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CD Feature/ Edgey vs Depth Error: "The Abuse Technique"

  Tobias

“Enjoy the abuse!”, Stephen J Knight aka Edgey recommends in the liner notes to his part of this split album and it is not hard to understand what he means by that: Drum n Bass, despite its many mellow and jazzy offshoots, has always been about the rawness of the streets, the darker corners of the clubs and the beauty that lies within controlled brutality. On his MySpace site, Knight cites coffee as the most important influence on his music, but who needs black beans for breakfast any more after listening to it?

To me, “The Abuse Technique” is kind of personal gift. There may be more albums like this one out there, but it is becoming increasingly hard finding out about them. Drum n Bass is a butterfly which has returned to its cocoon after a short stint in the outside world, where many admired it, but few really loved it in their heart of hearts. By putting two of the figureheads of the underground scene with adjacent but thoroughly individual styles in one boat, this record oozes energy and contains everything which made the genre stand out and eventually disappear from mainstream sight. Edgey is the man with the hooks. His percussions are militaristic, his tracks grippingly built around a few concise elements and each one of them contains at least one motive which will have you clasping the edge of your seat or jumping up and waving your fists – regardless of whether it’s a single effectively placed note or a mesmerising carpet of reverbed flute melodies. Depth Error, meanwhile, the pseudonym of one Matt Green, is clearly embedded in the rough roots: The drums spin into themselves, gargantous analog basses groan and moan and futuristic sci fi bleeps swirl from the left to the right and back again. Listening to this makes you instantly take the time machine to the early 90s and to huge greyish concrete halls filled with dancing masses, even though the digital mirror image that Green builds and his self-constructed loops make his music sound perfectly up-to-date.

Of course, sensitive souls may want to run for cover when being exposed to the martial intro to “My Tactic – Vengeance”, but “The Abuse Technique” is not just about beastliness. The clever track sequencing has both artists taking turns in presenting their skills and lends a surprisingly diversifed touch to an album which keeps coming back to the same highly effective principles again and again. Just like coffee, really: It tastes exactly the same each morning, but never fails to keep you stimulated and awake.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Edgey
Homepage: Edgey at MySpace
Homepage: Depth Error at MySpace
Homepage: Hive Records