- As with many of his peers in the upstart sort-of-grime generation, it's easy to forget how new to the game Gage is. "Telo" is the Bristol-based South Londoner's debut release (though it was preceded by the Tekken-inspired "War Dub") but it's been receiving heavy rotation from scene staples like Slackk and Logos for some time. It's fitting that Bristol's Crazylegs are the ones to make it official; through their parties they've recently become something of a bastion for new grime.
That said, as with much of this new material, grime doesn't quite encapsulate it. "Telo"'s 8bar-ish structure and metallic bass pulses clearly come from that style, but the tempo is far slower—around 127 BPM—and the groove takes on a techno swagger as it progresses. Most of the shock factor, however, is concentrated on the thrillingly overbalanced first drop, where the kick drums recall the skittering synth riff in Pinch & Mumdance's "Turbo Mitzi." Hopefully this isn't the last we'll hear of these discombobulating pinball rhythms. "Shiftin" is, by comparison, a mild disappointment—its rolling kick patterns and stark metallic snare hits are effective but not quite as surprising. Still, it's permeated with a similar riotous energy and sense of rhythmic openness, qualities that make this a highly promising debut.
TracklistA Telo
B Shiftin