It’s not very often you find a record that could be played at both an atmospheric, deep heads dub night and a grime fuelled, bass heavy session, but Off Switch Audio’s debut vinyl release offers exactly that. Featuring London based Nuboid’s deeply mesmerising “Rezonate”, the flip side sees an increase on low end weight as Six Sunsets and Sam ULG offer up their take on this subtly bassy number.
“Rezonate” opens in true simplicity, gentle brush snares, an airy melody and ethereal samples slowly hypnotize you until the deep, rolling sub bass kicks in. These minimal layers of percussion build throughout the song, dropping in and out in perfect harmony, allowing each sound to make its mark on the track. Nuboid’s measured use of space between beats eloquently allows for the rich bassoon melody to resonate whilst the mix of sustained synthy chords, staccato shakers and an upward arpeggiating bassoon create an all round other – wordly piece. This cleverly built track emphasises Nuboid’s skills as a producer and adds to his impressive back catalogue of tunes. The fact the track lacks that in your face heavy weight bass drop we’ve come to expect from the genre, yet still packs a punch says a lot about his ability to manipulate sound and make it his own. Whilst the remixes are perhaps designed with the dance floor in mind, Nuboid’s original is reminiscent of 6 am post party delirium; small rooms thick with smoke and people holding onto the last few seconds of the night before.
Having said that, it’s hard to not want to stand face to face with a sound system as Six Sunset’s grime laden remix puts a more aggressive take on “Rezonate”. Packed with feel it through your bones sub bass, dissonant strings and pulsing square waves, it’s easy to forget this is a remix as Six Sunset’s mould the original melodies around their unique sound. From the very start, low rumbling bass and high pitched eski clicks resonate with London’s grime scene though the meditative progression of the original track is never lost. By stripping back the bass and allowing more subtle percussion elements to come through, their remix includes those much needed moments of emptiness making the impact of the bass even heavier on its return.
Bringing the tempo down to a steady 135bpm, record label owner Sam ULG’s remix begins with the same progressive ambience of the original track but by bar 9 it is all too apparent this remix is another bass fuelled delivery. With distorted 808 kicks keeping you on your toes, high pitched lasers and gunshots pierce through the mids and tops, completely contrasting the otherwise weight bottom end. Once again, intricate percussion rhythms layered on rich uplifting arpeggiated melodies bring the track into it’s own and give it yet another lease of life. If this is the standard for Off Switch Audio’s first release, I can’t wait to hear what they’ve got in store. This is definitely one of those records that as soon as it enters your record bag, it’s gonna live there for a long time.
OSA001 is out now and available from Redeye, White Peach, Juno and the Off Switch Audio Store.
