- Sometimes you get to thinking that the formulas are all cast in iron—from here on in it’s all a process of refinement. But occasionally, something new comes along, and everything gets all fluxed up. It’s the place where, to quote Frenchie post-structuralist Gilles Deleuze, “territories tremble, where the structures collapse, where the ethoses get mixed up, where a powerful song of the earth is unleashed”. Without a doubt, Skull Disco has unleashed just such a powerful song of the earth on this EP, which is perhaps the best the label has produced so far.
The wonderful thing about ‘Circling’ is the way it makes space. Overhead are shifting elements reminiscent of early Pole, in the middle is a synth-bass nodding things along, while below are subs which shake the whole thing down. But unlike the aggro bombast of a lot of dubstep, here there’s a gentle romance between all the elements (even if it’s effectively a long-distance relationship ‘cos of the room-sized reverb). On his own, Peverelist tends to emphasise melodies that are reminiscent of early Aphex and the like, but together with Appleblim it’s all about melodic restraint and an emphasis on subtlety, depth, and the hybridised rhythms that both artists have been exploring recently. To me at least, there’s something entirely new here—it’s not just dubstep, it’s skull-disco, carrying signals from dub techno, ambient jungle as well as experimental electronica.
‘Over Here’ begins with a melodic drone not unlike the intro from AM/PM’s ‘No Matter Whether’, but in this case it’s drenched in chasmic reverb that fades as groove organises itself. When the beats do arrive, they’re clumped in clusters (with the bassline bossing round them like a sheepdog). It works well, but best of all is the atmosphere of the entropic slide as the mix slowly dissipates and the horn drone returns. Folks buying this as a track or a tool might be disappointed—only the deepest of dancefloors are ready for this—but as an audible manifesto of skull-disco, this is pretty darn special.
TracklistA Circling
AA Over Here