Dance oriented full-length albums can be somewhat problematic, becoming more of a collection of tracks, not very cohesive as a whole, but individual tracks working well in the mix.
Silkie’s City Limits Volume One must be given credit on a few levels, firstly, although pigeonholed as a dubstep producer, there is far more going on here, and secondly, the tracks flow well to create a journey through a futuristic urban landscape. What initially strikes you is the way Silkie beds his roots with 2step and drum’n’bass, but weaves in so many other influences, dubstep, broken beat, nu-jazz, and Detroit techno. The later is, for me, what makes this album shine, from the offset with “Concrete Jungle” to “Turvy”, “Spark”, “Purple Love”, “Planet X”, “Mattaz” and the closer “Beauty”, proving that the fresh , crisp sounds of the Detroit sound have stood the test of time, and when added to modern bass music production, add another depth to the sound palette.
Silkie has created a warm, emotive album that is worth checking out.
Wayne Stronell
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