Son Raw can’t breathe
The economics of dance music don’t favor production. Why spend hours upon hours crafting tracks that will be instantly bootlegged on dodgy Russian forums when you could be touring the world stacking that show money? The wise DJ keeps his tunes exclusive: keeping your arsenal close to your chest ensures that every time you come through, you’ve got some exclusive heat to drop on the massive. Plastician understands this and has been relatively quiet on the release front for the past few years, despite dropping one of Dubstep’s all time classic albums in Beg to Differ back in the genre’s salad days. What he’s lacked in quantity however, he’s more than made up in quality: last year’s Retro has been in constant rotation around these parts and chances are, if you’ve seen me DJ over the past year it’s found its way into my set.
His latest release, Straight Outta Croydon, also looks back to leap forward but this time it’s not so much pastiche as a return to roots. Originally billing himself as a Grime producer, Plastician was never one for the Dubstep’s maximalist productions, despite sticking to the hardcore script when the tastemakers bolted for smoother pastures. It makes sense then, that he’d revisit that 04-05 intersection of instrumental Grime and Dubstep: rough and ready bass with room to spit on that still sounds fresh without a vocalist. It’s miles away from the more polished sounds of today while still keeping the production quality up to standard and it’s a brilliant reminder than you don’t need a million layers of tranceuphoric synths and squelches to make a point. All you need is some bass, a looping vocal screaming HARD-KORE and the wherewithal to keep it G. An NWA-inspired E.P title helps too.
Buy:
MP3: Plastician – Straight outta Croydon
