- Bristol's Orphan101 is onto something. He's still finding his footing, with just two releases listed on Discogs for 2010 and now this two-tracker for Appleblim's Apple Pips. But even based on the limited evidence available, he's tackling the techno/dubstep divide in a fresh way, sounding quite unlike others in the same field. On his Tribtek Part 1 & 2 EP for Saigon Recordings, he played dub techno's luminous chords against bass music's quicker tempos and hard, glancing percussion; it felt like a strange fusion of funky with minimal.
With "Propa" and "Disemble," he's considerably expanded his sound, with watercolor pads and scratchy percussion fleshing out hypnotic, strung-out grooves. The flickering chords and hi-hats of "Propa" conjure those most immersive moments on the dance floor, with the strobes flashing in perfect time and time itself seemingly at a standstill. In contrast to so much bass music, he keeps the riffage to a minimum, concentrating instead on long lines drawn in gently intersecting arcs. "Disemble" is tougher, with stabbing metallic tones and thunderbolt bass, but again, he withholds the tension, pocketing his breakdowns with dead silence and refusing the easy payoff of a climactic drop.
Tracklist A Propa
B Disemble