(05.14.06) The mighty Mike Paradinas spotted another brand spanking new talent: Boxcutter. Now that the press has just fixed the standards of the grime niche, here comes someone who smashes the boundaries of this sub-genre.
Oneiric is the freshest album that hit my stereo in several months, presenting a blend of dub-step aesthetics, jungle basics, musical improvisation and skilled IDM production. The first three tracks are heavy dance-floor material, the title track flirts with eastern melodies, “Grub” charms the listener with spooky bleeps while “Skuff’d” goes back to the UK garage of the 2-step era, showing the world how it should have been done. The constant features of these tunes is a care of details that you’ll rarely meet in other dub-step productions (except Vex’d, I’d say), a ludicrous amount of bass frequencies and a deep knowledge of break-beat manipulation: it’s really awesome how Boxcutter uses the so-called Silver Blade break, a drum loop named after a Dillinja track and a trademark of Boymerang sound back in the days. In “Brood” he chops, stops, rewinds and literally plays it as an instrument. A great value added to Oneiric is precisely the incredible musicality of what should be only dance music. Take for example “Gave Dub,” it’s not only dub, it has so much soul inside to make you shiver. Not to mention “Sunshine V.I.P.” and “Bad You Do.” The former is the perfect soundtrack for the forthcoming summer; it’s based on a sparkling jazzy beat enlightened by breathtaking flute solos, while the latter merges dub vocals and funky guitar riffs with 303 acid and frantic breaks that would easily compete with the craziest productions of Squarepusher. There’s nor breakcore anger neither a DSP assault though, it’s only fast as hell and again surprisingly melodious.
I could go on and on really, “Silver Birch Soulstice” is another incredible tune and there’s more excellent material, but there’s no use in spending more words, it’s better if you check yourselves. I will only say that it’ll be a long time before another record will strike me like this, especially if made by a newcomer.
Oneiric is out now on Planet Mu.
