- Dubstep, beat-scene hip-hop and electro make up this weird and wonderful EP on Dirtybird's White Label series.
- With releases for labels like Dirtybird, Muy Muy and Gobstopper, Knoxville's Nikki Nair has made a name with audacious experiments in breakbeats, blasting through genre rules like a bulldozer. Outside of his deep respect for the roots of dance music, his hybridized approach has never let itself become chained to any one idea, style or norm. Part of Nair's flair is his willingness to start the tracks with an energy level that might make you want to flip some tables over, only to abruptly sedate you with pensive sounds—like the lush R&B style chords on "Socket," just one of four complex and creative tracks that make up More Is Different, a new EP for Dirtybird's leftfield-focused White Label series.
The sprawling "Socket" is essentially five songs in one. It skirts from mood to mood with a trip-hop stutter, never allowing itself to be one thing for too long, with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach that mirrors the heyday of the LA beat scene. The twists and turns on the stern dubstep-styled opener "It Goes" are just as captivating. A sugary melody in the midsection is deceptively sweet, only for a missile of incendiary drumwork to land in the second half. Structurally, the whole record is unpredictable and refreshing. A track might build momentum, due to explode at any second, only to be swiftly deconstructed and replaced because Nair has decided another idea is more interesting.
Calling this record versatile feels like an understatement. Square-wave synths are warped to sound like dial-up internet tones, distortion is liberally applied and modulated vocal samples act as anchors in these ever-changing tracks. The way the "tomorrow can mean something" sample is woven into "Something" is particularly beautiful. The sunny disposition of "Something" is a clear departure from the rest of the EP, but then again, all of them are different—if it weren't for some by-now-signature Nikki Nair-isms, you might mistake these tracks for the work of five different artists. (It's easy to imagine Dan Snaith's falsetto on "Something.")
More Is Different is Nair's fifth EP in about a year, but it doesn't come any closer to defining his sound, except for its high energy and unpredictability. From ghettotech on the party-starter "Want You To" to the dubstep laybrinth of "It Goes," Nair can wander into any musical territory he wants to, with a level of expertise that convinces you he was always there to begin with.
Tracklist01. It Goes
02. Socket
03. Something
04. Want To You