- Razor-sharp club tracks that balance festival vibes with gritty club aesthetics.
- Samurai Breaks and Napes share a knack for interlacing UK sounds, folding hardcore, jungle, bassline and grime into their respective discographies. While the pair's debut collaboration delivers on the exuberance that this blend of sounds would suggest, it's also some of the sharpest music in either of their catalogues. Each track on Wavelord Bizniz—which is four slices of primo 170—strikes a delicate balance between the hands-up freneticism of drop-heavy festival belters and the grittier, heads-down murk of dingy clubs up and down the UK.
"FrogMob" is the clearest example of this tightrope walk. Brooding from the off, it boasts a guttural first-drop lead that establishes itself in the canon of amphibian-inspired slappers. Switching things up out of nowhere, a laser-sharp synth takes centre stage at the second drop, adding a strain of manic euphoria to an already pull-up worthy banger. In contrast, the title track's squiggly hook snakes through full-pelt grime claps and junglist fills, before careening into a vicious drum workout that goes all-in on the choppage and blown-out low-end. Even the breakdown feels high-energy.
"Correct Technique" synthesises techstep and bassline, with Amen chops and rave hoovers keeping things from feeling too homogeneously heavy, while "Violent Violin"'s combination of operatic strings and booming kicks stands out in its potent simplicity. It's a testament to the duo's tact and taste that it never feels mawkish or derivative of other genre-fluid, violin-heavy tunes. Like the EP as a whole, it's a respectful nod to the sounds that inspired it, but not at the cost of sacrificing inventiveness and imagination.
Tracklist01. Wavelord Bizniz
02. Correct Technique
03. Violent Violins
04. FrogMob