29th June 11
RECOMMENDED: Damscray – Blot Method EP [Gimme5]
Posted in Reviews
While Damscray is one half of Russian beatmakers Demokracy, there is not much that sounds particularly ethnocentric in that group. Blot Method, though, is a whole other story, as opener ‘Sandworm’ displays from the outset. Swirling Tatar styles surround a bottom heavy beat and conjure images of the Ural river that this producer’s town of Orenburg sits beside. There is a certain madness to the entire EP, with ideas that career from one side of electronic music to the other; bits of old IDM, new juke, timeless hip-hop, and the aforementioned Tatar culture can all be found in these six tracks. The sheer amount of ideas that are melded together here make this one of the most exciting EPs this year.
‘Sandworm’ may start out sounding like a traditional Russian dance, but the deep synth bass that creeps in soon pushes the song into the modern era quite quickly. Soon the bass wobbles and teeters, stretching for all it’s worth as Damscray starts to manipulate the melodies into wholly new combinations. Even ‘Blot Method,’ an angular, noise-heavy track, weaves in a Russian sounding melody near it’s middle that is warped and effected to give it an otherworldly feel. Classic IDM sounds emerge on ‘Headplate’ and ‘Bug Detector’ with no hint of hometown influence. Instead there is a wall of feedback and flange drenched beats and leads. What makes the track not stand out of place is that these same sounds were used in the opening tracks but submerged until traditional melodies. ‘Bug Detector’ comes across like a mutant form of Autechre that has been influenced by modern bass styles and aims squarely for loud soundsystems in its latter half.
A clattering, swinging percussion pattern opens ‘One Finger Punch’ and is joined by fax signal-like beeps before resolving into a bass soaked experimental frenzy, climaxed by a bombastic concert denouement. It’s one of the most lively and crushing tracks on the EP, which makes closer ‘The Rhythm Room’ a fitting respite, with complex but more subdued instrumentation that recalls a junk yard band jamming out with pots, pans, and anything else they find. While the beginning of Blot Method is the most interesting for its unique Tatar interpolations, the more frenetic and experimental latter half bears just as much merit. The way that all these sounds sit next to each other is perhaps what makes the EP strong as whole. On paper, it sounds like a lot of disparate styles mashed together. In your ears, though, Damscray seeks out the overlaps and succeeds in crafting a special stew out of them.
Words: Keith Pishnery // Out: Now
