Presented by LABORATORY, on Funktion One sound… What could possibly go wrong?

8PM-1AM

24th July 2010

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The EP opens with a first for the label in a contribution from Geiom, responsible for the Berkane Sol label, as well as material for the likes of Skull Disco, Deep Medi and Planet Mu. Here he irresistibly reworks the lead track from Kuoyah’s recent EP, raising a sweat with a stepping drum track and eking out key changes to expertly tighten up the cinematic drift of the original.

Sully is a regular on the roster – championed by everyone from Dusk + Blackdown to Sinden – and he appears on ‘Volume 2′ with ‘Saviour’. Originally distributed as a free download, here the track receives the properly mastered vinyl cut it deserves, maximising the effect of an intense bass exorcism in classic 2003 style. His unique talent for bewitching future 2-step beats is also in full effect, allied to trademark ricocheting samples and a glowing chord progression.

Point B continues to unearth hidden connections between Drexciya’s militant funk and the rhythmic flex of 2-step garage. If his gift for rewiring disparate conventions seems to create knotty musical puzzles at first, as with his previous work for Frijsfo – not to mention diverse releases on Combat, SCSI-AV and Orson – it always makes complete sense by the end.

Rising Nottingham-via-Bristol producer Sclist ties up a few threads with a remix of a cut from ‘Frijsfo Beats Volume 1′. His version of Lewis Hunter’s ‘Cut From the Wreckage’ was previously included on his digital EP for Frijsfo, which followed a stand-out release for Whistla’s L2S Recordings. Surgically enhanced breakbeats and trademark mechanised glitches take things into angular, suspensefully paced territory in suitably unique fashion.

It’s an overused comparison that probably deserves to be buried, but Angel Dub does reek of Horsepower Productions, or more precisely the ducking 2-step and Basic Channel steals of Benny Ill’s classic Tempa EP with Hatcha. In this case laziness has been avoided, a sunstroked, hazy quality making it sound Kuoyàh’s own, and a judicious electronica dimension expanding the arrangement without falling into the IDM-ish trap of trying to ape something cleverer.

That holds true even for the more downtempo Asia, which turns up the dub channel to find hordes of space-echo revenants chasing around. The thoroughly dust-less grooves of common soundsystem samples are absent, though, dropped for an unexpected reversioning of Artificial Intelligence bleep tones.

On Soldiers, Donnarumma’s background in electroacoustic music and ambient is more obvious, in common with Chase The Comedown, 2009’s digital EP. It’s equally clear how he’s been sharpening this kind of line since then, refining trademark, half-dismantled bundles of beats to the point where everything is in just the right wrong place.

Attention for this EP will understandably bend towards Sully’s Angels Dub remix, not without justification. It’s another great Jack Stevens beat, with pummelling sub-bass, arpeggios scrambled almost in the style of Zomby and an uncharacteristically martial drum track beating out something like an Addison Groove juke pattern.

Kuoyàh himself, though, deserves just as much of your time on this one, trust us.

2snide – Treat One

• Lewis Hunter – Cut from the wreckage (Sclist Remix)
• Sully – Grids V2 (Dub)
• EDMX – 2K3 Beat (Frijsfo Beats)
• Sines – Still Fullish (L2S recordings)
• Wiley – Split It Down The Middle (White)
• Hypno – Telescope (Haunted Audio)
• Sticky – ??? (White)
• J-Treole – The Loot (Sully Remix) (Keysound)
• Sclist – Idle (Frijsfo Beats)
• Flying Lotus – Roberta Flack (Martyn Remix) (Warp)
• Groove Chronicles – Stone Cold (Groove Chronicles)
• El-Tuff Project – Drive Me Crazy (Qualifide)
• James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Remix) (Take)
• Blackmass Plastics – Blue Velvet (Dub)
• Blackmass Plastics – Ready Shreddy (Gruffalo)
• Point B – Industrial Revulsion (Combat forthcoming)
• Lex – Batman
• Point B – Detritus (Frijsfo Beats)
• Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car (Warp)
• Jose James – Blackmagic (Joy Orbison Remix) (Brownswood)
• Mosca – Gold Bricks I See You (Elavator Music)
• Hardsoul – Self Religeon (2snide Remake) (Dub)
• Warlock – Black Bag Of Doom (Dub)
• Daninche – Mega Drive Bass (???)
• Terra Danjah – ??? (Dub)
• Unknown – Unknown (White)
• Point B – Misspent Youth (Combat forthcoming)
• Horsepower Productions – Django’s Revenge (Tempa)
• Fissure – Brilliancy (Another Chance)
• Sully – Toffee Apple (Frijsfo Beats Dub)
• Kuei – Tanaris Rising (Hsuan Records Dub)
• Kipo – Monkey Breakfast (Left Turn Records Dub)
• Mosca – Square One (Greena Remix) (Night Slugs)
• Synkro – Vacant (Smokin Sessions)
• Debruit – Nigeria What (Civil Music)
• Falty DL – Paradise Lost (Planet Mu)
• Kuoyah – Asia (Frijsfo Beats forthcoming)

* Don’t Miss: Prolific ignorant breeze-chatting, and much more, from 2snide and others over at Snide Remarx.

Frijsfo Treats 2…. Lewis Hunter.

Sclist already has grass-roots respect in his adopted city of Bristol and beyond, thanks to bumping ‘future garage’ beats for Urban Scrumping, Mezmerize and L2S, the label run by Sub FM stalwart Whistla.

With ‘Hollow’ and ‘Idle’, he has refined his productions to new levels of effectiveness – each composition being such a confident exercise in minimalism, it would be hard to guess his debut arrived less than a year ago.

The blue-note keys and subaquatic tones on ‘Hollow’ seem to retrace some of Drexciya’s deeper explorations, not unlike Ed DMX’s experiments on FRJ003. With the beat bubbling throughout and a cloak of imperceptible but deadly bass, somehow four minutes cruise past in no time at all.

‘Idle’ is cut from the same cloth, but filled out with frosty dub-techno wizardry (matching that of Pangaea or Spatial) riding another thick carpet of bass. At the same time, in terms of atmosphere the track stands with classic dubstep as much as Sclist’s contemporaries, recalling particularly Digital Mystikz’ early lessons in restraint.

Tying up the bundle is a bonus in the form of Sclist’s remix of ‘Cut from the wreckage’, Lewis Hunter’s contribution to the first Frijsfo Beats release back in 2008. Sclist has surgically enchanced the original’s mangled breakbeats and machine glitches into a final proof of his talent, and another demonstration that subtlety doesn’t mean sacrificing heaviness.

* You can hear all of these tracks in a recent DJ Oslek’s mix, which was featured on Paul Corey’s radio show and blog.

IDJ Magazine review by Oli Warwick:

“With only one other release to his name, Sclist makes his presence felt with this release for the Frijsfo crew. Just check ‘Idle’ with it’s intricate snappy beats and submerged chords, or the spooked out minimalisms of ‘Untitled’. Elsewhere you can hear him digging into scatty jungle breaks spread across a spartan canvas on his remix of Lewis Hunter’s ‘Cut From The Wreckage’. 8/10″

Tantalisingly doing the rounds on dub for long enough now, “Reminder” and “Jackman’s Rec” should usher in Sully’s biggest moment yet. Since Blackdown (AKA Martin Clark) included both in his end-of-year dubstep chart for Pitchfork, he and DJ partner Dusk have supported the tunes consistently on Rinse FM and at FWD>>, also featuring “Jackman’s Rec” in their XLR8R magazine podcast last year.

“Reminder” has subsequently been deployed in sets by Ben UFO, Pangaea and Tomb Crew, the latter including it in their recent contribution to FACT magazine’s respected mix series.

One of Sully’s tricks is that his music never falls into predictable slots. “Reminder” might be a peak-time, late-summer skanker, but there isn’t a clichéd reggae sample in earshot. Instead, it’s closer to a translation of pioneering producer Pole’s crackly dub abstractions into dancefloor form. “Jackman’s Rec” is a velvety roller that on one level, is the best example so far of how Sully’s intuition for swing allows him to nail the dark sensuality of early FWD>> beats. Yet at the same time, it’s in no way trapped in nostalgia for that era, simply sounding like the next step for future garage.

IDJ Magazine review by Oli Warwick:

“Another sterling example of the way 2-step has been reimagined for the 20th century, Sully drops two chunky tracks on Frijsfo, upholding the label’s tradition of crafty beat mangling. ‘Jackmans Recs’ is tight as you like, while not the most starkly original groove, but on ‘Reminder’ Sully’s unique qualities shine through with a delicious guitar lick sure to get every ass in the room shaking. 8/10″

“Sully’s *the* most exciting producer doing anything with swing and 2step beats this side of Burial. Headz ain’t ready for Sully…”
– Blackdown

Boomkat says: “Tougher garage steppers from Sully on Bristol’s Frijsfo imprint. His ruff weave of dub, garage and

hardcore has been picking up a ruck of followers who should be well into this release. ‘Sleazy’ is the better of the two here, working with darker atmospherics into which he sets a growling hardcore bassline and beats like El-B in a foul mood. ‘Cadillac’ follows with a more laidback roller concentrating on Steve Gurley style garage breaks and a jazzy double bassline reminding us of The All Seeing I’. Sick twelve.”

Opening track “Detritus” is built around an unbreakable backbone of kicks, woodblocks and dense sub-bass growls. Tweaked techno stabs sustain the pressure until Point B drops a mean (but tastefully executed) snippet of Distance-style bass guitar and an atmospheric post-Skream melody.

“No Smokes” is a tense meeting between two-stepping beat patterns and stiff electro-funk, illustrating Point B’s distinctiveness. Graceful soundtrack synths smooth things over somewhat, only to get re-jigged for mashed-up dancefloors by fragments of a caustic acid line.

“Isocity Meter” boasts an even brisker, more invigorating arrangement, dominated by huge, metallic bass tones that sound as if they’re being collided and yanked apart by an elastic sense of rhythm.

Finally, Italian Frijsfo discovery Kuoyàh contributes an unbelievable remix of “Someone Else’s Past”. His trademark loose, unevenly oscillating beat constructions are fascinating in their own right, but take away nothing from the rolling, dark two-step vibe. Any DJ who feels a connection to dubstep’s more creative eras should be playing this.

As The !S.A.D!, Marco has produced and released a lot of music with the focus being on noise/breakcore/electroacoustic sounds, inspired by his exciting audiovisual live performances (collaborating with visual artist Deftoo), which he has shown to audiences worldwide in places such as Italy, Spain, France, Latvia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Hungary and most recently at the AUSKLANG FESTIVAL in Hamburg, Germany . His knowledge and technical skill at live electronic performance is shown at www.thesaddj.com/cntrl/ where he explains his newly developed (and still developing) audiovisual performance software ‘ C::NTR::L ‘.

As Kuoyàh, Marco shows us the fruits of his production work that has been influenced heavily by dubstep, garage, dub, and obviously his diverse musical background. This EP comprises some of Kuoyàh’s jittery, warped, cold dubstep beats, which quickly morph into hybrid styles that I’m still trying to work out. Fans of Point B, Pinch, Lewis Hunter, Ital Tek, Innasekt, Combat Recordings, Vex’d, Milanese should be interested to hear these tracks.

**Review on Boomkat: “Latest drop from Frijsfo Beats comes courtesy of Italian producer Kuoyah with three track of crunching dubstep influenced electronica. ‘Dark Muse’ sits comfortably next to the techier steppers styles of Sully, Cloaks or Distance with similarly weighted rhythms but sets himself aside as a taklented composer with impressive string arrangements almost appraoching Robert Logan territory. This comparison rings even more true on ‘Double Face (Shit!)’ with hi-tech digital rhythm manipulations and darkened industrial atmospheres leaving ‘Pressure’ to seal the deal for any non-believers with a cold rave tool sitting somewhere between Ae, Robert Logan and Cane. Tip!”**

Fans will know Ed from prolific work on the Aphex Twin-founded Rephlex label. The ability to mutate a Detroit-esque electro sound into sick hybrid forms is something he’s ably proven on releases like the ‘Collapse of the Wave Function’ series.

The material on ‘2K3 Beats’ dates from 2003-4, but now seems the right time for these atmospheric tracks to see the light of day. The demand for fresh takes on post-garage music (in the dubstep community and elsewhere) should see this EP readily picked up.