ALWAYS EVERYTHING

MIX // PEVERELIST - FUTUREPROOFING

So it’s been a quiet few weeks here at AE, what with time spent taking stock of the year’s developments and the almighty stumbling block/distraction that was Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s ATP weekend (Oneida’s Ocropolis installation – a ten hour performance with a revolving door cast that included Deerhoof, Mike Watt and Chris Corsano – is worth a particular mention, a casually psychedelic, mind-expanding way to spend a day).

As with the last time he recorded one, though, it seems an appropriate to break radio silence with a new offering from local producer/DJ extraordinaire Tom Ford, more commonly known as Peverelist – a dub-heavy mix for RA/Little White Earbuds guru Andrew Ryce’s new blog, Futureproofing. Unusually for Pev, he’s revealed the (characteristically mouthwatering) tracklist, swinging everywhere from the monochrome, metallic house of A Made Up Sound and Kowton’s depth charge of a jam, ‘She Don’t Jack’, to several new tracks from himself, Bass Clef and Bristol’s Kähn. The gorgeous, deftly sliced vocals of Kähn’s opener ‘Like We Used To’ are particularly potent, and the cascading chords and tricky syncopations of Ford’s own ‘Fundamentals’ and ‘Dance Til The Police Come’ (wonderfully titled, in the wake of ‘Skeng’ soundtracking the Millbank’s semi-demolition) are among his most fiendishly complex yet. As his music has evolved over the last few years it’s become ever more stylized and increasingly distinctive, particularly in the percussive aspect: though the techno comparisons that assisted/limited his early music were at least partially accurate, the Peverelist of now has fully honed the nervy inflections of tracks like ‘Erstwhile Riddim’ into a unique fusion, one that slows jungle’s restless, rolling vistas to a tempo at which new elements are gradually revealed from amongst the chaos.

In this mix, Ford’s music is neatly placed in the context of 2010’s soundsystem shifts towards groove-oriented, bass-heavy house music, even among those considered ‘dubstep’ to the core - the likes of Pev himself, Pinch and Appleblim. In a year when the discourse surrounding what is or isn’t dubstep has become increasingly fractured, with sub-genres piled upon sub-genres in a frankly exhausting scramble to define, limit, contain, the unwillingness of many of its most respected practitioners to buy into any particular niche has been consistently refreshing. What is/isn’t dubstep circa 2010 is a fluid beast, less restricted in pace or structure than ever before – evidenced by the slower tempo that dominates this mix, and Ford’s recent house-heavy set at Dubloaded - but on the bleeding edge it continues to search for innovative new outlets.


Download the mix and read an exclusive interview at Futureproofing.

Tracklist:

Kähn - ‘Like We Used To’ (Dub)
A Made Up Sound - ‘Rear Window’ (Delsin)
Kowton ‘She Don’t Jack’ (Idle Hands)
T++ ‘Cropped’ (Honest Jons)
Peverelist ‘Fundamentals’ (Dub)
Shake ‘Drummer Downstairs’ (Fit Sound)
Peverelist ‘Dance til the Police Come’ (Dub)
Peverelist ‘Livity’ (Dub)
Emptyset ‘Red Sun’ (Peverelist mix) (Dub)
Bass Clef ‘Rollercoasters of the Heart’ (Dub)
Andy Mac ‘Every Time’ (Dub)
Kähn ‘Helter Skelter’ (Dub)
Ekoplekz ‘Stalag Zero’ (Punch Drunk)

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There’s more to come from AE in the run-up to Christmas - some thoughts on the year’s developments and the way things are set to continue into 2011 and beyond.

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Rory