- What is this record not doing on Innervisions? No offense to the excellent Mule Musiq, but "Ambush" just screams Innervsions, from its perfectly distilled tech-house groove to its long, dramatic arc, fleshed out with choral pads, swollen strings and just enough filtered white noise to make progressive kids and Panorama afternooners alike go apeshit. After having released the South African producer's debut EP, The Bright Forest, I can't imagine that Dixon and Ame aren't a little bummed not to be putting this one out. It's unabashedly epic, and beneath its gauzy outer layers lies a steel-belted core.
Structurally, it's simple as can be, which is what helps make it so anthemic. A two-note choral line keep and a loping, percussive groove keep it centered; beyond that, it's basically all crescendo, as string passages swell around it, sketching in fuller and fuller harmonies. The real tension comes from the contrast between short, repeated patterns and phrases that seem to stretch out to infinity, one bar at a time.
The dub version on the flip is slightly less dramatic, easing off the full-force strings to concentrate on subtler details, like shakers and bright, plucked guitars. But splashing gongs and endlessly rising strings leave it feeling just as urgent. There's something almost audacious about both tracks—they're just so frigging emo. Like any of Carl Craig's epic adventures, which this is clearly modeled after, the record comes with built-in risks—I'd hate to hear either version played out too often, or worse, at the wrong times. But if everyone will just agree to a little moderation, to only pull this out when all heads are down and no one's expecting it, "Ambush" could well spark some seriously epic occasions.
Tracklist A Ambush
B Ambush (Culoe de Song's Voyage Dub)