- Wonderfully weird and funny dispatches from dancehall's new vanguard.
- One of my favorite moments in Overmono's fabric mix is when Equiknoxx's "A Rabbit Spoke To Me When I Woke Up" begins its skeletal slink beneath the breakbeats of Remarc's "Thunderclap (Dubplate Mix)." It's a surprising turn, and a reminder of just how good the group's game-changing debut, Bird Sound Power, still sounds. But more than a trip down memory lane, hearing the brothers Russell reach for it in their mix celebrating UK dance music underlines how the singular sound Equiknoxx has created transcends genres and borders. On their latest album, Basic Tools, we hear Equiknoxx—now a five-member troupe comprising Bobby Blackbird, Shanique Marie, Time Cow, Gavsborg and Kemikal Splash—chart even more unlikely orbits in their wonky and weird universe of avant-dancehall, touching upon everything from Drake-esque lothario parodies to 2-step.
Bird Sound Power and the group's follow-up album, 2017's Colón Man, were both watershed moments for reimagining the possibilities of dancehall. Their last group outing, 2019's Eternal Children, however, saw Equiknoxx, as Max Pearl put it, attempting to "widen their appeal" via songs that dialed back their outré tendencies to more accessible, pop-leaning structures, with mixed results. (Although I know I'm not alone when I say that the chorus from "Manchester" jumps into my head anytime I take public transport).
Basic Tools falls somewhere between Eternal Children and their first two albums. Presented as a mixtape with eight vocal tracks and eight accompanying instrumental versions, Basic Tools has both the raw experimentalism of Colón Man and Bird Sound Power. The instrumental for "This Song iS Not About Labelling Cables" could have been released by Night Slugs, with its aqueous synth bubbling alongside an off-beat snare. But there are also moments of pop sensibility, like the boom-bap bounce of "UGGH," with Joey B (Mcr), boasting the sort of earworm that makes it a summer anthem contender.
The mixtape format allows the group a bit of latitude, giving the record a spontaneous feel. You can hear this in the lyrics—where, for example, even the pop gold of "UGGH" is made outlandish by Shanique Marie's rapping: "You sound like Air France, but me can't get through or find my luggage." The humor on the record also has some teeth. Take "Thingamajigama" with RTKal & Rege SO$A. It starts fairly ominous with the bass weight and venomous lyrical delivery that we heard on Time Cow's collaboration with Exile Di Brave last year. The song's outro, however, asks if we are sick of the "ital is vital, conscious reggae" before giving us a brief snippet of what they call "jerk pork reggae." And while this is certainly a laugh-out-loud moment, it's unclear whether Equiknoxx are laughing at you or with you.
No track captures Equiknoxx's knotty wit better than "Was Not Initially Called Make iT Stop," which features the MCs Storm Saulter & Doll Face Charmie. Built around a syrupy and slowed "Stop" vocal, a meandering synthline and the occasional sunburst of guitar chords, Storm Saulter moves from revolutionary fervor, calling himself a "New Jacobin," before transitioning to a meditation on how his lyrics are like "acupuncture needles" with their "suburban appeal." Both "Was Not Initially Called Make iT Stop" and "Thingamajigama," in other words, are funny, but sharp with the barbs of political critique as they display an acute self-awareness of the market and expectations for Jamaican music.
With each listen to the record, I found myself uncovering more of these lyrical gems that I'd missed before (as I type this I am only just getting the "Big breaks, Amen" and the "Call your dog on your ticks" puns from "Urban Snare Cypher"), but the instrumental versions they've included stand up on their own. As much as I like the lyrics on "Basic Tools Live," the instrumental really brings the UK garage influence to the fore, while the contrasts between the R&B sections and entropy of the ambient dancehall on the instrumental of "MP Five" highlights how fluidly Equiknoxx move between the avant-garde and the radio-friendly unit shifters.
In the past year, the individual members of Equiknoxx have been busy. Time Cow collaborated with Giark to release one of the most unclassifiable records I've heard this year. Shanique Marie got intimate on an album of polymath soul music and Gavsborg surfed the Atlantic on an EP filled with West African and Black British influences. These solo releases are essential in their own right, but Basic Tools is able to bring all of these sounds together, and then some. It showcases what happens when these exceptionally talented artists and their collaborators work together. On Basic Tools, there's a sense that they push each other to be their funniest, weirdest and most musically exciting selves, as they continue to dub and reimagine what dancehall can and might be.
Tracklist01. MP Five
02. Urban Snare Cypher
03. Thingamajigama feat. RTKal & Rege SO$A
04. Basic Tools Live @ DJ Krush
05. Was Not Initially Called Make iT Stop feat. Storm Saulter & Doll Face Charmie
06. A Very Pretty Red Light
07. This Song iS Not About Labelling Cables feat. Storm Saulter
08. UGGH Feat. Joey B (MCR)
09. MP Five (Instrumental)
10. Urban Snare Cypher (Instrumental)
11. Thingamajigama (Instrumental)
12. Basic Tools Live @ DJ Krush (Instrumental)
13. Was Not Initially Called Make iT Stop (Instrumental)
14. A Very Pretty Red Light (Instrumental)
15. This Song iS Not About Labelling Cables (Instrumental)
16. UGGH (Instrumental)