- Tobias Pederson's best known track is drum & bass stunner "Syncopy" on TEAL Records, one that had none of the usual taut and tough hallmarks of the genre. Here, on his first release on Copenhagen label Surfase, he pulls the same rabbit out of his hat. Listening with an admittedly half-attentive ear on the first go, I didn't even realize these tracks were at 170 BPM tempo.
"Lonely Ride"'s drums are padded and pithy, meted out with just a slight bit of syncopation so they sound more like earthy deep house than drum & bass. Throw in darting, '80s pop-calibre basslines and cheap keyboard synths and you've got yourself an animal that's every bit as unique (if not as stirring) as his debut "Syncopy." "Dreams & Reality" is even more of a Casio jam, an emaciated power ballad full of creeping chords, grotty synth bass and slamming squalls of fluid synth. This one's given a determined lurch and pronounced, echoed snare hits that fall out of the end of each bar, removing it even further from your typical drum & bass roller. Here Beastie's found a way to remove both the common structural and textural aspects of the formula-dogged genre and create something that sounds genuinely new—at this point all they need is a little more force and momentum.
TracklistA Dreams And Reality
B Lonely Ride