Various Artists
Troubled Waters
Offshore Recordings
Village Voice, September 7th 2004
by Simon Reynolds
Drum ‘n’ bass always prided
itself on being vanguard music, perpetually moving forward. Six years ago,
though, the music reached a frenetic standstill, a treadmill churn of
jacknifing beats and bass-riffs like endless anagrams of the same doom-blare
notes. When lapsed believers (such as me) squabble with still-believers, it's
like Led Zep fans arguing with Iron Maiden supporters: no, no, can't you see,
it's not the same thing AT ALL!
Built entirely from tracks on his label
Offshore, New York deejay Clever's mix-CD is so refreshing because it makes
like the last six years never happened. The Offshore sound takes off from the
genre's moment of supreme musical ripeness, when beats were densely
micro-edited but still swinging: the hyper-syncopated drum talk and lush 'n'
eerie textures of Source Direct and 4 Hero. New output from veterans of that
time (Deep Blue and Justice, associated with once peerless label Moving Shadow)
appears on Troubled Waters alongside tracks by brilliant younger producers like
Paradox and Sileni (whose "Twitchy Droid Leg" is title of the year).
Seamlessly mixed (quite a feat given that almost everything Clever's young
label has released is on this CD) Troubled Waters propels you on DJ culture’s
proverbial “journey”--in this case, a thrilling ride across dark and light,
frenzy and serenity. And Clever will be doing it live on Friday September 17 at
Spill (196 Orchard Street), sharing the bill with Chris Walton of Inperspective
Records--Offshore's London ally in the resurgence of breakbeats that actually
break and basslines that move inside the groove.
2 comments:
"brilliant younger producers like Paradox..."
to be fair to him, paradox has been making music as long as most veterans of the dnb scene. here's one from '92 as part of the mixrace outfit.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/69209-Mixrace
see also brown and dangerman. that "kickback" tune though...
I did not know that! He was part of mix race? That is pedigree
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