01. Adrian
02. Leave
03. Keith
04. Alone
With all the interzones being explored between dubstep, house and techno of late, it's especially pleasurable to find a newcomer with a wholly different, but congruent, angle. For one thing, Berlin-London duo Jack Dixon & Robin Cardfix pile on the rolling breaks, haunted vocal science and thrill-ride darkness of mid-'90s drum & bass. There's a measured, flickering-machine dub techno dryness to their production as well, and it helps make Dixon & Card's debut energetic without being frazzled.
The jungle feel is especially pronounced on the first three tracks. On "Keith," an echo-drenched, Jamaican-tinged male "ey-ey-ey-aye" that makes up half the vocal hook (the other is a woman's wordless coo) comes out of a collective memory of mid-'90s ragga jungle as much as Dixon & Card's galloping snare work. But the track moves with a lightly carnival hip-sway that's closer to what 2-step garage brought to the continuum—and it's followed by "Alone," on which that skipping quality guides the beat, though it's closer to recent toybox-IDM dubstep than anything Groove Chronicles would have done. But even when the tone (and bass) gets dark, as on "Leave," the beats step too lively and the synths gleam too brightly to leave you in the lurch.
The remixes are a mixed bag. Colo's slurry version of "Alone" is arty and pretty but doesn't stick too much. Eliphino's "Keith" remix layers on the synth glide and punches up the bass hits to good, spirit-of-'95 effect. James Fox's "Leave" attaches a straight-four to the chassis and rides it through some pleasant whooshes...www.boomkat.com
The jungle feel is especially pronounced on the first three tracks. On "Keith," an echo-drenched, Jamaican-tinged male "ey-ey-ey-aye" that makes up half the vocal hook (the other is a woman's wordless coo) comes out of a collective memory of mid-'90s ragga jungle as much as Dixon & Card's galloping snare work. But the track moves with a lightly carnival hip-sway that's closer to what 2-step garage brought to the continuum—and it's followed by "Alone," on which that skipping quality guides the beat, though it's closer to recent toybox-IDM dubstep than anything Groove Chronicles would have done. But even when the tone (and bass) gets dark, as on "Leave," the beats step too lively and the synths gleam too brightly to leave you in the lurch.
The remixes are a mixed bag. Colo's slurry version of "Alone" is arty and pretty but doesn't stick too much. Eliphino's "Keith" remix layers on the synth glide and punches up the bass hits to good, spirit-of-'95 effect. James Fox's "Leave" attaches a straight-four to the chassis and rides it through some pleasant whooshes...www.boomkat.com
