ASC - Certainties

  • Share
  • Much of ASC's Nothing Is Certain was so atmospheric that it seemed like the beats could float away into the artificial horizon at any moment. It made for one of the most beguiling and inspiring drum & bass releases this year. For a welcome change of pace, however, the material on his own upstart Auxiliary has been a smidgen more assertive. Following on "The Touch," the Certainties EP floats even closer to the ground with weighty and complex rhythms. The exception is "Reality Check," which is the archetypal 2010 ASC track—meaning it's damn near perfect. Powdery pads, sensual vocal breaths, careful drums that sound fastened in place (except when they burst out in the front of the mix) and simmering chords all come together to form a track that teases moments of melodic transcendence without giving into a predictable chord sequence. Its three B-sides are comparatively parched and sandpaper-throated, reducing the warm embrace of reverb to a cold shoulder. As a result, the rigid robotics of "Metronomic" feel naked, its cartoonish cornucopia of drum machine samples clawing at miniature landmine bass drops. The oddest is "Spectrum," which sneaks pitch-bent licks of prog rock synth in between anxious, climbing beats. You'd never tell that these warm electro currents and IDM sparks come together to form drum & bass unless you look at the tempos. Certainties comes at the same time as his dubstep-tempo release on Pushing Red, and it's nice to see James Clements branching out yet again after working so long to perfect his reinvented sound.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Reality Check A2 Spectrum B1 Metronomic B2 Autoreceptor
RA