My efforts to shed a bit more light on Irish Dubstep via the awesome power of Stripewaves is made a lot easier by the fact that there are some really talented people doing some really good things in the dubby realms on this little island. The more i try and write about music that more i realise the task is made especially easy when you talk about good music, so with this mantra in mind I’d like to introduce you to the new, free for download, release by Standard, featuring “Lights” by Major Grave and backed up by remixes from Colz and Bob.
Free for download is starting to turn into a bit of a murky spot, with so many producers and labels churning out tracks and a lot of people allowing everything they do to be downloadable all the time… so one thing i will say right now is don’t let this free business fool you, there are three quality tunes to be found here.
“Lights” by Major Grave is truly deserving of the term infectious. Excellent use of the vocal throughout gives a human feel that is often missing in electronic music, especially when cutting and glitching a vocal but excellently chosen sounds keep the whole human heartbeat ticking and the bass while big, is warm and inviting,palpitating along with the rest of the track. Subtle rhythmic changes and fantastically timed percussive switch-ups reign throughout. The track as a whole is assured and confident, happy to keep the listeners interest with deft changes and excellent production qualities rather than fall into the “torrent of noise” trap which can befall so many of us. A great track, you just know this is pure perfection on a sunny day.
Colz remix starts out feeling removed in tone from the original and the first kick lets you know this is going to be a very different journey. Taking the original track as a sound source rather than a template, Colz kicks off into a very different groove, setting the tone with some fantastic interplay between the bass line and the kicks. The track establishes it character early in these two elements and as more and more sounds start to fall in you quickly realise your feet are tapping, your doing that silly side ways shift in your chair and you stopped writing this review for a couple of minutes and got your boogie on. Even in the use of the vocal, the soft warmth is gone and things feel a nit more eager and tense. With fantastic rhythm and groove, this is remixing done right.
Bob once again turns in a unique and individual take with his remix, effectively using sounds sourced from the original to create a whole new monster. The shuffle in the beat is just ridiculous, and a deliciously structured bassline almost forces your imagination in the direction of how cool this would be with an eager crowd, a good rig and a dark room. Big right up to the end, the last section is the kind of controlled ferocity that i, personally, just plain love.
So, there you have it, a free release done the right way with a strong track and two unique and inviting interpretations of same. Follow the link below to grab a copy. And the best thing is, there will be more on the way!
http://smokelessfuels.blogspot.com/2010/03/major-grave-lights-ep_14.html
