Slowly Getting Converted

As time goes on, my resistance to dubstep weakens. I never actually disliked it (I gave Boxcutter and Distance the dread download treatment, and liked what I heard), but was a tad sceptical. I was especially sceptcal of Burial; I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about, and certainly didn’t sympathise with the ‘this is the ultimate statement of urban life!’ hype.

I wrote on a message board a short while back:

…[T]he depth of the image he creates finally comes into view. Fuck the ‘this is the sound of London, doomed megalopolis, post apocalypse, hauntology!’ accepted line of thinking, this is a pained (‘Wounder’, ‘U Hurt Me’), personal document; disc 2 is as mournfully blissful as anything I’ve heard. It’s like a black and white Vespertine, stripped of all joy or character; but that core, that dishevelled, drained, cadaver within is just as affecting in its diseased humanity laid bare.

And it just keeps growing on me. The moment of clarity was obviously hearing it on double vinyl, but there is also an element of slow-burn at work.

Anyway, another day, another step into the the subterranean depths of dubstep. Wandering downstairs in Crash Records, a thorough look revealed a bunch of Skull Disco records. Sadly not Majestic Visions, which is what I was most after, but they had another Shackleton/Appleblim (pictured) and also the Villalobos remix of ‘Blood On My Hands’ (quite literally not pictured). So I got those. I have thus far only listened to the former, but was sufficiently impressed to pen this little post. While I hae historically preferred Appleblim, I have to admit it is Shackleton’s ‘Hamas Rule’ that impresses most, with its Middle Eastern melodies, sparse darkness and what must be the biggest bassline in my collection.

I would also like to mention the artwork, reminiscent of Pushead, lending the existing dark underground aesthetic an added sense of old school metal/crust nastiness. Excellent.