Kumo doesn’t try to blast your head of with crazy frequency gulping bass/mid/treble sounds and huge highly processed half time beats, but instead envelopes you in a sonic hammock of subtle audio interplays which move and develop through the tracks.
[Release page] Setspeed’s latest release is a big slab of synthy lo-fi deepness that is a refreshing take on the UK bass music genre. It doesn’t try to blast your head of with crazy frequency gulping bass/mid/treble sounds and huge highly processed half time beats, but instead envelopes you in a sonic hammock of subtle audio interplays which move and develop through the tracks. Atmospheric and deep, this is music for actually listening to.
The release consists of two tracks, “Komu” and “Detail From A Larger Work.” The former is a sublime piece of deep downtempo, and as the label rightly says, the comparison to Autechre during their ‘90s era is hard to miss. That portamento synth patch is so reminiscent of the track “Clipper” that I’ve had to dig it out and give it a listen. In fact, the comparison fits all round, that blast of Autechre has just further compounded it. This is nothing other then a good thing! “Komu” is a subtle and intricate piece of sonic craftsmanship.
“Detail From A Larger Work” is a slightly abstract spaced out 2-step influenced track. Drenched in delay and moodiness, strings and piano licks emerge and pour themselves out while the beat does it’s job and the bass, although somewhat understated sees to its end of the deal with solid authority.
This release is further testament to the creative environment of the music scene in Bristol right now. A retro influenced, yet forward looking release. Does that sound like an oxymoron? Well, even if it is, I’m going to stand by it! A really good two tracker, deep, intricate, clever (but not too clever) and soaked in atmospheric synthy electronica. Plenty of bass too, as you might expect given the name of the label it’s released on – Bass Music.
Also available with this release are all the stems from the tracks so you can stick them in your computer and remix them to your hearts content. This is a standard practice for the Bass Music label (who are a division of the highly respected Bristol based blog known as, ahem… bassmusicblog), they routinely release the stems for all their releases. Quite an interesting idea, I wonder what remix masterpieces have been created? Maybe I’ll ask them…
Komu is out now in digital format from Bass Music. [Release page]
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