- I'm not one for putting too much stock into what a label head says about artists that he's trying to sell, but it was hard not to notice Trus'me's description of Wireman and swoon just a tiny bit. "He's like a melting pot where Carl Craig, Deepchord, Burial and Drexcyia are all put together," said the man late last year. And strangely, if you take Trus'me at his word, Wireman's debut EP for the label actually does fit the description.
You just have to remember, of course, that Trus'me never actually said that the melting pot would be as good as all of those artists put together. Don't get me wrong, Armour is good, and borders on excellent at times: "Forge" sounds a tad like the sweet ambient drift of Burial's "Dog Shelter," "Armour"'s first-half is what might happen if Deepchord were forced to uncover their housier tunes from that shroud of dub—before Wireman adds industrial touches in its latter stages.
"Axiom," meanwhile, is a chunky dubstep number that mixes the quick syncopated rhythms of the genre with groaning drones, making the track seem much slower than it actually is. The sleight-of-hand, however, doesn't continue on the almost painfully simple "Perspex," which drops everything for a cute IDM electro number that is most likely the basis for Trus'me's Drexcyia reference. Unlike the rest of the tracks here, it's a distinct and unrepentant throwback—a mindless treat at the end of a hard day.
To be honest, it's hard to get a read on Wireman from this debut EP. The producer reportedly has a full-length in the pipeline, and if this release is any indication, it should be a varied affair. But what makes the "melting pot" artists so great—aside from Craig perhaps—is their single-minded devotion to an idea or sound. In that respect, it'll be interesting to see whether Wireman's album is a meal made from scratch, or just another mish-mash of leftovers.
Tracklist A1 Armour
A2 Forge
B1 Axiom
B2 Perspex