- On Law Of The Trapezoid, Sam KDC uses the wreckage of drum & bass as a springboard for textures that sound handmade. Though the nuts and bolts of these four tracks are built with weapons-grade precision, it's the tactile details that stay with you. Take opener "Atonement": you're rolling along on tonnes of sub-bass and ice cold trails of ambience, but it also sounds like there's a rake dragging through a rock garden. The EP works like a petri dish that's spawning all sorts of mutant bacteria, even as the hands behind the experiment feel satisfyingly human.
"Summoned" is a highlight thanks to the diminished melody that drifts plaintively over barreling triplets. You'd be loath to call it a hook, but its mixture of eerie foreboding and bloody-handed glee lingers long in the ear. "Clairvoyance" has another memorable melodic figure, which is comparatively sanguine given the serrated acid line tearing a hole down the track's middle. "Vertex" evokes the recent Grey Area records, but you'd be missing the point if you narrowed its charms down to mere rhythmic utility. The whole thing bubbles up steadily, like a giant sentient blob swallowing a city, and Sam KDC has done a remarkable job making the tune feel like a single unit of mass despite keeping all of its elements neatly separated. These tracks all push a pervasive mood, but if you can see past the raw shock there's a wealth of singular nuance in Law Of The Trapezoid.
TracklistA1 Atonement
A2 Summoned
B1 Vertex
B2 Clairvoyance