Clarity / Mantra - Tendrils / Mind Games

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  • UVB-76 Music was launched last year by Ruffhouse and Gremlinz, who seem to roll with a crew of superhuman drum & bass producers. Their menacing atmospheres aren't necessarily unique, but they're set against inventive flurries of percussion and sickening doses of bass. Most of all, the control of dynamics, space and texture makes for undeniable levels of impact. This new split between Clarity and Mantra, however, is about far more than raw power and technical skill. Clarity's effort, "Tendrils," runs clean and sleek through its opening passages, creating a sense of normalcy that's beautifully disrupted by the entrance of precise percussion in the first third. These various zips, ticks and cuts skirt around the downbeat, yet the sense of mass is solid as a rock. Though shoehorning it into a techno set might take off some of its weird edge, it has to be said that "Tendrils" sounds exceptional at 33 RPM and +8. On that note, the flip side from Mantra is far slower and very compatible. It's pretty far from El-B, but the swing has a similarly infectious quality to it, despite skipping atop a dread-leaden mood. Little rolls of conga dovetail between slippery claps while an incongruous sample of playing children feels gloriously out of step with the ashen mood. The cherry on top is a synth that slides up and down the chromatic scale like a slide whistle, and the deal is sealed when the breakdown hits 0db on the meters before plunging back into a weighty glide.
  • Tracklist
      A Clarity - Tendrils B Mantra - Mindgames
RA