Here are two compilations covering a similar niche sound. The Rephlex comp is upfront about it and calls the sound ‘grime’, a kind of overarching metaname for microstyles like dubstep, sublow, breakstep and even grime as a particular subgenre of itself. Whatever it is, grime is an apt name – this is the sound that conjures up images of those badly maintained warehouses of the urban poor - council estates, diversionary entertainment – playstations, crap old computers, and simple pleasures – weed, searching, petty crime. As the related breaks sound pushes the party vibe, grime is more aligned to post-96 jungle offshoot techstep – a brutal, stripped back, mechanical sound, as well as hip hop – with MCs like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley at the less obscure end, and endless ‘crews’ at the other. Rocking at about 130 bpm, it varies tempo and feel by employing elements of dancehall riddims and the syncopations of late 90s UK garage. Like early jungle it is place specific – East London, South London – with branches out to other nodal cities like Machester; and revolves around pirate radio, microlabels and specific club nights. Both these two compilations steer towards the track-y rather than MC end of the spectrum although Slimzee’s mix features fleeting guest freestyles from Dizzee, Crazy D and D Double E. The Rephlex compilation presents tracks mostly only available previously as dubplates from just three producers – Mark One, Plasticman (not to be confused with Plastikman) and Slaughter Mob. Mark One’s Stargate 92 and Interference both revolve around a DJ Trace-style mentasm rinse outs and stabs straight out of early 90s Belgian hardcore; Plasticman’s Pump Up The Jam bleeds dry a sample of Technotronic, reducing their call to action to a hollow ghostly cry whilst working a wobbly acid sub bass bassline; and his Industrial Graft is like something that Skinny Puppy would have made 15 years ago. The four contributions from Slaughter Mob all draw on rather silly samples – Creaky Door is all b-grade horror movie atmospheres – the door, a spooky owl even! – and jerky riddims and bass drops. DJ Slimzee’s mix for Zinc’s Bingo Beats label is a better and more diverse entry point to this sound. Slimzee’s talents are well known – he’s been a DJ for 10 years and part of Pay As You Go - and on this twenty-five track mix, peppered with fresh dubs and VIPs, he seamlessly skips between seemingly incompatible riddims and crossing between half speed, dancehall and breaks influences easily. Every track except for Zinc’s own breaky ones (VIPs of Go DJ, Hold On, Roll Wiv Da Flava and Up Talkin) are stripped back to just basslines, bassdrops, stabs and beats. Everything is so reminiscent of that seminal Torque compilation on No U Turn, Optical’s To Shape The Future, although the production levels are not yet as finely honed. Perhaps this is the side effect of a music made with home computers (Fruity Loops, Reason) rather than gear.
Sebastian Chan |
