- A few months ago, a friend from London tried to tell me what "stush" meant. Once he began to explain, I took it to mean someone being unfriendly, but apparently that didn't quite nail it. I get a similar feeling trying to describe Lurka's music, which has its own local, hard-to-define character. The Bristolian emerged as a dubstep producer in the early '10s, but has since developed—through key releases on Hotline Recordings and Black Acre—a flexible and inventive UK techno sound. Some tracks, like "Choke," have the airy sparseness of grime; others have a bright digital sheen that echoes dancehall.
On Stush / Wrapped Up, the grime influence comes to the fore. "Stush" is mostly about the low-end, where a womp-womp bassline weaves around tricky syncopations. It's a minimal, no-fuss roller, the kind that might make the most impact as a two-minute clip on some helter-skelter mix with lots of tracks. "Wrapped Up"'s acid bassline has various sounds thrown at it. There are shrill synth flares, one-shots that fall like soldering sparks and bleeps that suggest an overheating circuit board. As the chime melodies waft in the breakdown, the track, for a few lovely moments, lets its guard down.
TracklistA Stush
B Wrapped Up