Life At 140 #11

If it's grime, and it's happening, it's here...

Clash hands things over to our man with all of the BPMs in his mind, Tomas Fraser, for another overview of recent happenings in the world of grime…

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Wiley's Twitter spat with Glastonbury (organisers), as well as his own team, may have stolen the headlines for some – and here be that news – but June also witnessed a fresh batch of great releases in the world of grime.

On the instrumental front, P Jam's three-tracker ‘Flipside’ made waves after its release on in-house label Beatcamp, whilst Visionist (pictured) has again been hard at work re-conceptualising the way in which we all digest grime.

His self-released ‘Crying Angels’ EP features remixes of three stone-cold grime classics: ‘Functions On The Low’, DJ Oddz’s ‘Champion’ and Young Dot’s ‘Bazooka’. Also included is a new cut from Visionist himself, ‘Your Eyes Were Green’. Haunting, almost gothic in their delivery, these mixes add a poignant and, moreover, completely unique stamp to tracks often considered too precious to rework.

Continuing the in-house theme, Preditah has been busy compiling his latest EP, ‘El Futuro’, a colourful four-track collection of garage-leaning joints, as well as another typically bold rework of JME’s smash ‘If You Don't Know’, simply titled ‘Jack Up The Tune’.

Footsie, for so long such an asset to the scene, continues to churn out incredible material and June saw the launch of the second in the series of his ‘King Original’ instrumental offerings. Featuring 18 tracks, including the classics used for Dizzee’s ‘U Can't Tell Me Nuffin’ and Maverick Sabre’s ‘Inside’, it’s sure-fire grime gold.

Terror Danjah and Champion were also busy, the pair joining forces with Hyperdub on their debut collaborative EP, ‘Sons Of Anarchy’.

Elsewhere, promising imprint Glacial Sound celebrated its debut release from one of the year's hottest new grime-leaning exploratory talents, Rabit, with his ‘Double Dragon’ EP being heralded as one of the year’s best by FACT.

On the vocal front, Big Narstie launched his much-anticipated ‘Don't F**k Up The Base’ EP at the beginning of the month with a launch party at Proud in Camden; and Tre Mission, one of grime’s most interesting up-and-comers, released debut album ‘Malmaison’.

Based in Canada, Tre’s been a name on everyone's lips since the release of his debut single ‘Maxin Everything’ back in 2011 and has also turned his hand to producing, having a track released as part of Big Dada’s ‘Grime 2.0’ (Clash review) compilation in May. The album comes highly recommended.

Events wise, Swindle’s launch of his debut LP, ‘Long Live The Jazz’ saw the album played out in full by a live band, opening up a whole new way to appreciate the music, whilst Butterz announced extended Jamz club dates throughout the summer in London.

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Top Five Tracks Of The Month

DJ XTC – ‘Functions On The Low’ (Visionist’s Crying Angels Mix)

An incredibly dark and, in places, emotional rework of one of grime’s truly classic cuts. Exceptional.

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Preditah – ‘Jack Up The Tune’

More brilliant stuff from Preditah, who dissects JME’s original vocal and reworks it with warped, sci-fi swagger.

Rabit – ‘Black Dragons’

Taken from his brilliant ‘Double Dragon’ EP, this is as moody as it gets. The bass weight beggars belief.

Tre Mission – ‘Brunch’

One of a few standout tracks on ‘Malmasion’. Lyrically clearly a talent, Tre works ‘Brunch’ with real confidence over a great, hollowed-out instrumental.

P Jam – ‘Flipside’

Sublow-like 8-bar grittiness from P Jam. Reload central.

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Words: Tomas Fraser

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