Son Raw is back on his bizzy
A tension between sonic variety and cohesiveness is the lifeblood of a music scene. Too much similarity and things get formulaic – think Brostep, Arena Drum & Bass or bone-dry Tech House. Open things up too much however, and you’re likely to hear artists writing concept albums about the life-cycle of blue whales, not (generally) a good look. Grime’s in a great place right now with artists each exploring a variety of directions, and it’s exciting to see that amidst the new wave’s recent stylistic expansion, there’s still room for the producer/emcee/DJ dynamic that birthed it all.
Emerging producer Zha’s free pack of remixes points towards a necessary outreach by up and coming beatmakers towards the scene’s top emcees, artists with charisma to spare but whose production choices in recent years have been drawn from a limited circle of producers. Taking on recent classics including Big Narstie’s Gassed, Merky Ace’s Bag of Grease, the all star 8 Bar Muktion and Tempa T’s evergreen Next Hype (that track will never go away. Never.); the collection re-imagines emcee-led Grime as sparser and more intense, channeling the experimental edge of the current instrumental scene back into genuine hits. It’s a winning approach that combined with a few choice instrumental edits makes for a strong calling card and reminder that for Grime’s has always balanced its twisted, gnarled side with enough hooks to rope in people who don’t spend their thursday nights trawling Youtube for old Deja Vu sets.
Download:
Mp3: Zha – That Pack of Remixes (“Like” to download)
