A couple months ago, we received an email from an address we didn’t recognize, promoting a “Free French Bass Label” called Full Fridge, and carrying with it a tall order of free EPs for download. We hadn’t heard of a single one of the artists listed, and apparently, neither had most of the English-speaking internet, but that doesn’t tell you much about quality these days. Those tracks dripped thick from our living room monitors and stuck to us like hash oil. You could have told us it was the new lineup from Hyperdub Records and we would have believed it. Housetone, Heblank, Dogboy—these were names we were quickly googling and scribbling down in our notes under “get back to soon!”
Dogboy’s mix for Cluster Mag doesn’t demonstrate his taste; it showcases his talent. With 18 entirely original tracks produced in his Paris studio, this bass-soaked hour and six minutes takes us on a sonic journey through the man’s acoustic imagination and his technical virtuosity. The swinging clicks and clacks and semantically elusive female woos of some tracks throwback to 2-step, while heavy reverb and cavernous echos remind us of the centrality of dub to almost anything you’ll hear on the dancefloor today. From garage and house to dubbed-out digital reggae, Dogboy brings us most of what we’ve really come to love about the legacy and repercussions of dubstep in European dance music, and leaves the brain-melting death roar out.
—Oliver Rivard
feel free to check out the ones that ain t on that mix!!
http://soundcloud.com/dogboy
peace