ALWAYS EVERYTHING

SHACKLETON ‘MAN ON A STRING PT1 & 2’

Forthcoming Woe To The Septic Heart

It’s testament to the all encompassing attitude of dubstep pre-implosion that Shackleton is considered one of the all time pillars of the scene. Whilst its true that his Skull Disco label co-run with Appleblim stands up as one of the most well realised artistic statements related to the world of bass pressure- and indeed, the personnel and geography involved makes it seem easily categorisable - in retrospect the haunted tribalism he produced seems somewhat parallel, if not anomalous, to the majority of classic dubstep. The key principles of dread and heavy sub are all that relate, and its a shame that we no longer have that adventurous sense of inclusion, merely ever splintering scenes increasingly conforming to rules & regulations of those that came before.

With that said, and a personal disavowal of dubstep from the man himself, it’s not surprising that the intersection was fleeting. After Skull Disco was put to pasture (Rory wrote a fitting epitaph whilst curating DiS’ bass music week here) Shackleton’s music has radically diverged from what you might loosely call the old template. A lot has been made of his move to Berlin precipitating an absorption of techno tropes, something hinted at by Skull Disco remixers and seemingly confirmed by his appearance on Perlon for Three EPs. This all seems reductive though, as its hard to pinpoint very many producers who make techno like this, all gnarled spectres of some bizarre, unknowable paganism. Making percussive electronic music curses you to categorisation, separating the link between his true spiritual compatriots: 80s post punk experimentalists, the industrial & noise scenes, and all manner of non-Western musicians.

None of this changes on Shackleton’s inaugural release for his new imprint, “Woe To The Septic Heart!”. Bearing some thematic similarity to Skull Disco merely by name (something compounded by the return of sleeve designer Zeke Clough), ‘Man On A String Pt I&II’ and ‘Bastard Spirit’ are two more deadly transmissions from beyond the void. Built out of scraping, rusted percussion and powerfully spring-loaded polyrhythmic patterns, Shackleton unearths all of the elements of his back catalogue to date and reanimates them with newfound urgency. Simultaneously staggered by anchoring basslines and propelled by tense, tuned percussive salvos, its not surprising that he was invited to take part in the Congotronics remix project given the dizzying rhythmic interplay on display. Recent candidates for drum programmer prodigies du jour seem positively amateurish side by side, simple half time/double time dichotomies blitzed by stacks of doom-laden juxtapositions. What’s calm is fraught, where ambience- neuroticism. Precision is always a knife edge away from a nervous tic. All of these paths are explored in greater detail on the forthcoming Fabric 55, a monument which will quite likely usurp Villalobos’ incredible no. 36. For now, the beginning of something very special indeed. Skull Disco set the bar high, but Shackleton seems set to match, if not best it.

Samples can be heard on Boomkat, whilst ‘Bastard Spirit’ (né Busted Spirit) features on Shackleton’s amazing Mary Anne Hobbs farewell mix- hands down my favourite mix of the year.

—-

Simon