Boxcutter – A.K.A. Barry Lynn – has generally been pigeonholed into dubstep over his career, but it’s not entirely accurate. The first problem with such a definition is that to build a successful album, a string of tracks with only one thing going for them is not going to work. But Arecibo Message clearly does work and it’s the manner in which Lynn ventures outwards from his dubstep bass that carries the album.
Roots in drum’n'bass are obvious from the outset. ‘Sidetrak’ layers sped up breakbeats under booming bass blobs, wavering synths and Metalheadz via Burial processed vocal snippets. The nods to drum’n'bass are constant, with tracks often flitting into step time rather than a reliance on dubstep’s half time. Then there are real tangents like ‘SPACEBASS’ which would sit very comfortably in a skwee set, strutting along around the 110bpm mark with squelches flying in every direction. He is also happy to shift moods – it’s not all dark corners and airlessness. ‘Otherside Remix (Earth Is My Spaceship)’ uses a more traditional dub bassline with plenty of airy, delayed melodica, ‘Lamp Post Funk’ is twittering 8-bit disco, with the odd half-time breakdown to keep it in tune with the set and ‘A Cosmic Parent’ is laidback electronic P-Funk.
The prevailing structure of the tracks on Arecibo Message is dubstep, and Lynn certainly knows his way around a build up and a bass drop. But the album works as an album precisely because nothing is ever left to just be good enough. Every track is tweaked with painstaking attention to detail to provide continuous interest. He’s proud of his drum’n'bass and acid roots as well, happy to give these space to shine. But, most importantly for this type of music, he never lets the cerebral nature of the work, which is undoubtedly important, take precedence over the ability for it to move you physically.
Adrian Elmer
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