Label: Skull Disco Format: 12″
The debut release from the Skull Disco label, this double A side 12″ shows there’s lots of promise lurking between the drumming and dancing skeletons which are sure to become a sought after signature design characteristic of the label. Neither track references dub as a chilled out dope-nodding groove, instead distancing the bass and drum sounds, such as they are, from the body and drilling themselves into the darker parts of the brain instead with the subtle insistence of a paranoid delusion.
Shackleton‘s “I Am Animal” ripples with plenty of dubstep thrills and heavyweight bass explosions, set to an asthmatic sample which only heightens the sense of claustrophobia. The verge of panic is heightened by a gathering clutch of alarm sounds which sputter their emergency signals at run down battery speed while the rhythmic undertow cycles by, booming deeply and striking sparse percussive hits for a squirming track which is best appreciated with the low end turned to maximum volume for optimum chest-bursting effect.
Over on the flipside, Appleblim is in more ponderous yet equally sinister mood with “Mystikal Warrior”, constructing a build up to the main rhythms which flickers with ominously detached Rasta samples. Once it gets going, the lurching bass stabs heave uncertainly while the percussive hits creep up the intensity scale, prefacing a somewhat early fade out.
-Richard Fontenoy-
