Russian producer Arthur Galimov has released music under the alias of Ghostek since 2011. He has released six EPs in that time on labels like Square Harmony, and now Sub Squared for the label’s first EP released. His music branches out of bass music into no-frills garage and techno territory, and is tagged as “Ghost Techno”
The No Way Out EP is gutsy with no bullshit spared. The EP rattles along with Burial-style inflections complimenting the 4-4 garage-flavour beat, sounding muffled but clean at the same time.
Track ‘No Way Out’s is an instantly infectious ghetto-tech rolling stomper with attitude that has appropriate style for both bass music and tech fans alike. ‘Jaws’ is more insidious and broken, appealing more as a break to fans of dark UK atmos-fear. ‘Vampire’ is fidgety with its cavorting melody bouncing around like a trailer skimming along a dirt road, which holds a striking balance with the ever-present 4-4. ‘Haunt You’ is the most reminiscent to Burial with its distant anthropomorphic voices and broken syncopation, but more distinctly aimed at a dancefloor.
No Way Out isn’t anything mind-blowing, but is good, dirty/clean garage techno with a deep and spacious feel for an intelligent yet uncomplicated dancefloor. If this is the direction Sub Squared is taking in their overall sound as a label, it could be very promising as a resource for DJs in quality dance music, and I thought Ghostek brought out a well-grounded cracker to get things heated up on the floor. I’ve seen beats like this be very successfully used by DJs in the past, so am looking forward to what both label and artist present in the future.
Highly recommended to tech DJs who like to get dirty. No Way Out will be released on 12″ on 16 September and will also be available digitally.
