August 5th 2016 will probably best be remembered for what did not come out and not in fact what was released. Like every other reviewer I was intending to recommend this week that you listen to and unnamed and unmentioned artist whose album failed to materialise. So whilst my album for the week has been thoroughly trolled, I have instead opted to recommend a little gem that came out a few weeks ago.
Compton White makes what could be described as dubstep and post dubstep but those titles don’t really do this release justice as it doesn’t fit neatly into either one of them.
The album opens with a production titled Track 2, perhaps a little mocking of the listener before things get underway. However, with such a beautiful, complex arrangement that contains stuttering bass and broken rhythms any irie the listener felt towards the title of the opening track is easily dismissed.
Track 2 Hounslow stutters to life before exploding with the sort of bass that post dubstep producers forgot how to make. However, rather than veer towards the Skrillex button Compton White’s productions remain of the more studied and refrained bass banger and in that sense whilst Hounslow is bass-y as hell it is much closer to something Mala and Coki would drop than Flux Pavillion. This I am sure you’ll agree is a plus point to any dubstep track.
Doubled Diamond offers a more up-beat Burial take on Dubstep with crackling sound effects and a sunset synth vibe. In fact one of the real points of interest about Compton White’s first EP is that of use of Burial style subtle and fragmentation to his otherwise up beat bass driven tracks, it’s a technique which creates a nice juxtaposed sound throughout the EP. It is also one which is applied technically proficiently avoiding any ham fisted copy-cat sound-a-like accusations.
The EP is also littered with vocal samples and snapshots, which sound as if they are taken from a movie, often employed at the end or towards the end of each track each sample is well used and provides a neat method by which to break the EP’s tracks up.
The Compton White EP is a short release its six tracks flying by in a matter of minutes. However, what is on show suggests depth and complexity and shows buckets of promise. It is also to the producer’s credit that he has managed to squeeze so much into such a short EP. This may be Compton White’s first release but on the basis of the material on show here, he has an exciting time ahead of him.
albumoftheweek 