- London grime producer and Terror Danjah protege D.O.K has been around for a long, long, time—almost as long as Terror himself—but I won't be surprised if you have no idea who he is. Standing in the shadows for much of his career, he produced some well-known tracks like Crazy Titch's "I Can C U" without much acclaim. But the current instrumental grime revival, orchestrated primarily by fledgling label Butterz and a few like-minded compatriots, has swept up the veteran producer and revitalized his sound much in the same manner that Mu did for Terror Danjah in 2009. D.O.K.'s sound is lean and sinewy, underlining his fluorescent melodies with deep, rolling basslines and elastically snapping beats.
"Chemical Planet" is quite possibly the producer's most extroverted and memorable beat yet, cribbing a theme from Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and fashioning a track that sums up all of grime's trends in 2010. Chiptune synths? Check. Winding and soulful melodies? Chugging horizontal bassline? Check. Smooth funk bends and jazzy tangents? Check. A sly grin and a wink? You know it. Hard not to love from its very opening bars, it pairs the very real nostalgia of a popular video game with the imagined nostalgia of recent instrumental grime, a remarkably effective move. In infantilizing the otherwise hyper-masculine genre, D.O.K portrays its cartoonish aggression as just that: a cartoon, formidably catchy and infectious in the process.
"Keep On Making Grime" on the other side is not quite as significant, but it pairs a seasick and upturning bassline with worried synths. Vocal interplay becomes a rare factor as doo-wop samples balance atop of the audibly volatile concoction, with longer soulful melismas occasionally wafting out of the sulfurous bubbling. It's, again, exaggerated and even humourous, but else would you expect from a producer who builds every single one of his beats with a "ha!" vocal sample?
Tracklist A1 Chemical Planet
B1 Keep On Making Grime