Your cart is currently empty!
Gobstopper Records
Bloom 'Quartz VIP'
£8.99
Gobstopper Records
Bloom 'Quartz VIP'
£8.99
For anyone with a serious interest in understanding the context that gave life to today’s blossoming instrumental grime scene, Bloom’s ‘Quartz’ - originally released on Gobstopper in 2012 - should be your first point of reference. A fierce, juggernaut of a track, it was arguably the first grime beat of it’s kind to fully connect with wider listeners, blowing the rigid 140bpm template that had defined grime music since its formative years wide open in the process.
Through utilising space too, Bloom’s work on ‘Quartz’ felt all the more powerful and amplified - from every gunshot to every abrasive, detuned square wave, each element of the track felt razor-sharp, precise and perhaps most importantly, ruthlessly unapologetic.
Maybe it was this sense of brazen, self-assured artistic license that caught Bjork’s ear, after footage emerged of her playing the original mix at a recent Tri Angle Records party in New York.
To celebrate five years of Gobstopper, it feels all the more poignant then that label boss Mr. Mitch has decided to re-issue ‘Quartz’ on wax, complete with a devilish VIP edit and a specially commissioned remix from US producer Rabit - himself another artist crucial to instrumental grime’s worldwide boom.
The VIP baffles in the same way the original mix does, only this time via a boosted sound palette littered with slapstick zaps, pulses and fizzing FX, while Rabit turns a crackly, industrial hand to his rework - a dark, ghoulish interpretation that listens like a natural extension of his work on debut Tri Angle EP, ‘Baptizm’.
Tracklisting:
1. Quartz
2. Quartz VIP
3. Rabit Remix
Through utilising space too, Bloom’s work on ‘Quartz’ felt all the more powerful and amplified - from every gunshot to every abrasive, detuned square wave, each element of the track felt razor-sharp, precise and perhaps most importantly, ruthlessly unapologetic.
Maybe it was this sense of brazen, self-assured artistic license that caught Bjork’s ear, after footage emerged of her playing the original mix at a recent Tri Angle Records party in New York.
To celebrate five years of Gobstopper, it feels all the more poignant then that label boss Mr. Mitch has decided to re-issue ‘Quartz’ on wax, complete with a devilish VIP edit and a specially commissioned remix from US producer Rabit - himself another artist crucial to instrumental grime’s worldwide boom.
The VIP baffles in the same way the original mix does, only this time via a boosted sound palette littered with slapstick zaps, pulses and fizzing FX, while Rabit turns a crackly, industrial hand to his rework - a dark, ghoulish interpretation that listens like a natural extension of his work on debut Tri Angle EP, ‘Baptizm’.
Tracklisting:
1. Quartz
2. Quartz VIP
3. Rabit Remix
Related products
-
London-based producer and DJ Tarquin has returned to Gobstopper Records for his second release with the seminal underground label, ‘Grease’. Tarquin delves deeper into the boundary pushing sound that his productions have become synonymous with for this two track release, out on digital and 12” vinyl formats from 5th may.Visit product page →
The release’s A-side, ‘Grease (Chord Mix)’ is a high tempo example of the genre’s more experimental side, using fragmented percussive samples set to a background of pitch-bent chord stabs and twisted melodic elements.
Providing as much impact in the track’s negative space as in its instrumentation, Tarquin’s minimalist approach to production on ‘Grease (Chord Mix)’ establishes its boldness and makes it one of the most recognisable examples of deconstructed club music of the year so far.
As a counter-point to the abstract starkness of ‘Grease (Chord Mix)’, the release’s flip side ‘Foxtown’ utilises ominous synths and distorted bass tones to tackle the more upfront sound of first generation grime production. Tarquin adds short, sharp chops of texture to the mix from every angle, creating a sound that feels robust without ever adding too many layers. Using revered trademarks of the genre’s sound such as MIDI flute melodies and menacing pads, ‘Foxtown’ brings to mind a more glitched-out interpretation of some of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Boy In Da Corner’-era production work.
Tarquin’s second release on Gobstopper Records is the sound of an artist mastering his own experimental sound whilst acknowledging its foundational elements. This flexible approach to his productions places Tarquin highly in the ranks of the UK’s forward thinking club elite and makes ‘Grease’ one of 2017’s exciting and essential grime releases.
Tracklisting:
1. Grease
2. Foxtown -
Bath-based producer Odeko returns to Mr. Mitch’s blossoming Gobstopper imprint with a new two-track single, following a 2016 that saw the label release EPs from mainstay Loom and Irish duo CLU, as well as Odeko’s debut record, ‘A History With Samus’.Visit product page →
Deeply idiosyncratic, Odeko’s sound references a variety of themes without ever feeling bound by any and on ‘Digital Botanics’, he takes this bright, one-of-a-kind sound design to new heights. Subtle trap patterns provide the foil for gloopy, toy-like melodies to glide over the top, spiked by short bursts of growling, industrial noise.
On ‘Construct Conduct’, Odeko offers his take on euphoric, 80s-inspired synth music — only prepped for the future — with pulsating, heady grooves and spiralling, acid-y melodies nodding to a growing reputation that he is quietly becoming one of the UK’s most exciting young sound designers.
Tracklisting:
1. Digital Botanics
2. Construct Conduct -
Dublin born A/V duo CLU release four track ‘Mood’ EP, set for release through Gobstopper Records on 18th November 2016. Dublin born musician Sean Cooley and visual artist Kevin Freeney formed CLU in 2011 as a way to play music and showcase artwork simultaneously to their friends in venues and galleries across the city.Visit product page →
Growing up in the 1990s, they witnessed the birth of mass produced 3D computer animations and the conceptual god complexes that came with the Internet. These two very apparent influences made them immerse themselves in the ever intertwining mediums of sound and vision, giving CLU a very unique approach to their live AV shows.
Influences of trance, R&B, videogame and film scores, grime and industrial permeate Cooley’s productions, which bubble with multitudes of synths and maintain a focus on bass driven twists.
Visually, Freeney engages in a surrealist depth that skips on the brink between digital film and generative animations. This connection between the two forms a symbiotic chemistry that aims to bridge the gap between the white cubed galleries of visual art and the dark basements of electronic music to create soaring galactic oddities.
Tracklisting:
1. MOOD2098
2. Okami
3. Long Lost Motion
4. Trance Lament -
Mr. Mitch's Gobstopper Records follows Loom's 'European Heartache' with GOB019, a debut release by rising producer Odeko.Visit product page →
Influences on the Welsh producer's 'A History With Samus' EP are rooted in 21st century - and beyond - communication and evolution: "At the time of writing the EP, I was exploring my interest into humanity's developing obsession with technological integration, the process of creating synthetic life, virtual realities and environments and the potential future of companionship between human and AI."
Fact Magazine profiled Odeko among 10 grime producers to watch in 2016 writing "What we’ve heard hints at an expansive approach exploring the hidden connections between Rapid at his most lovelorn and electronic experiments by James Blake or Oneohtrix Point Never....He’s got a ton of potential to add nuance and shading to the label’s emotional grime deconstructions, and the outside influences carry a welcome influx of new ideas at a time when the genre can feel a bit self-referential. Trust us on this one."
Tracklisting:
1. Setsuko
2. The Yumato Spring
3. Sugar Acid
4. Tsundoku
v
