- Each wave of UK dance music culture has its share of enigmas—producers who surface briefly, release a handful of brilliant tracks and then disappear from view. Until recently, it looked like Logos would be just such a character. His Kowloon EP, released through Keysound last year, propelled Wiley's eskibeat template to new heights of space-borne abstraction, prefiguring a rash of recent grime productions in the process. In its wake, Logos fell silent. Fortunately, in the past year he's made a return to the limelight, this time with a collaborator in tow. Mumdance's own production history is rather chequered, involving a stint making gaudy bangers for the Diplo empire and collaborations with grime vets including Trim and Jammer. Together the pair produce high-octane, low-finesse bangers that fall somewhere between vintage grime, ghetto house, techno and the hybrids thereof pioneered by the likes of Jam City.
The Genesis EP is the first collection of these tracks to see release. "In Reverse," a gully 130 BPM counterpart to Rockwell's drum & bass smash "Reverse Engineering," was a highlight of the recent Keysound compilation. A "PIV" version (geddit?) here remoulds its elements to trippier ends, sending us scudding in and out of the glistening sheet-glass chords. "Turrican 2" fires particles of "Pulse X," Untold's "Anaconda" and lord knows what else into the coldest regions of Metalheadz space, while "Wut It Do," with its ragtag breakbeats, channels vintage hardcore to less impressive effect. The unexpected highlight is Mumdance's collaboration with another partner-in-crime, Mao. "Truth" swaps out pummeling brutality for a moodier halftime groove, its kicks booming out under aqueous rave chords. It's surprisingly sensuous in places, though proceedings are, naturally, conducted at frostbite temperatures.
TracklistA1 Mumdance & Logos - In Reverse P.I.V
A2 Mumdance & Logos - Turrican 2
B1 Mumdance & Logos - Wut It Do
B2 Mumdance & Mao - Truth