Various Artists / Keysound Recordings: This Is How We Roll
CD / Digital
Keysound Recordings / Released March 2013
Dusk and Blackdown’s very London garage organisation Keysound Recordings steps out to provide a 14 track label sampler-cum-manifesto for the future. Dominated by new school names as oppose to some of the illustrious faces that have graced the label since 2005, it’s proof that there’s plenty of life left in this area of the underground.
Take the poised, staccato drums and echoed refrains of Commotion VIP from Wen for example. The bassline reverberations are enough to outdo any urban offering, whilst the atmospherics and percussive patterns afford greater coherency with the pluralistic approach modern dance music has taken. It’s garage, but as with the vast amount of tracks on here, there are far fewer restrictions in place than canons usually allow.
Of course there are plenty with more of a classical stance on this sound. Visionist’s Dangerous, and The Steppenwolf from Epoch are built for die hard fans, albeit even then there’s a refreshing amount of experimentation evident. Elsewhere, though, we touch on glitzy synthdom via Moleskin’s Burst, sparse glitch on the very spatial Satellite courtesy of Rabit, and abstract rave arrangements (as is proved by the aptly titled tune of the album contender In Reverse by Mumdance & Logos). All in all then well worth buying, whether you’re one of the loyal faithful or want a comprehensive introduction to where things are today.