“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge”. If you’ve attended any dubstep night in the past twelve months, chances are you’ve heard this classic sample resonate in the room. Gaining support from the likes of Mala, Pinch, J:Kenzo, N-Type, Sleeper and Tunnidge, to mention but a few, “Street Knowledge” has been one of those dubplates that still echoes in memories of past nights. The tune finally gets a release on Chestplate, District’s usual home, alongside two heavy numbers that sit well in both District’s and Chestplate’s discography.
Opener “Drowsy” is an aggressive assault that doesn’t wait long to bring in its distorted leads and manic growls, splattered over layers of trappy hi-hats and round kick drums. Following this destabilizing outburst, “Street Knowledge” almost sounds soothing: though each percussive sound seems chiseled to mount heaviness, the track is a dive into a world of minimal subfrequencies that ascend and descend, leaning itself towards introspection just as much as it can cause damage on a dancefloor. Rounding things up, “Locking Up” hits with similar weight, its intense bass, minimal percussion and echoed voices channeling traces of that classic dubstep sound while still sounding fresh.
It isn’t hard to get why these tunes have been doing the rounds: finely crafted and surrounding the listener in their atmosphere, they make up for another great release to add up to Chestplate’s canon.
CHST039 is released August 12th and available from Unearthed Sounds, Redeye, Juno, Intense Records and the Chestplate Databeats Store.
