- There's hype, hype and then hype—and it's on this, the highest, most vertigo-inducing platform of internet froth and trendy clamour that producer, DJ and Night Slugs impresario Bok Bok finds himself teetering. Night Slugs is the label he runs in cahoots with fellow London basshead L-Vis 1990. The last two years has seen hundreds of column inches devoted to the pair and their label, declaring them to be one of the best things to happen to dance music since the invention of dance music.
So it's with much fanfare that Bok Bok's Southside EP drops, as it's the boss's first full proper release on the label. It dips his imprint's sound into arguably more grimey territory than previous Night Slugs releases. He's crafting bleeps and beats which sounds like they've been born on the backseat of a blacked out hatch back somewhere in the heart of London's E3 postcode. To these ears it stands out as weirder and more unique than much of the skewed house being made by his peers.
"Charisma Theme" is first out of the blocks and chimes beautifully amid a synthetic haze before getting an uncontrollable fidget on. "Reminder" is Bok Bok with his fist firmly round the throat of the dance, repeatedly thrusting its face into a hissing bassline which is as abrasive as it is rude. "Silo Pass" takes a scythe to grime. It's got an undercarriage as black as night, yet cut with a sparkling silver synth which matches the ghoulish monolith on the record's cover. Elsewhere "Look" rumbles roughly on its knees through an industrial landscape. Like the Incredible Hulk splitting through his clothes to show off a rippling set of muscles, the EP is Bok Bok showing off exactly what lies beneath, which is a producer in love with early, classic grime releases and dance floor sweat. On this EP, he's married the two to devastating effect.
Tracklist 01. Charisma Theme
02. Hyperpass
03. Reminder
04. Silo Pass
05. Look (Dub)