Rustie
Jagz The Smack“It’s the sound the kids are going are crazy to… bass fuelled aquacrunkstep mentalism that’s gonna rock your bedrooms and parties” — so say Glasgow’s Stuff records on the press release for this debut cut from young whippersnapper Rustie. Whilst I’m too old to be able to tell exactly what that tinny noise coming out of the kids’ mobile phone speakers actually is, they couldn’t go far wrong with this. Five storming tracks, each with notably crisp production and, vitally, a serious dose of head-nodding funk. Never quite settling into the grime, dubstep, electro or hip hop categories, Rustie takes elements from all of these genres and melds his own blueprints. After the nervously body popping Clipper, things get seriously dense on the title track. A tidy little arpeggio gives a nod to the Knight Rider theme as an icy arctic synth floats in before — bang! The bass kicks on the downbeat and you can just picture the hoody massive giving it serious skanking at the bus stop. Crooked is pure cut-up hip hop flava, block rocking party beats done Modeselektor style, with just the right amount of intelligent chop. Flip over for Response which uses the same kind of electronic trickery on a half-step rhythm with an engaging melody, and Pendulum which does a rather more straight up electro boogie — although the old school hardcore stabs that seem to come out of nowhere suggest Rustie has spent as much time researching old Eclipse tapes as he has Street Sounds LPs. A cracking debut EP that breathes serious life into genres which have recently felt a little tired.
