- Nostalgic bass music that still sounds like the future.
- Joe Powers' debut album, Insula, offered a new perspective on UK club music, speeding grime sketches up to 160 BPM with a surprisingly gentle touch.The music was fast, but also tender and reflective. That's even more apparent on Shleekit Doss, an EP named for an Edinburgh club night that Powers ran until last fall. He describes the night's style as "high-energy futuristic," which also describes his new EP's sound.
Bright melodies come out in percussive jabs, while the drums are nervous and fidgety. The music is thicker than Insula's, owing in part to Powers' new collection of FM synths. Next to the barbed grime rhythm of "Smith's Deli" are soft, contoured chords that leave a glow in their wake. The lead melodies on "2 Moros" have a decaying, Boards Of Canada-style lilt, like they're melting in the sun. These tracks, and the ornate "Prop O Deed," have the same footwork-jungle-grime hybridism as Powers' past work—drums stutter, jump and pounce—but the rhythms feel soft and deliberate.
Unlike Insula, this EP isn't full of chattering voices. But Powers retains a knack for sampling things around him. "Prop O Deed" is full of grunts and yelps molded into percussion. On "Satan," there are voices, synths and whirring machinery, plus an occasional time marker that sounds like a sword effect from an old video game. You've heard these sounds before, but not put together like this.
TracklistA1 Satan
A2 Smith's Deli
A3 Pico
B1 2 Moros
B2 Proc Fiskal & Delahunt - 4 Minutes
B3 Prop O Deed