dusk + blackdown
Beyond the corporate finance of the City, the anodyne bares of the West End and the affluent riches out west, there is another London. Head out at sunset to the edges and just watch. Listen. As the sun drops, soon a different city emerges, a mesh of disparate groups and communities, visible but unseen, vocal in countless accents, languages and dialects but heard, vital but unrecognised by the centre.
By night, the city comes alive with sound: raw slang, dialects, clanking trains, sub bass waves and rebel radio frequencies. This album is a reflection of these places, people, voices and cultures, a snapshot of the forgotten edges of a city at dusk: intense, in technicolour, in transition but forever an inspiration.
Welcome to “Margins Music”.
Dusk + Blackdown’s album “Margins Music” is described with these word. Much has been said about the music genre described as Dubstep. Mainly a 12” format, Dubstep has the last few years started to evolve into a LP & 12» music genre. Maturing so to say. Dusk + Blackdown’s album “Margins Music” is another fine step forward for this subtle rebel music.
The album starts with sounds of the streets of London. Sounds of chatter, sirens and an unmistakeable London accent. The beats are a mix of rough techno clap, the occasional tablasque deep bass drum and a synth segment reminiscent of some of the Skream! tracks.
The roughness of “Darker Than East” changes quickly when the next track “Con/Fusion” starts. The journey into the other side of London has begun. Tablas, Sitars, Strings in addition to the voice of Farrah. Farrah’s delicate vocals and the sweet South Asian spiced strings add lovely harmonious feel to the sharp contrast of the beats grinding away in the background. This feel continues, though with some added tempo on the next track “Lata VIP”. The full Bollywood London clash comes in the fourth track when the might of Teji’s vocals are stretched beyond their ordinary boundaries. The frenetic early vocal assault that helps to lift the track is mid way through the track brought down to earth with Farrah’s angel like voice. The slowdown in though just temporary as the track slowly builds up again, and exits on a high. “Kuri Pataka” is one of the many highlights of the album. “Rolling Raj Deep” continues the onslaught with a deep bass drive combined with a cinematic string section that might have been lifted from a dramatic highlight of a Indian movie.
After the South Asian flirt of the first tracks the album continues with a rough temporary street tale by Durrty Goodz, grime artist. The next rhyme is presented by Trim, also grime style. Trim’s performance is slightly more original and the beats are also from a darker corner then the first grime track. The dark and rough tracks of the album ends with the monotone and sluggish “This is London”. The track gives us a portion of social reality dressed in a quicksand like bass that slows and holds the listeners attention on the monologues in the background.
The penultimate track features the lovely voice of Farrah for the last time on this album. “Iqbal’s Groove” has a constant flowing bass and none of the soothing Bollywood elements of the earlier tracks. It therefore works quite well as a balance to the tracks that come before it, without switching the feel of the album too quickly.
The last track “Focus” is a six minute short massive final track. Returning once again to the modern elements of the genre, “Focus” has an up beat synth melody hook that drives the track forward, helped along the way with a delicate bass line. The classic take of part towards of the end has been done before but it works great on this track as well.
All in all, Dusk + Blackdown’s album “Marginal Music” is a great buy, and not just for people interested in beat oriented music or Dubstep. This album represents some great blends of the diversity that is London. Buy your copy or download your FLAC version from Boomkat or another similar site.
