- It's fair to say that the Autonomic movement has busted drum & bass wide open: but the black hole they've torn into its fabric is widening at such a rate that by 2011 it's going to drag all the dubstep producers into its churning core. All-purpose wizard Geiom, after finding his own unique techy-tropical dubstep sound, is the latest 140'er to go 170 (basic drum & bass tempo for all you laymen).
"Resi Claart" is the more distinctively Autonomic of the two, tapping into the same streetlight melancholia: desolate but melodic chords, dynamic and exaggerated drum programming, and reserved but gently nudging subs. However, where much of the appeal of Autonomic is vested in the sensation of warm breath invading vast, frigid silences, Joory leaves no such space to be infiltrated. "Resi Claart" bustles and whirs like a busy machine, the drums interlocking in a closed circuit and the pads specked by all manner of beeps and quick synth motifs.
On the other hand, the closest analogue to flipside "Stel Drum" is ASC's earlier and heavier Autonomic experiments: reverbed metallic drums, clouded sub-bass, and quirky cyclical synths. But unlike Clements' clean lines, Geiom's drums echo and stall in unpredictable measures, like they could exist in two places at once, as the bass climbs up the walls only to dive-bomb into hidden pockets. Autonomic may be very much machine music, but to call Geiom's that would be missing the point.
Tracklist A Resi Claart
B Stel Dum