Rabit - Sun Dragon

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  • Considering he's based in Houston, Texas, it's easy to consider Rabit's deconstructed grime as being removed from the real thing. It works on its own terms, and with him being recently signed to Tri Angle, there's obviously an outsider appeal to his sound, too. But thanks to an emerging London scene that includes some of Rabit's collaborators (Logos, Mumdance), he's ended up fitting right in. His induction into the UK community continues with an EP for Parris's label, Soundman Chronicles. Each side of the EP pairs an interlude with a hefty club track. The heavenly float of "Send" features classic grime sounds—gunshots, sheet metal, terse MCing—in airy suspension, before the first drop of "Atacama Skeleton" hits like a brick to the head. This one pushes Rabit's love of silence and pauses, each bass wallop snagging and catching in unpredictable patterns, which makes it feel a little too spartan. There's something about its blank-faced growl that recalls the ultra-functionalism of Mark Fell, a feeling that returns on "Yellow Haze." Padding those bass hits with gunshots, foreboding pan flutes and the occasional slip of a drum break, it's imaginative—and more effective—where "Atacama Skeleton" feels shut-off and distant. Rounded off with the pensive bounce of "Sun God," which is built with one of Rabit's classic hollowed-out melodies, Sun Dragon is another solid release from one of modern grime's most uncompromising practitioners.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Send A2 Atacama Skeleton B1 Sun God B2 Yellow Haze
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