Berne, Switzerland-based laptop dub duo Daniel Jakob and Andreas Ryser have spent the best part of the last four years bringing their crisp-edged blend of midtempo digi-dub grooves to European live audiences, whilst also building up a strong international network through their online endeavours, making most of their tracks available for free at www.filewile.com. This debut album collection Nassau Massage, released through the duo’ own fledgling Mouthwatering label sees Filewile shifting their productions towards distinctly mellower and more pop-oriented moods, whilst also taking in a brace of diverse vocal collaborators including Pressure Drop Soundsystem’s Mr. Melody, Swiss-Ghanaian vocalist Joy Frempong, Berlin-based MC RQM and former Massive Attack associate Nicolette. It’s also an album that sees the duo setting their sights on a relatively diverse range of musical territory whilst simultaneously staying in the distinctly downbeat / midtempo vein, with pretty much uniformly successful results throughout.
If sub-bass laden synthetic opener “Babylon Beach’ hints at the underlying influence of UK-born dubstep sounds as it threads creeping bass pulses, flickering percussion loops and shuddering dubbed-out notes beneath Joy Frempong’s warm, intimately-miked vocals, things soon take an unexpectedly welcome turn towards distinctly more lush, downbeat sounds, as a gorgeous acoustic guitar-laden refrain descends around Frempong’s chorus hook. “Forward’ sees Rider Shafique contributing his ragga MC flow to an angular backing of jerky, off-centre electro-dancehall rhythms and bleeping analogue synths that calls to mind Modeselektor or Jahcoozi’s similarly digi-edged skewed dancehall / pop constructions, before “City Fitness’ offers up an atypical segue into crisp electro-house that comes across as something similar to M.A.N.D.Y. or Tiefschwarz following a serious dubbed-out overhaul.
“Stamp Your Feet” meanwhile manages to offer up one of this album’s most dancefloor-inclined highlights as it unleashes rumbling digi-dancehall destruction in a manner that gives the likes of M.I.A. a good run for her money as chaotic sonar-like pings slide back and forth around Baby Chann’s teasing rudegirl flow, before “Damn’ sees RQM taking things out towards glitch-laden RNB styles, as his honeysmooth loverman rhymes collide with the sorts of spring-loaded, unpredictable beats you’d most expect from Mouse On Mars or Funkstorung. While it’s an obvious choice of first single here given its immediately accessible nature, the Nicolette-voiced “Communication’ nearly edges it out as the UK-born soul singer’s feathery chanteuse tones collide with a twinkling backdrop of paranoiac-sounding electro synths and retroid drum machines. If you’ve a taste for digitally-contorted dubstep/dancehall pop in the vein of fellow DSP pranksters Modeselektor and Jahcoozi, Nassau Massage certainly captures Filewile at the top of their game.
Chris Downton
