Pembroke / Lock In The Lion – Airhead & James Blake (BRAiNMATH, 2010)James Blake aims to show a different side of his musical personality with this, his third release and first on BRAiNMATH. Coming after the massively acclaimed ‘Air & Lack Thereof’ and his remix of Untold’s ‘Stop What You’re Doing’, Pembroke goes a long way to show why Blake is so hotly tipped. Airhead’s influence on the two tracks featured on the release is, aptly, to add a lot more space to the already laid-back and off-kilter beats found on Blake’s previous work. Both tracks come off more as sonic explorations, pushing the ability of a track to carry melody to its limit. It’s hard to say if this could even be defined as dance music, the two tracks being constantly surprising in direction throughout their length. A fascinating release by a fascinating artist.
Skull Crusher / Clunge – Numan / SDUK (Slit Jockey, 2010)The third 12” on Starkey’s label, Slit Jockey, features two exciting newcomers to the dance scene, Manchester’s Numan and London boy SDUK. This release is made for dancing – both tracks feature heavy beats and bass designed to get you moving. Numan’s ‘Skull Crusher’ is up first, coming in with metallic synth washes and distant speech samples before dropping into a main beat that Starkey himself would be proud of. On the flip, SDUK’s hilariously-titled ‘Clunge’ lulls you into a false sense of security with soft vocal stabs before not one, but two massive synth riffs crash into the track, eventually leading into a huge main beat that I’ve seen inspire some truly ridiculous jump-around dance moves many times. This is a solid step in the right direction from both of these young artists, and I, for one, hope to hear more from them soon.
By Jack Luckett
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