Itoa - Swinging Flavours #4

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  • When bass chameleon Sully returned from a several-year absence in 2014, he seemed to have transformed into a jungle revivalist. In 2016 he reminded us of his past colours: classic UK garage (for the Dr Banana label), stranger, colder hybrids (for Black Acre). But his remix of Itoa's "Strange Attractor" returns to the formidable sound of the Flock and Blue EPs. Sully's breakbeats demonstrate mastery of a traditional technique. They clatter, whizz and spin wildly across the grid, clashing with tangy time-stretched percussion or skidding downwards in pitch every other bar. But a structural crispness, and the melancholy in the flute-like leads, distinguishes contemporary nostalgia from the real deal. Itoa's original seems to be less freighted with jungle history. This isn't the producer’s first encounter with a migrant from lower tempos—he was remixed by Etch on a recent 12-inch for Bun The Grid—but his curt grooves borrow more from recent halftime tendencies in drum & bass. "Strange Attractor" bounces along at a syncopated double-time, but there's an implied head-nod in its measured drums. Itoa cracks out the breakbeats on digital bonus track "This Tune," but keeps them on a tight leash. The snares are pugnacious, the bassline punctuated by snarling midrange throbs, and voices—which might be sampled pirate radio chatter—are sliced up, Wen-style, into a slogan of Itoa's choosing: "Yeah? Very hype."
  • Tracklist
      A1 Strange Attractor B1 Strange Attractor (Sully Remix) Digital: This Tune
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