- Sully's path through UK-centric bass music has taken a number of turns—from Carrier's dubstep and garage hybrids in 2011, to Flock's jungle classicism last year. For his latest 12-inch, Vamp, Jack Stevens once again flips the script, zeroing in on grime and likeminded club sounds. It can be hard to draw parallels from this music to the rest of Stevens' catalog, especially with the lack of elaborate melodies in "Vamp" and "Bronze," but that doesn't make the record's low-end mastery any less interesting.
"Arco" stands out, and not just because it comes with the downcast synth lines Stevens excels at. That one works out a mean riddim with snappy FX, snare rolls and dubwise sub patterns—it cares less about innovation than hitting all the right pleasure points. "Vamp" and "Bronze" are less spacious and more percussive, making shadowy moves with rapid-fire vocal chops, Eastern instrumentation and boomy 808 kicks. Though unusual for Sully tracks, they could be from an early Fade To Mind record or something on Hyperdub circa 2010, which is to say there are no real surprises. Vamp seems set on broadening Stevens' palette to further extend his reach across existing UK soundsystem genres.
TracklistA1 Vamp
B1 Arco
B2 Bronze