Martyn ‎– Masks / Viper

It’s been 4 years since Martyn made his transition from deep Drum & Bass to even deeper Dubstep in the form of his seminal “Broken” EP for Marcus Intalex‘s Revolve:r label. So much has changed in the world of Bass music in that short amount of time, with a fusion of innumerable influences being melted into that format to create hybrid and not-so-hybrid sounds that hack music journalists give a new name to every week. C’mon, everyone exept the underground music press knew that when the ‘progressive’ and ‘new’ sound of UK Funky first hit the streets that it was just Todd Terry verbatim, and that TRG‘s new records are quite simply what you would call “Techno”, even though they are brilliant examples. That being said, a good deal of artists themsleves can have a tendancy to be extremely fickle when it comes to the transient nature of old forms being introduced into the “post-dubstep” mix, giving the scene an almost A.D.D quality. With Martyn however, his advance into the realms of House and Techno has been a subtle and longstanding affair that shows a refined understanding of the shadings of those genres, all the while keeping the structure of his unique sound.

“Masks/Viper” are two tracks taken from Martyn‘s forthcoming album “Ghost People” for Flying Lotus‘s impeccable Brainfeeder imprint, his second since 2009′s ambitious “Great Lengths“, and reveal a tough House sound that is undoubtedly geared towards dancefloor damage. To kick things off is “Masks“, where straight classic House modes collide with the aforementioned future styles of the current underground. Tight kicks and claps. melodic stabs and a deeper-than-deep hard groove bassline topped off with phase shifting arpeggiations and Martyn‘s signature sonic fuckery make this way more than just a carbon copy of a tried and tested sound. Of the two versions of “Viper” on the E.P, the short but definitely not sweet “Ghost People” edit leaves the four-four kick to the side, and is dominated by monsterous ‘Ardcore bass stabs that would make Derek go mad (again), with a juxtaposing sweet arp melody assumably designed to keep the rest of us from going off the edge with old Deek. Finishing off the EP is the “London’s Arches” edit of “Viper“, a jouncing workout of swinging hi-hats, tribal yattering and mongoloid bass, reminiscent of some of the recent productions that Seiji has done for the label that bears his own name, but undoubtely sports the hallmarks and unique shifting templates of the man like Deykers.

All three tracks on this E.P have a massive dose late 80′s/early 90′s UK Acid House influence cut deep into their grooves, and will not only most likely feature heavily in the soundcloud mixes of up-and-coming hyper-coloured 10 year old DJ’s, but you’ll sure as shit also be hearing these tracks from the older heads, as in DJ’s who know how to use an E.Q, have had more bad ecstasy experiences than hot dinners, and hail from a time when Men were Men and Serato was a name given to Spanish girls.

from www.thisisourhouse.org