- Beneath and experimental outpost PAN seem like an unlikely pairing—at least until you hear the results. The UK producer's walloping broken beats are clearly catered to the dance floor, but Vobes busts their foundations wide open. After streamlining his sound into something closer to house and techno with his recent releases, Beneath uses his new platform at PAN to take a step back and refigure his sound, incorporating shards of outside influence while keeping close to his early dubstep-inspired roots. Vobes is undoubtedly his best EP yet.
The four-tracker starts off on its left foot—"Bored 2" is full of IDM laser synths, orchestral hits that warp on impact and free-floating drums. Beneath really bares his teeth here, overloading the tune with the heaviest sounds possible until it all sounds seductively unstable. Slower and deliberate, "One Blings" rides an ultra-dubby bassline through a thicket of rattling drums and anxious chopped-up melodies, proving there's as much power in the tension of his music as there is in the brute force.
The other two tracks are closer to Beneath's London-isms of past work. "Occupy" is straightforward, a hectic percussion workout punctuated by pressurized handclaps. "Stress 1" rounds off the EP with a work of dazzling contrast, a whirling dervish of gleaming drums and sounds that are framed by methodically knocking beats that could double for morse code.
TracklistA1 Bored 2
A2 Occupy
B1 One Blings
B2 Stress 1