Ghosts on Tape - Nature's Law

  • Share
  • This is the last time I'll mention "post-dubstep" or "future bass" in this review. You have my word. It's not that these tags are irrelevant to Ghosts on Tape, considering the producer born Ryan Merry's last set of original productions—2009's bouncy, bassy Predator Mode EP—exemplified what we pesky music critics are getting at with them. They just have nothing to do with GoT's latest, Nature's Law. If San Francisco's Icee Hot party (which GoT co-runs) has made its name bridging the gap between the wobblier dance music of the last half-decade and the more standard house that informs it, then this inaugural release for their label arm represents a critical link in that bridge. The EP is less striking for its bass weight than its profound effervescence. The title cut's energy pushes hard at its seams, with a galloping beat and face-first metallic chords upping the pressure with each reiteration of the hook. There's considerably less melody on "No Go"—you could imagine it slotting into an SCB set, or maybe even Ben Klock's bag. "Nature's Law"'s remixers caught the bug as well, even if its symptoms are presented quite differently. Lando Kal's inspired rework cools things down, though his peculiar melodic flip, disorienting reverb and murky low-end are plenty unhinged in their own right. Jus-Ed's mix, funkily mechanical as ever but with an epicness not often found on Underground Quality, seems less about what he does to the track than what it does to him.
  • Tracklist
      01. Nature's Law 02. No Go 03. Nature's Law (Lando Kal Remix) 04. Nature's Law (Jus-Ed Remix)
RA