- Bass and drums—and plenty of both—are pretty much all there is to Champion and Melé's first collaborative outing, the two-track Get Down. Simplistic as that may seem, the pair source each component of their sparse productions from a variety of genres—a touch of UK funky percussion, some dubby echo, grimey bassweight, a sprinkling of breaks. Both sides of the record work toward the same ends, and with enough idiosyncrasies to keep the producers from repeating themselves.
If Get Down suffers from anything, it's familiarity. It echoes the hardcore revivalism of Tessela or Special Request's 2013 tunes, although Champion and Melé infuse the references with their respective backgrounds. "Get Down" makes a heavy, stuttering breakbeat its own by filling the gaps with tabla drums, snare rolls, FX trails and guttural subs; "Radio Babylon" operates like a dismantled grime instrumental rebuilt to simulate the manic throb of Champion's "Kool FM" remix. Despite a lack of distinct personality, Get Down should give any soundsystem a satisfying rattle.
TracklistA1 Get Down
B1 Radio Babylon