Review: Impey - Bangclap / 4titude [S7S002]

It may be too early to call, but with Boofy and Lemzly Dale in no rush to balance out the quality with quantity, Sector 7 Sounds could soon have themselves established as a bag-on-sight imprint. It's been a little wait since the label's acerbic debut, but "worth it" doesn't quite do 002 justice. Those who've had their ear to the grimey ground should already be well aware of lead track 'Bangclap', which boasts a string line that, in other, lazier hands, might have ended life wasted on a Lex-Luger-by-numbers trap beat. Impey's variations are subtle, allowing the emotive topline to retain its catchiness without slipping into the boredom of an overworked loop. This delicate sense of balance transfers also to the careful plumbing of grime's heyday - when the aggression of tunes such 'POW!' was valued as equally as the emotive likes of Ruff Sqwad's 'Together' - in, for instance, the tune's pitch-bent vocal snips. The balance of course noted in the fact that, listening to the record, you don't find yourself reaching halfway through for a tune made nearly ten years ago: 'Bangclap' avoids any cynical nostalgia because it's not a sonic palette that it borrows from so much as an emotive one, invoking something of the energy and feeling that made and, in certain examples such as this release, continues to make grime such an enthralling sound.

To say that the B-side is more of the same would usually make for a nicely back-handed compliment, however when the A- is this good, and the producer this young, it can serve as nothing less than a congratulatory handshake. More brooding than 'Bangclap', and making more of the space between scattered claps and broken drum rolls, '4titude' peddles a similarly astute sense of control and balance and, in the aforementioned use of space, feels more inviting to an MC. Yet with something of a drought - unless you're in Manchester, that is - of really good new MCs in grime, it seems '4titude' will be allowed to revel celebrated as an instrumental cut in its own for a good while longer at least.









Impey - Bangclap


Impey - 4titude


Impey - Bangclap / 4titude [S7S002] is out now on Sector 7 Sounds, and available directly from the BigCartel store.

W.

Review: Dark0 - I Ain't A Sweet Boy EP

Regular readers will no doubt already be aware of our appreciation for the North-West London producer, and indeed some of the tracks on this EP will already be familiar, having appeared previously as vocal bootlegs on the Zero mixtape.

Dark0 spends the majority of this latest EP indulging in melody, and the standout in this regard is 'Sweet Boy Pose': anthemic grime at its best, it sounds like Ruff Sqwad let loose on a room full of purple sound synths and is arguably some of Dark0's best work to date. 'PRS Riddim' - the title perhaps giving a cheeky nod to the Rinse FM airplay that the vocal version has received - shoots for anthem status too, with an irresistible hook beating its way past clattering snares. In another life, 'Fully Waved' is the euphoric soundtrack to a Mediterranean festival's video highlights, and 'Plasma Cannon' is the theme tune to a Sega racing game that never existed. Most probably reserved for the near-impossible final boss level. Both 'Karmmm' and 'Scyther', meanwhile, build trippy, spaced-out layers of loops on loops; the result is wide-eyed, hypnotic and, like the rest of the EP, indebted to Dark0's uniquely acute sense of tune and cadence.



Dark0 - I Ain't A Sweet Boy EP is available to purchase from Dark0's Bandcamp page now.


W.