Although Asylum is not a household name yet, you may be familiar with the music of Vicious Circle. When looking at Drum & Bass labels like Critical Sound and Renegade Hardware, it is effortless to hear the caliber of production set forth by Vicious Circle. Branching off from the sounds of Vicious Circle and on to create his own solo mark in the dubstep community, Andrew, under his new moniker Asylum, will be bringing some hefty productions to the table. Earlier this year he released an EP on Crunch Recordings still under the alias Vicious Circle. The two productions featured on that record, “Hibernation” & “Not Afraid” together symbolize his dedication to quality sound and unique style. That release saw support from some pinnacle names in the global dubstep community, such as Vivek and Youngsta.
“Blindfold” and “Salvage” thoroughly reflect on things to come from Asylum. “Blindfold” begins slowly building on it’s subtle progressive drum hits and kicks. With a full bodied atmosphere that pulls you closer and demands your attention. The hypnotic, flowing bass line backing the track is well constructed, sounding brilliant and full of life on a sound system. “Salvage” possesses a hallowing presence of dark atmospheric pads building into the drop. Asylum’s concise placement of synth notes adds a spacy, atmospheric element to the tune, whilst the use of tribal drums and subtle reverb define the intricacy and progression of “Salvage”. The intensifying build of the synths make it ideal into the second drop, as the overall presence laid forth is innovative and noteworthy. Obvious from the first phrase is his relentless kick drums, arranged in a flowing pattern making it effortlessly executed and mixed.
It is hard to pick a favorite of the two for me, as both offer up unique flavor and extremely potent sub bass frequencies. I definitely look forward to hearing these on a proper sound system in the coming months. December has already been a stellar month for dubstep releases, with many quality EPs already out. My level of appreciation towards the direction Asylum is taking on his production is sky high. I can only hope that 2013 offers ample provisions for more great releases like this one.
UA002 is released December 17th and is available from Juno Download.
