Sach O would like to shout out Dan Love and Zilla Rocca for that epic New Year’s Eve.
Aaaaannnddd we’re back, I think. New Year’s Eve was truly excessive and so your friendly neighborhood Passion of the Weiss staff are still shaking off the cobwebs. Seriously, had the word “epic” not been appropriated by PBR drinking fratboys tebowing on instagram, I’d be using the word epic to describe the utter madness that was Who da Coldest. Thankfully, the Holiday season has left us with a bounty of un-reviewed music so we’ll be running at full speed in no time. And some of the best and worst to come out last month, in my mind at least, comes from the man known as Skream.
I sometimes feel like I’m trapped in an abusive relationship with Skream’s music. I try not to join the mass of haters belittling the man for feeding his family. I know why he release the music he does – when you’ve spent years in an empty club playing music that no one gives a shit about, taking that music to festivals and making a genuine living doing what you love must be the greatest thing in the world. But tunes like Anticipate? Or Nefariousa? Them shits hurt my soul. The first is nakedly commercial – sure it’s about his kid but it’s so utterly cheesy that even Justice and David Guetta must be giggling at it. I love a good rave tune like the next man but COME ON… we’re one piano vamp away from Happy Hardcore here. As for the second joint, it’s a bunch of flatulent robotic frogs brought to you by Scion – can we end this trend in 2012, pretty please?
The problem is, just as I’m about to quit this asshole, he comes baring flowers and the make up sex begins – extra-special 90s style no homo on this whole analogy, just in case. First there was a new Skreamizm, the long awaited 6th installment of his EP series on Tempa. A variety pack of bangers, rollers, Grime vocals, deep tunes and even a half-time D&B experiment, Skreamizm 6 pleased everyone and disappointed no one. Then there was Gritty and Phatty Drummer, two minimalist masterpieces on the legendary Deep Medi imprint custom-made to engender good-will among the heads who’re ashamed to even pronounce the word “Dubstep” these days.
Finally, he ended the year with a final unexpected Freeizm collecting unreleased tracks from 2004 through 2006. This is the point where the Internet promptly lost its shit because even years later, these are staggeringly good pieces of music. Live & Learn and Top Gear are beautifully meditative drum work outs, Potent Cloud and Tale of the Haunted Flutes are exactly the kind of music which first brought him to fame and Hurt the Soundbwoy manages to combine aggression and weirdness in such a twisted way that it’s hard to think of something made this year that matches it. One listen and those farting frogs are forgiven.
That’s kind of the problem here: every moment of joy here is tempered by the fact that these were made years ago. I’m not laying the blame on Skream either as most of the EDM-focused year-end lists I’ve read focused on incredibly boring, inoffensively bland “bass house” that has neither the wild energy of oldschool UKG nor the dark forward-pushing drive of Dubstep. Tailored to aging club-goers eager to escape the manic energy and bad taste of the Skrillex crowd, that stuff goes way too far in the other direction into the same middle of the road monotony that’s turned actual House into the soundtrack to douchy restaurants with pretentious dress codes and overpriced food.
I’m sure that somewhere in the world, a small group of friends are making the most amazing music in the world and I don’t know about it yet. That’s sort of the point: Dubstep would have never taken over the world had it not had the chance to develop and grow outside of the limelight. I can’t blame Skream for milking this cow for all it’s worth, particularly when he still finds the time to release good-to-great material on quality labels, not to mention giving away unreleased classics for free. But I hope to find that previously unheard group of friends making incredible music in 2012 because the cycle has to start over. Lord knows if I’m stuck choosing between Skrillex and Hype Williams, I’m going back to Hip-Hop full time and there aren’t enough Danny Brown and Madlib mixtapes to last the year.
Download:
MP3: Skream – Freeizm History: 2004-2006 (left click)
Mp3: Skream – Potent Cloud
MP3: Skream – Top Gear
