- It's funny to think that Honest Jons is the place where Damon Albarn has a hand in releasing some of Candi Staton's more recent output. In contrast with this mainstream pedigree, it's fast becoming one of the very most cutting-edge stables in underground electronic music. The Moritz von Oswald Trio, Actress, T++ and, soon, the Vladislav Delay Quartet are all on board, and that's not even mentioning dubwise electronica's head witchdoctor. Shackleton arrives with T++ and Mordant Music in tow here, and it perhaps comes as no surprise to hear that this is shivery, dank neo-gothic music of the highest calibre.
Deftly programmed conga tracks, wraithlike atmospherics and smooth, smoky subbass undercurrents. All his trademarks are there. Whereas a lot of his tracks more or less centralise the hip-snaking conga rhythms, though, "Fireworks" wraps them in reverb and submerges them, flickers of flame at the end of a long, dark corridor. "Everyone starts from point one" is the mantra on "Undeadman," one which some may recognise from the aforementioned "Deadman". Whatever the hell that means, the outlook's pretty bleak.
T++ takes a tack reminiscent of Autechre circa Confield and makes it adhere to a constant tempo. Stuttering, lurching greyscale rhythms are created from delay, but rather than (what you might initially see as) random chaos, they are in fact precisely placed in the sub-subdivisions between the notes. Mordant Music start out with pure liquid bliss, then descend into the depths of hell, then find some kind of amalgam of the two as the cavernous breakbeat comes in, destroyed with compression. It immerses you in a melting pot of emotions and then locks a lid on top. As with pretty much every other moment of this record, you might be inclined to wonder what exactly this has to do with dubstep as we know it. A better question might be: Who cares?
TracklistA Fireworks
B Fireworks, Aussen Vor Remix By T++
C Undeadman
D Undeadman, ReMMix By Mordant Music