"IF YOU WANT A VISION OF THE FUTURE, IMAGINE CRAP 808 SAMPLES STAMPING ON A HUMAN FACE- FOREVER"
Planet Mu
Cracking through the cocoon of his Jamie Vex’d moniker, Jamie Teasdale finally sheds the shell of industrial, proto-dubstep past and emerges fully formed as ethereal beatsmith Kuedo. An artifact of a time long gone when aggression wasn’t synonymous with bros and methadrone, Vex’d’s Degenerate was one of the most influential dubstep full lengths: immaculately placed rowdiness with genuinely sinister undertones rather than embarrassingly cartoonish nu metal tropes. Sure, it might have acted as a blueprint for some of the first poor chainsaw attempts, but its not like we blame Nirvana for Nickelback. Besides, has any tear out track even touched at the power of Angels?
Whilst their presence was sorely missed in the ensuing hiatus, the appearance of Jamie’s solo material completely dwarfed all previous output. The rigid machinery of Vex’d was knocked on its head with beyond-skewed beat patterns and Teasdale scrawling gloriously disorienting multi coloured synth patterns across the speakers. Traces still remained however, “Vex’d” still had its place in the alias and tracks like Saturn were still as subloaded and crushingly heavy as anything produced with former partner Roly.
Its with Dream Sequence EP that Teasdale really sets himself apart though. Carefully following a logical progression from his audacious remix of Scuba’s Twitch, the four tracks on offer are trippier and more lopsided, taking some clear cues from the scene leading new movements in instrumental hip hop. With the emphasis on melody multiplied tenfold, the tracks lose the bracing heaviness for good: instead, the likes of Starfox rely on wiry basslines that barrel roll around the track, falling in and out of time with the lolloping percussion and sci fi synth stabs. Clear highlight Glow sounds like early nineties house slowed to hip hop speeds and refracted in every possible direction, a bubbling, pulsing acid bass barely anchoring the malfunctioning drum machines. Essential.
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