(04.10.06) I never got really into breakbeat music, and this is because the first record of the genre I bought was Tipper’s Holding Pattern. After listening to such an album, any breakbeat track sounds utterly cheesy. Holding Pattern is a milestone in my collection, the instant catchiness of simple breaks is followed by an unpaired production level and the deepest bass on earth. Tipper showed his skills in several branches of electronic music, first with the exquisite IDM as part of Crunch (with Mike Wallis / Psi Spy), then with a magnificent orchestral record in surround 5.1 that is Surrounded, and recently with a mix CD called Tip-Hop, whose title speaks for itself.
This time Tipper goes back to the sound of Holding Pattern, but after a few years he’s faster, better and stronger. Retaining the usual ludicrous amount of sub-bass, Relish The Trough features more fluid rhythms, crazy percussive textures, classic scratches and even injections of acid. Don’t be fooled by the apparent calm of tracks like “Rare & Plentiful” or “Couch Barrels,” which are sublime melancholic pieces, here every tune is a step further towards breakbeat insanity. Tipper’s compositive technique is totally devoted to set a dancefloor on fire, you won’t have time even to think about how precise the drumloops roll, or how earth-shattering the basslines are, because all your nerves and muscles will be focused on jitterbugging, going nuts and bashing your head into the speakers. I don’t know really even how to pick a track or another above the others, every time I put Relish The Trough on, it’s like “THIS is the best!”, “no, wait, this is much better,” “erm.. I forgot how I liked this other tune” and so on until I regularly give up and surrender to the sound. This album is really very close to the idea I have of perfection in music, I have been waiting for it since 2002 and now it will be difficult taking it out of my CD player.
Relish The Trough is out now on Tippermusic.
