- The ninth plate on Hessle Audio comes in the form of a duet of tracks from Pearson Sound. Despite the fact that the name may be a well publicised alias of a Hessle-affiliated producer who you'll undoubtedly have heard of if you've listened to dubstep's extremities in the last two years, the really interesting aspects of the releases—much like those on the preceding cuts "Gambetta" and "So Far Ago" that laced the debut Pearson 12-inch on Soul Jazz—are the cleverly measured space and the emphasis on percussion.
"PLSN" seems to ache for replays, hiding its real pressure underneath the stabs of interestingly EQed, midrange-heavy keyboard and the near constant woodblock tapping. It's the slower broiled production of the two on offer, and it's the one that leans into each further evolution with a layered pounce or a succinct woodblock pitch change. "WAD" is the more immediate production, due almost entirely to the difference in pace and the compelling use of layer upon layer of neatly programmed percussion.
Like some mutant toast to the bongo-rich style of the new wave of UK funky house currently infiltrating many a culturally aware DJ set, it's the range in sound produced by the under layers of drum knocking that keeps each listen of "WAD" glistening with animation—like when the little rolls and pitch glitches occur, or when the vocal hook gets chopped and screwed before the percussion onslaught and thick low end slab punches return.