(August 2009) Ard Bit is on to something. His latest album, Spanon, is sort of an electro-dubstep crossover record, and there’s something about it that clicks. It’s sometimes difficult to flesh out a barren dubstep landscape with enough elements to make things interesting, but Ard Bit does it more often than not. Even though there aren’t any particular standout tracks or memorable melodies, Spanon is a consistent slab of music that is rewarding and demands repeat listens. Essentially, it is a fusion of electro, dubstep, and darker elements of electronic music. The beats brood and crawl, and the atmospherics stare at you from the shadows of a dark alley. The music is powerful and menacing, at once imposing a sense of fear and inexorably pulling the listener along.
Most of the individual tracks have a stark backbone of a simple, slow beat that sounds like it has been made entirely from TR-808s. There’s also a Funckarma-esque bassline and light melodic washes. For instance, “Castick Flow” (The track names also show the Funckarma influence) has a sparse drum track, a crackling, crawling bassline, and feeble washes of melody throughout. “Dvil” sounds almost like a Caspa/Rusko production treated with a good helping of DSP. “Bongite” veers closer to hip-hop territory in terms of tempo, but still retains that computerized, squelchy bass sound and meandering chords. There’s plenty of experimentation and variation – even though there are a lot of dubstep elements, the album is definitely more geared towards the IDM crowd (even the cover art evokes Autechre).
Any proper review of this album would not be complete without a mention of its startling similarity to Funckarma – it’s very easy to accuse Ard Bit of imitating their style. This isn’t without merit – the bass and blackened electronics are definitely reminiscent of Funckarma, and a little research reveals that Ard Bit first popped up as a collaborator on a Quench (a Funckarma alias) album in 2006. Indeed, Funckarma’s two Dubstoned EPs in the last year or so have more or less paved the way for Spanon. Those EP’s featured lots of the same elements as this album, like halfstep drum patterns and colossal basslines. However, Ard Bit has improved impressively upon these stepping stones – where Funckarma’s work was cumbersome and tiring, Spanon is unquestionably compelling, interesting, and worthwhile. Ard Bit has something very good going for him right now. I look forward to hearing more from this fledgling producer, and I hope he continues to move away from Funckarma’s shadow.
Spanon is out now on Symbolic Interaction. [Listen / Purchase]
