- Horsepower Productions aren't back, they never went away. They've always kept things open and loose, functioning as a roving collective, with Ben "Benny Ill" Garner and Matt Levesconte as the core production duo. The gap between releases has widened over the years, but that's only because the guys manage other commitments and, of course, writing albums takes time—especially the way Horsepower do it. Their tracks are built around samples, mostly from films, using the same production techniques they've been relying on since the beginning. Like the cinema narratives they borrow from, Horsepower albums are dense with subtext and nuanced storytelling.
Crooks, Crime & Corruption, the group's fourth full-length for Tempa, might sound like a divergence at first. Hip-hop starts things off on "Legends," opening up to psychedelic Delta blues on "Justify," smokey house on "Bak 2 NY" and Latin 4/4 flavours on "Kuriosity." Where's the bass, the dubstep, the garage? It's all there, largely propping up the album's latter half, but those sounds aren't exclusively what Horsepower are about—nor really have they ever been. Their mixtapes span a number of genres and the music they DJ varies depending on the party and the crowd. Jungle is their default sound, hence "Criminally Insane" capping off Crooks in a Drum 'N' Bass For Papa kind of way.
Levesconte and Garner both come from a rave and acid house background—Garner's solo music predates Horsepower Productions by close to a decade, and includes a hefty catalogue of techno and IDM collaborations with Bill Robin Fuller. Considering these eclectic tastes, Crooks, Crime & Corruption might just be the most bare-all Horsepower Productions record, putting all that history and variety of influence on display. The group's ability to transcend genres and eras gives Crooks a unique agelessness.
Still, the question remains: in 2016, what does a Horsepower Productions album mean for Tempa, for dubstep and for an aging scene still soldiering on? An answer might be in the words of "Change," sampled from Gil Scott-Herron's "Delta Man." Over a backdrop of rainforest sounds, the poet drawls, "This is a song about change, you see / We say many things about the changing aspects of our lives / We say that since change is inevitable, we should direct the change / Rather than simply continue to go through the change." With Crooks, Crime & Corruption, Horsepower Productions seem to follow that wisdom.
Tracklist01. Legends 2
02. Gbu feat. Orson
03. Justify feat. Harry Keyworth (LP Version)
04. Bak 2 NY
05. Kuriosity 6
06. Boardwalk Emperor 2 7
07. Change
08. Ruf Justice
09. Good Ole Dayz (LP Version)
10. Criminally Insane