with big hitters and new kids on the block loading their guns ready for release on labels like Butterz, Hyperdub, Planet Mu and Numbers as well as No Hats No Hoods, Rude Kid is out the blocks with an EP full of grime tools to get things moving in fine style.




http://www.myspace.com/nohatsnohoods

http://www.myspace.com/rudekidproductions

Written for Sonic Router.

12"/10"

The semi-regular round up of random platters in my record bag returns with some heavy weight excursions in bass.

Zomby – Digital Flora Part 1/Part 2 [BRAiNMATH]
Maybe just maybe the best slice of Zomby yet, pure psychedelic dance floor material. Pt. 1 is spaced out while Pt. 2 ups the groove.


Instra:Mental – Watching You Ft.dBridge/Tramma [Nonplus+]
Killer minimal d’n’b cut with heart wrenching vocals, it’s made me buy 170bpm for the first time in years. Tramma drops to 140 and keeps things warm and minimal.


A Made Up Sound – Wire/Bounce/Dicsonnect/On & On [Clone Basement Serries]
2562 on a techno tip, dropping some warm sounds that bump and bubble.


October - Elephants/Medium [Immerse]
Some seriously early proto-dubstep from 2003 that sounds like techno gone eski-grime. Really raw and rolling, it just builds and builds.


Terror Danjah – Industry Standard Part 4 [Planet Mu]
Zumpi Hunter comes on like a grimey G-Funk workout, with Swindle adding even more musicality of his own distinct style. The flip ups the hype and drops like an energy rush, 4x4 builds and 8 bar rallies. Essential.


Spiders – Spiders [BRAiNMATH]
Mysterious dark and rootsy material, I can’t stop mixing it with Bury Da Bwoy by Mala. So much atmosphere and tension built with minimal beats and tweaked out production.


Hyetal – Pixel Rainbow Sequence/Peverelist Remix [Reduction]
Incredible Bristol transmissions, A-side hyped and euphoric with twisting synths and bumping beats. Pev takes it on a freaked out techy psychedelic tip, flowing synths and bubbling arpeggios.


Dorian Concept – Trilingual Dance Sexperiance/Tropical Hands [Affine]
Deranged trance inducing face smashing hip-hop wonk-out with a funked up slow-mo house rendition on the flip, it sets fire to dance floors.

Exodus & Room 237 Presents: Jamie Vex'd / 2562 / Youngsta & SP:MC / Neil Landstrumm / Clark @ West Indian Centre, Leeds. 25th September 2009

It’s been a little while since I went to the West Indian Centre to soak up the sounds coming out of the almighty Iration Steppas Soundsystem, I mean everyone has been away for the summer ripping up Croatia and all sorts so I guess I can be forgiven… But this line-up has brought me out of the woodwork and walking into the main room to hear Digital Mystikz Anti War Dub just proves it was the right decision.

Saying that though the place was a little empty during Computer Controlled DJs set, which was really surprising as I’ve only ever been to the West Indian Centre when its been packed to the rafters. They played a well nice selection of all things good and bassy though from DMZ beasts to grime bangers, there was even a bit of funky in the form of Bok Bok’s recent outings in that sound, this didn’t bring on loads of dancing and movement as I expected though, I guess Leeds is more of a dubstep town right now as that always gets everyone moving be it lad or lass. The addition to the main room of a projector and a dude in the corner freaking about with pictures and film was pretty cool though.

Unfortunately Sigha whose productions I really love was in the second room at exactly the same time as Jamie Vex’d who I kind of wanted to see on the huge soundsystem so I only caught a few moments of his set but the bits I saw where well nice and its wet my appetite for more. I was also really surprised to see Jamie Vex’d playing so early but the place soon packed out and he built one hell of a set, he crossed so much gowned and so effortlessly. Everything from his own productions like the quality Twitch remix and other Planet Mu bits, all the way to Terror Danjah grime instrumentals such as Sidechain and the Swindle remix of Zumpi Hunter, or Grievous Angels well nice 2-step re-rub of Napath’s Sounclash VIP. I almost bust a gut when he dropped the Zomby dubplate Murcury’s Rainbow…



Which popped up on youtube a while back (see above) and maybe a Blackdown Rinse FM show but that’s about it and there is no word yet of a release, in fact it’s the most Zomby I’ve heard on a night out. I had reservations about some of the One Foot Ahead Of The Other EP on Ramp working on the dance floor but when its powered through Iration Steppas I guess you don’t have to worry about that, everything sounds so alive and HUGE. This was followed swiftly by Untold’s amazing Stop What You’re Doing, which I’ve been aching to hear out for ages now, and it really does sound different the no beats, pulse bass freakout really hits the spot for me the tension the lack of beats bring is just something else, then coupled with the Zomby dubplate which is of a similar vibe all be it more psychedelic just slayed it. Things get a bit more blurry as the bass rumbles and the red stripe flows but this is still the first set of the night from one of the big guns… plates from The Bug were a plenty, to the delight of my sister who loves to shout Bug lyrics at me, but only while not shouting the lyrics to Next Hype of course… which also popped up in the mix accapella style over some unknown bass heavy shakers. Skream, Piddy Py and Distance even got a look in, who insanly got mixed with a does of R&B in the form of Timberland yet it worked far to well and made me wonder why he hasn’t reached for sub bass himself… along with the smeared wonk of Tiago with his swirling Bable Fish a track that has been on my radar for a while but I never expected it to sound so fucking good out this loud, the bass pulse that kicks in half way through is something else. This really was a far-reaching set mixed quick and on point on laptop and controllers, I almost felt sorry for 2562 following it as a lot of BIG tracks had been played and I don’t mean obvious bangers just MASSIVE sounding twisting turning genre escaping monsters.

After a break for air entering the main room again to see 2562 playing to a spindly crowd was a real disappointment, its like we had entered a whole new club. He was playing his own brand of rolling dubbed out techno that really contrasted the sweeping flailing twitched out, smeared synth wonk and far reaching magpie set of Jamie Vex’d. When you got deep into it though and put the small crowed out of your mind the beats where so bumping and infectious that it was hard not to move, almost everything I heard sounded like 2562’s productions but I spotted some new Untold in there too. The room filled more over time but it was still a bit disheartening to see it like that when he’s one of the leading lights of the scene, making some of the coolest, skippyest rolling dubstep meets techno around. But then after Jamie Vex’d it was easy to see why people needed a break and even the big boys on Warp and Planet Mu didn’t pack out the crowds like I thought they would. Landstrumm played a mad set that sounded like an OCD kid who had learnt to make all of dance music’s past on toys, so you got electro addled grimey, dancehall, rave, techno hybrids of all styles and tempos at the drop of a hat. You never knew what was going to happen but he locked into things long enough to keep you moving and tease you before twisting into the unknown again. I also checked out quite a bit of Youngsta at this point who was rocking it with SP:MC, I’ve never felt so hypnotised by a dubstep DJ before it was none stop deeper than deep half stepping dubplates that would have sounded like chillout music anywhere but the bassy backroom of the West Indian Centre on the Sweat Potato Soundsystem… or you know others like it. A hell of a lot of it sounded like Kryptic Minds with the odd bit of Skream’s dark side thrown in, everything worked so well and really wet my appetite for DMZ next week in the same venue.

From then on tiredness set in and after a very brief brush with Clark and unfortunately missing Distance altogether we left into the night on a fucking long drive home to the county with the bass resonating loud in our ears.