Last time we saw Alex Coulton was on Tempa Allstars Volume with his tune ‘Equilibrium’. For Tempa’s ninety-eighth release, Coulton gets to stretch his legs for a full plate of two ruff and rugged DJ tools that Yunx has been battering for the past couple week’s on his Rinse FM slot. All in all, Tempa098 fits perfectly with the other swampy bits that the label has been tossing us for the past couple months.
First up is ‘Recall’ which is punctuated by ghost choirs that urge us to “get up!” (or at least that’s what I think I hear). With clipped toms and piercing hi hats that make those shoulders squirm, the bass weight here really makes those hips dip down low while some guttural snarls echo off tenement rooftops and rain slick London alley-ways. It’s not until the second half, that things become more linear and stone cold groovy, when Coulton switches the b-line up to a straight 4×4 pattern and subtly flanged bongos starting rolling that’ll have the floor cutting all kinds of shapes.
Following up on the flip, is ‘Wiretap’ is the more rhythmically kinky with quicksilver snares and a nagging melodic loop that almost reminds me of ‘Spheres of Costa Rica’. Soon enough, an equally kinky sub kicks you in the teeth like an angry horse. Though as quickly as the bass starts bucking, everything is peeled back one again for another serving of sexy congo rolls with a side of the melodic sequence with huge dollop of plummeting sub to top it off. Cheeky likkle traffic control whistles lighten the mood a tad until Coulton peels it back once again for the third act!
With so many rhythmic switch-ups and the relatively stripped back nature of both ‘Recall’ and ‘Wiretap’, Alex Coulton really sets the bar for the 130 swamp that Tempa has been slowly leaking out. Both sides offer countless blending possibilities for the more adventurous DJs and plenty of shape cutting fun for the dancers!
TEMPA098 is out now and available from Juno Download.
