- "Voyeur" has been around for so long already—the Autonomic crew have been hammering it since what feels like the beginning of time—it's hard to know what to say. Basically, it's a banger. A total banger. But it bangs without ever really banging. There is no big drop. There are no crushing kick drums. The bass never farts and the vocals never rouse (quite the contrary). Melodically, it's low-key, off-key and warped, and what little variation there is is kept to a bare minimum. It's really all—all—in the groove, which falls somewhere between the sleazoid tech-funk of Ivan Smagghe circa fabric 23 and Boddika's more recent electro-bass revivalisms. For chin-stroking techno aesthetes, this might not sound like much, but for wasted ravers the world over, it's dynamite. Anyone who heard it spanking out of Bloc's hefty Jak:Bloc rig back in March will agree. Even the carpet was gurning.
It's no wonder Skream signed the tune (Skream = bangers, right?), but sadly this means it arrives via his less than consistent Disfugured Dubz imprint, home to some of the stodgiest bass "music" yet pressed to wax, e.g. the B-side. Quite apart from the fact that "Voyeur" literally screams (no, not intended) one-sided pressing, there's very little justification for releasing bloopers like "Like a Bird" in the first place. Unless, that is, melodically uninspired, rhythmically cumbersome, structurally predictable pseudo-deep half-step is worthy of being put out. In which case, I stand corrected. But I'll take the A-side any day. It's one of the tunes—read: choons—of the year.
Tracklist A Instra:mental - Voyeur
B Von D & Riskotheque - Like a Bird