News / / 08.10.12

PANGAEA

RELEASE (Hessle Audio)

15/20

Pangaea is one third of the trio behind Hessle Audio, home of that unholy garage-techno hybrid and lower-than-low subs. On Release, a double EP comprising eight slabs of bass, Pangaea can be found grasping the frayed, sparking cables of what used to be easily distinguishable genres of dance music and holding on for dear life. Album opener Game gets things off to a stylishly punchy start, centred around a clipped, carnival beat (much like the under-rated Berkane Sol imprint bangs out), and a weirdly phased Missy Elliot instruction to ‘stay ahead of the game’. Majestic 12 ups the tempo, strapping rocket boosters onto a bleepy dubstep melody, while Middleman is a dark, rolling half-steppa, which (like the taut, rave-echo rhythms of Kode 9) channels the spirit of jungle into a dubstep bpm. Snippets of dismembered vocals spurt out of a cartwheeling bass line on Aware (thankfully avoiding the overused, pitched-up RnB samples that should’ve been left to Burial to excavate), producing a taut, tense and vicious album highlight.

This is a man who takes the responsibility of producing bass music seriously, and the trademark Hessle subs are out in force: the aptly named Timebomb has a rhythm that straddles a slowly rolling earthquake of a bass line, and it’s a killer. And nothing says ‘I love you’ like seven minutes of juddering, beat-less, helicopter bass, which Pangaea deploys on final track High to brutal (but unexpectedly beautiful) effect.

This is not music that wants to be your friend, but in its bleak intensity, it is dark, compelling and alive. If you want a light touch then get your Tensnake hot pants on. But if you’re happy in the darkness then Pangaea’s is the place to be.

 

– – – – – – – – –

Words: Adam Corner

CONNECT TO CRACK