The first release on Deadboy's label,
Total Fantasy Records, comes courtesy of Bone Squad. They deliver a
varied EP consisting of one hardcore, one bashment and two grime
tracks. These days it's quite easy to feel jaded when listening to
new grime, especially when the first track on the EP samples “Ice
Rink” so blatantly. But Skal and Bones is a release so well
produced, that captures a mood and carries it so effectively through
genre barriers that the listener is convinced that this isn't another
soulless pastiche, but a great work in it's own right.
The opening track "Skal & Bones" is
the first grime cut. It's a minimal composition with a deep sub, a
haunting synth and reverberant keys that work to create a dark
atmosphere drenched in dread. The hardcore track "Valkyrie" maintains
this atmosphere effectively, coupling a strikingly out of tune pad
first with a ravey synth lead, then with an arpeggiated flute.
Personally, it's the second grime track
on the EP, "Vvinter", that impresses me the most. Clearly Ruff Sqwad
influenced, Vvinter is built around a beautifully simple cello riff,
that comes in and out throughout the track. A deep
sub-cum-atmospheric pad provides the low end while intermittent
church bells and sirens contribute to the heavy, sinister character. "Danskhall" is the final track from the EP and, if I'm completely
honest, a bit of a black sheep. Fundamentally bashment in terms of
sounds and rhythms, it seems to lack bashment's playfulness and
dance-ability (to be expected given the rest of the EP) which gives
it a slightly lacklustre feel. However it's not a bad track, the bass
hits hard on a system, the percussion is impeccably programmed and
the FX are exactly what you'd want from a track like this.
All in all I really do feel that this
is a fantastic release, a nod to the past without ever feeling
out-dated. An exciting start to Total Fantasy Records, a label I look
forward to hearing more from.
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