Agrippa

Dead Wait

BY Patrick CardenasPublished May 30, 2019

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Founded last year, Par Avion joined the ranks of other UK labels, such as Livity Sound and Timedance, mixing minimal techno's hypnotic repetition with the sub bass pressure of British sound system music, and sitting in an undefined, nebulous area between those two realms.
 
It has yet to have an official name, but it is a recognizable sound at this point. Label co-founder Agrippa comes through for its third release — his four-track EP Dead Wait — which sits firmly within this quasi-genre.
 
The gem here is the dark roller "Scabs," a swaggering tune where the rhythmic tension of the clave-like beat pattern, powered by an immense sub bass, is never resolved, but is left instead to dissipate at the end. It's a great track for DJs to manoeuvre clubbers toward the energetic payoff of more straightforward tracks, like Agrippa's own muscular four-on-the-floor jam "Dead Wait" on the A-side.
 
Followers of this scene should also be familiar with the clanging bells of "Squid Girls" and the spooky and catchy "Spice Raiders." Both tracks have been in circulation for a few months now, and they're great examples of why this particular style of UK bass music, while not entirely new anymore, still has legs: it's simple and cerebral, but not without a sense of playfulness and dance floor functionality.
(Par Avion)

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