Low End Lowlife 30.08.11

It can be dangerous to think too deeply on all manner of things. Some of the world's greatest minds have been lost this way; endlessly searching for life's true meaning, the existence of gods or some other Creator and the other "big" questions that everyone faces on those long dark nights of the soul... Such as why that limited edition green Tomato Ketchup they did genuinely didn't taste the same as the standard red one and what the flaming hell happened to the peanut butter Lion Bar... Or KitKat for that matter. Sadly I have no answers for you. Hell I barely have any for myself, so, like Yul Brynner in Westworld let's saddle up and relentlessly pursue infinitely more entertaining thoughts of music and (probably) booze...

Kicking things off beautifully this week is the Cranberry Goose EP by Clicks & Whistles on Embassy Recordings run by Atlanta house regular Distal. For those not in the know a cranberry goose is a vodka cranberry, and, as this record’s name would lead you to believe it is a plate cut specially for those who like to dance. Coming with a sound somewhere between house music and the squelchy 8-bit sound of those such as Rustie, NastyNasty and Slugabed, the A-side features Clicks original mix and is backed with a thoroughly screwed southern style lowrider remix courtesy of Distal himself on the 'B'. It carries all the wobble of a half bottle of Grey Goose without the somewhat bourgeois price tag. You can also catch Distal over on Pinch's Tectonic label this month with a new 12" delivering the goods on the straight up house styling of 'Angry Acid' and the halfstep powered 'French Science' if you need a another hit of the man's old school'd sounds.

Desto comes rolling back through this month with his 808 powered Makowrap EP, available on Rwina Records. Hailing from Finland, Desto's sound is a synth heavy hip-hop/dubstep hybrid, with the title track being a particularly juicy cut, carrying a wonderfully tight series of 808's alongside that slow roll that dubstep has more or less made it's own. Things move into a slightly more house orientated form for 'Neptune' and an even slower groove rolls up for closing cut 'Overkrookd', a lumbering bounce of a piece which brings together a bit of everything from the previous two tracks. Additionally if you are unfamiliar with Desto's work now would be a fine time to fire up the Delorean (you might be able to find it online if the time machine thing seems a touch flamboyant) and go fish out his collaboration 12" with Tes La Rok from last year, 'Ice Cold / Tricky Ting', another wonderful example of something from Finland other than pickled winter vegetables and heavy metal bands that cry too much.

If all this high impact foot work music is knackering the soles of your purple Puma's then it's probably high time you got yourself back over to Wheel & Deal Records, where the head nod factor has just gone up to 11. Fresh off the back of their first year retrospective comes a clutch of new tunes in the more traditional vein of the dubstep sound. There are impossibly heavy sub wobbles framed in vast empty space on Benton's '20/20', backed with the slightly thicker sounds of 'Zardoz', which, thankfully unlike the film of the same name, doesn't involve Sean Connery wandering about with his knob out. Like James Earl Jones once said; "you're a big man, but you're outta shape". Killawatt can also be found exploring the finer points of space and tension within composition this month with his brooding cut 'Shakuhachi' backed with the equally dark sounds of 'Selenium' & 'Capa'. There was a time about 2 years ago where these sorts of cuts were a dime a dozen and it's always pleasant to find someone who can still make them sound fresh at the ripe old age of about 3... If all this cavernous brooding stuff seems a touch too close to home for a Tuesday morning stuck in a stifling slate grey office with nothing but your aging reflection in your computer monitor screen for company then fear not; Kutz has returned to save the day with his relentlessly banging 'Superman' track, backed by the defiant bass stomping sounds of 'Spontaneous'. So, do as the tracks say: Tear your shirt off to reveal a rather dashing primary coloured and unapologetically tight fitting costume and do something spontaneous. Fire your boss. Take to the streets and fight crime. Better yet use you super powers to look into the "BIG" question. The people deserve answers. The god thing can wait. Dawkins; hit the showers son. We're going to find us some Kitkats!