With a clutch of well received releases (including this one from Thief) already in the bag, it’s clear the Hear Other Sounds crew are intent on keeping things moving, this time taking a turn into classically UK territory. Fast becoming a recognised name in the Grime scene, The Seattle based producer Charlux has delivered an EP with some serious attitude. Fresh off some serious love on Rinse FM but still a relative newcomer to the scene, the young producer claims to bring elements of garage and the early days of grime to his bass soaked productions.
Not afraid to explore the crossover capabilities of the genre then, and on the title track we see Charlux flirting with jungle style breaks and a 4×4 kick pattern. The drop though cements the grime elements with rolling snares and brassy mid-range bass, displaying a complex and technical production ability.
Next to ‘Year Out’ with a much more typically grime introduction and drum pattern. Using industrial atmospherics and haunting vocal samples the piece builds to an offbeat wall-shaking bass hit, developed alongside sub wobble’s and intricate percussion. The panning of the drums complementing the centrality of the sub nicely.
With ‘Beat 9’ we see Charlux take the EP on a slightly deeper tip. With the track being built around a simple kick and snare pattern the piece becomes more focussed on the sense of progression and tension. Haunting pad’s and heavily panned drums are beginning to become a theme throughout the release.
And finally on ‘Afraid of You’ we can undoubtedly hear some classic grime influence. The opening staccato style reversed strings builds to a steppy drum pattern with rising bass wobble’s and again, lots of drum panning.
A quality EP which embraces the collaboration of ideas available from the young producer’s array of musical influences, the guys over at Get Some are giving away the excellent ‘Unmarked Patrol’ as a free download below.
You can purchase ‘Neck Snap’ in it’s entirety via Beatport here.
Words by Aidan Grant
No Comments