Bass
Charlie Bertsch / 22 Jul 2020
The American Scream
Speaker Music’s Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry
Combining elements of minimal techno in the great African American tradition of Detroit and Chicago with dubstep, avant-garde jazz, and spoken-word, Speaker Music's new “emergency” album Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry delivers bass that is as compelling as it is challenging. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 08 Jul 2020
Uneasy Listening
Deadbeat and Paul St. Hilaire’s 4 Quarters of Love and Modern Lash
“War Games”, the opening track of Deadbeat and Paul St. Hilaire’s 4 Quarters of Love and Modern Lash, begins with the spacious minimalism perfected by the Rhythm & Sound records St. Hilaire sang on as Tikiman in the 1990s. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 24 Jun 2020
Colonial Bass
Zenobia’s Halak Halak LP
It doesn't take long to place Zenobia's new album Halak Halak – which translates as a slangy “Welcome, Welcome!” – in the Middle East.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 20 Nov 2019
Council Estate of Mind
The Case for Slowthai
Whenever a record receives as much attention as British rapper Slowthai’s debut LP Nothing Great About Britain has, it can be hard to hear. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 18 Oct 2019
Nostalgia for a Lost Future
Pinch’s Border Control EP
From its opening moments, the new Border Control EP from Bristol dubstep legend Pinch channels the time when that culturally and geographically eccentric city in the western United Kingdom felt like the centre of the universe. (...)