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’ 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 “Turvyâ€, “Sparkâ€, “Purple Loveâ€, “Planet Xâ€, “Mattaz†and the closer “Beautyâ€, 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
