- As The Bug, Kevin Martin has made his name on weighty productions that manage to make an impending apocalypse sound welcome. The clarity of his vocalist's fiery intent buttress against the spatial confusion brought on by sirens, sickly low-end and a commitment to angular, serrated rhythms. In the debut single on his new Acid Ragga imprint, an offshoot of Ninja Tune, Martin reunites with past collaborator Daddy Freddy and Inga Copeland of Hype Williams for a double feature of ramshackle, paranoid acid.
On "Can't Take This No More," Daddy Freddy toasts over parched snare clips and a surprisingly ineffective kick drum, frequently returning to the complaint of the 99%: "richer get richer/the poorer get poorer." Discerning between "idiot" and "mental" people, Freddy's vocal inflections and staccato delivery gets tangled with the staccato acid bassline and burbling wisps of dusky synths that relax his venom. It's a commanding battle cry that unfortunately peaks too early. The track with Copeland, "Rise Up," treads familiar ideological ground, but her floating vocal neuters the similarly sparse acid underpinnings and bone-dry percussive smacks. She's barely there even as she exhorts a vague revolution. Shards of detail arise in both mixes, like a brief, brittle siren ghosting and accelerating with one of Copeland's repetitions, but neither track quite achieves a palpable impact.
TracklistA Can't Take This No More
B Rise Up