DEFT レコード& CD

Review: It's metallic sound effects and mech whirrs aplenty on this new Deft release for Hooversound; such are just a small descriptive sample of the many crazy sound effects worked into their take on the electro form. Billed as a "familiar favourite" on their roster, 'Burna' hears Deft do exactly what it says on the obi strip, blazing a trail of serious apocalyptic heat by a five-way exploration in breakbeat. Though here, the palette is overhot and liquid-metallic; it's as if it weren't a human being at the creative controls, but rather a decepticon, in constant transformative flux at the mere promise of future breaks carnage. Seemingly no boundaries between ideas of "drum & bass" and "breakbeat" are felt - any initial sense of separation between the two is ultimately collapsed by the EP's use of temporal / metric variation.

Review: Let's get a little slimy this season... Hooversound regular DEFT invites Manni Dee over for some superb slo-mo sludge. All flexing around the 100 mark, there's some serious swagger to be savoured across the five cuts. Highlights include the incessant insectoid buzzes of 'Busy Bee', the sudden jolt of euphoria of 'Charged' and the gut-wrenching twistedness of 'Creep'. Elsewhere 'Witchlead' pushes the drama buttons while 'Greedy' ends on the slowest tip of all as we dip down to 90BPM and get mangled to some faraway cries. Swampy is as swampy does.