I've always thought of Slam as occupying a space somewhere in between the Chemical Brothers, Joey Beltram and somewhere more underground... let's say Traum, for the emotionality. Perhaps it's my experiences at T in the Park in Scotland around the beginning of the decade, where adverts for Alien Radio were ubiquitous amongst the likes of The Man Who by Travis, but I found them, then, a bit too mainstream for my tastes. Not weird enough. Little did I know that afterwards, while I was sitting in darkened rooms listening to obscure Balanese gamelan music, Slam were leaping between genres with the greatest of ease, always with a stamp of quality.
Or maybe I had an inkling, because their first release on Drumcode pricked my little ears; I was interested to see what kind of effect such a deep, serious label would have on them. As it happens, the result is characteristically Drumcode, being thick, brooding and atmospheric, based around simple but carefully programmed riffs. In fact, it's one of the classiest things on the label so far this year. The reason may have something to do with the fact that Slam, being unencumbered by the stylistic inbreeding that can turn a subgenre stale, are free to, well, just make techno. It's simple, classic; and why not? Sometimes the best answer is the simplest one. So while "Maffaking" has the foundation of a droning, single note bassline, with cavernous reverb engulfing the riff and the mid to upper ranges, and "Last Sonic Approach" is based around percussive bobbles, both tracks ooze plateau.
Buy Slam - Maffaking at
Tracklist: Slam - Maffaking
 A Maffaking
B Last Sonic Approach
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