Dirtybird and Breach both had a sterling year in 2012, riding the crest of the house revival into 2013 with a major focus on bass. Their paths have aligned for Dirtybird’s latest release and although ‘Jack’ fits neatly on Claude VonStroke’s label it marks only the second original from Breach not to be released on his own Naked Naked imprint.
‘Jack’ keeps things super simple and effective. A synthetic vocal line and pitched shot eschew the current trend of wailing divas and ‘deep’ RnB samples. Skittering, bit crushed percussion provides a rickety framework for monumental throbs of bass that undulate in an extremely pleasing manner. Lazy analogue sine waves counterpoint crisp, fizzy drums which are thinned out to give the low-end plenty of room to manoeuvre. It’s a satisfying track to listen to in headphones, the voluptuous sub seems to fit snugly in your ear but you just know when you hear ‘Jack’ in a club you’ll be feeling it in your chest.
It’s easy to see why ‘Let’s Get Hot’ appealed to VonStroke. It has the kind of tongue in cheek ghetto vocal that crops up time and again on Dirtybird. Breach has opted for a fuller sound for this track, quite literally breathing life into it with pitched exhalations. Over saturated toms hammer out a melody whilst the vocals whisper sensuously in your ear building haphazardly to a rolling low end more reminiscent of Breach’s early hit ‘Won’t Find Love Again’. ‘Let’s Get Hot’ is furnished with icy old-skool house strings, more crunchy drums and some delightfully bonkers noises from arcade machines in meltdown. Breach refreshingly allows the warmth to come naturally from the vocal and use of space rather than a borrowed nostalgia that seems so commonplace at the moment.
Fans of Breach and/or Dirtybird will be neither surprised nor disappointed by this release. The ‘Jack’ EP is another quality double header of bass with a touch of the ghetto that does enough to keep both label and artist refreshing in a scene that’s expanding extremely rapidly.
Rating 7/10