Review:
Appleblim, one of the figures who we can associate with the birth and rise of dubstep, has been releasing since 2005. That's now 13 years of experimenting with bass and dance equations. However, Life In A Laser is his debut album, having only ever released singles or remixes up until. His big release comes via Sneaker Social Club, and it takes his sound somewhere it hadn't been before - the doorways of Berlin. That is not meant to imply that this is straight-up techno - not at all! It's the style and aesthetics used by Appleblim which give a much more polished and rounded approach to the way he makes music now. These 9 tracks are, in one way or another, dance-oriented, but there is a story to tell and a clear thread running throughout. One thing is always evident, however, and that's his extensive use of percussion and quality production work, championed from the infamous hardcore dynasty. LUSH.
Review:
Appleblim teams up with the Middle Eastern label Boogie Box once more for some hybridized explorations on the cutting edge of soundsystem music. "Vurstep" is a wildly psychedelic banger that keeps the rhythms broken while the sound design levels tap into the same delirious vein as his ALSO work with Second Storey. "Dream Wisdom" takes things in a smoother direction, riding on laid back breaks and plush threads of melody in a vintage ambient techno style. Shed steps up to remix "Vurstep" and delivers one of his pointed masterclasses in stripped, UK-leaning techno, and then Forest Drive West trips the whole thing out with a heavily dubbed meditation.
Review:
Gottwood Festival's offshoot label, Gottwax, returns to action, this time showcasing the wares of artists who appeared at their 2016 weekender. Appleblim steps up first, expertly wrapping alien synthesizers around a heavy bassline and clattering machine percussion on the low-tempo thrills of "Phosphene". Leeds-based house producer Bonar Bradberry goes all Daniele Baldelli on the kosmiche chug of "Mod", before Krywald & Farrer lay down a killer jazz-house jam built around rubbery double bass and a famous old hip-house breakbeat. If that wasn't enough to get the juices flowing, the EP also includes a fantastic chunk of global deep house fusion from Heist Recordings regular Ponty Mython.
Review:
It's been a few years since long-time Bristol mates Komonazmuk and Appleblim collided on wax (three years to be a little more precise) Making up for lost time the pair lay down three more stark fusions that shimmer with both of artists qualities in equal measure. "Know Yourself" catches and infects with Blim's loopy technoid insistency but kicks with Komon's brutal swagger, "Enigmatic Light" is all about the creep as a foggy weave and echoing percussion gradually build us into light-kicked hypnotic breakbeat. Finally "Stepping Out Of Yesterday" peers into a bleak future with groaning chords, unhurried beats and a meandering acid line that brings everything together.
Review:
Schmorsgabord is a new label, and it launches in style with this collaboration between Laurie 'Appleblim' Osborne and Julian 'October' Smith. The release sounds like a perfect meeting of the former's DJ-friendly bass excursions and the latter's tendency towards deep, dubby techno. Indeed, lead track "NY Fizzzzz" perfectly encapsulates this meeting of minds: the beats are tough and DJ-friendly, yet contain a swinging, Applepips-esque feeling that will let the track get noticed amid the deluge of straighter techno and tech-house releases. Up next, the duo focus on a more experimental approach. "Fountains of Paradise" eschews the dance floor, but the deep, brooding chord soundscape is lent some urgency by the shuddering waves of abstract percussion that occasionally break through the ponderous surface. That the label has decided to put its weight behind two different facets of this collaboration ensures that the end product is very tasty.
Review:
Following a hell-raising salvo of collaborative live shows, Appleblim and Second Storey consummate their long-standing studio partnership with this first missive of mutant grooves that play on their respective strengths in the wild fringes of techno, electro and bass. "Sid's Conundrum" fits and starts around a granite heavy kick, using a viciously angled rhythmic kink to provide a jump off point for all manner of sonic matter, deftly crossing generic boundaries in the process. "Ashford Swaithes" takes on a more measured tone, heading into warm and undulating electro thanks to a particularly rounded bassline that leaves plenty of space for psychoactive decorations, before "Dive Prophets" offers up an astral concoction of Motor City synth lines infected with the rude shuffle of UKG at its most limber.
Review:
After rip-roaring their way into recorded existence with their first EP for R&S, Appleblim and Second Storey are back in the saddle with the second in their trilogy of EPs, and once again the psychedelic and starry-eyed electro of their live sets has been distilled into diverse and surprising configurations. "Formation" takes a softer approach than some of their other output, bathed as it is in sweet and aquatic ripples of melody before dipping down into a spangled twist on deep house. "Rant Check (parts 1 & 2)" meanwhile flexes much more muscular tones, whipping up the kind of flexible basslines and visceral sound design that burst out of the first EP before mutating gloriously over a twelve minute run.
