- You'd be hard-pressed to find a better representative for Dre Skull's Mixpak label than Dubbel Dutch, the New York-via-Texas producer who plops dancehall ideas and sounds on top of rhythms that hop-scotch between house, hip-hop and Baltimore (he's also got a semi-secret alter ego where the tracks get even clubbier). Cloud Club is his most seamless genre cross-stitch yet.
The obvious hit here is "Deepa," which is based on a drum break that throws itself down a descending bassline before climbing back up with a triumphant chord progression. It's a deadly club tune that effortlessly switches from misty-eyed euphoria to down-and-dirty mayhem, pulling in air horns and cheesy brass along the way. (A dub mix removes the voice for those who find it irritating.)
That same sense of trembling wonder permeates "Inevitable," which squares the good-time melodies of dancehall (it's a cover of sorts of 2007's "Inevitable Riddim") with trance motifs, everything pitched-up so the track inhabits a candyland of chirpy voices and overdriven synths. The other two are more in tune with the 2013 climate, pulling grime into the mix—"Dip So" is a canvas of watery splotches, chanting patois vocals and pulled-apart breaks (and one hell of a synth lead), while "Left Behind" brings in the fake brass of the vintage stuff and pumps up the drama, more Ryan Hemsworth than Wiley.
Tracklist01. Left Behind
02. Inevitable
03. Dip So
04. Deepa
05. Deepa (Vocal Dub)