Beneath - No Symbols 003

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  • The basic premise behind Beneath's work—UK funky-meets-darkside '05 dubstep—is appealing for its simplicity. But lately the young London-based producer has been probing the limits of his style. Granted, the ingredients remain the same—the skunk-paranoid atmospheres, the rolling percussion, the acres of sub-bass. But they're presented in ever more unusual configurations, as in the slow-mo horror of "Flight," from this year's Tectonic compilation, or the steelier technoid approach found on tasters of his forthcoming PAN release. This, the third in the No Symbols series that Beneath made his name with, doesn't mess with the formula too much, but finds interesting new routes to familiar dread-filled ends. Playing out over a trademark deadweight kick drum, "Shenron"'s tart synth flourishes might have been sampled from a '50s Stockhausen record, while its palpitating waves of bass are naggingly unpleasant. "Worried" is built on a lumbering beatdown groove that, rather than rolling forth endlessly, repeatedly chops and changes. Combined with the relentless density of the thing, the effect is like spiralling into paranoia.
  • Tracklist
      A Worried B Shenron
RA