Various Production – VA1 (Various)

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VA1

Various Production have been lying low for some time, I’ve been periodically checking their website, which has been under construction, a major revamp promised, so it was a nice surprised to receive an email entitled “we are back”. With anything related to Various, information is always scarce, words seldom go hand in hand with their music, blog, website, or whatever, and to google Various is futile, but its this mystique that adds to the appeal. VA1, the first release on the redesigned website has little information, just a small cost in exchange for Art, Video, MP3, or as an entire bundle. I’m a sucker for this kind of marketing, so was happy to part with a few dollars try and shed some light on the mystery; I even parted with cash before the promo was delivered to my inbox. You can grab the bundle now at www.various.co.uk, but by what I can gather, the music will appear on limited vinyl at some stage, no doubt will be snapped up so quickly, if it’s the vinyl you’re after I would be checking their site daily for any snippets of information!

“Gain”, “Loss” and “Greyface” make up the music component; “Gain” languishing between techno and an old-school electronic production, slow burning, anthemic in a minimalist way, if that makes any sense! “Loss” flips a similar rhythm, but the vibe is more introverted, more reflective, with a warmth similar to some of Skream’ earlier efforts. “Greyface” appeals to what I’d expect from Various Production, skewed electronics, with a grime approach to production, simplistic, yet sonically poignant, sounds pushed into your brain, as if they are trying to rewire your neural pathways.

An individual piece of art accompanies each piece of music, taking on a familiar female form, photographic manipulations of this form, not the usual David Bray art, but it could be by him, the lack of information leaves one wondering… The video’ for each track have also been included for those who enjoy the visual interpretation, Various Production have always aligned themselves with emerging artists. “Gain” starts with a slumbered character who awakes on the street, and slowly lightens his mood as he meanders through the city streets, and where “Loss” takes an introverted musical approach, the video is identical to “Gain”, just in reverse, clever.

I enjoy the sonic brashness of Various Production, the genre hopping from grime to electronica, to dubstep and beyond, even dabbling with a Celtic folk psychedelia in their earlier work, but that is an added appeal, you just don’ know which way they will jump next.

Wayne Stronell

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  1. on closer inspection of email with promo content, artwork is in fact by David ‘Bonesy’ Bray!