- Dubstep and acid don't, in the mind's ear, make the most harmonious of pairings—and that's even after we take into consideration the idea that neither style really sets out to be harmonious in a traditional sense. (A brief search of the two words together turns up a lot of dodgy-looking stuff from people who seem to be going through a heavy narcotics phase.) But Londoner Jamie Roberts, who does business as Blawan, is interested in the 303 as a kind of guest soloist rather than the center of his tracks. On Bohla's second track, "Kaz," a brief squiggling line, with some space at the end, alternates with a foggy-toned, far-away vocal sample, and over the heavy, room-noisy beat it throws some unexpected neon into a pretty organic composition, and it's utilized for maximum impact.
"Bohla" offers a slow-burbling 303 as counterpoint to a downbeat that's simply enormous—the wobble principle applied to the kick drum rather than the bassline. It's interesting to hear them in tandem—one irresistibly weird noise tipping its hat to the other, in a sense. "Violet," the closer, has some of that percussive depth, but the beat knocks more than booms. The 303s are still around, but they play second fiddle to the layered drums.
Tracklist A Bohla
B1 Kaz
B2 Lavender