Bok Bok

Southside EP Bok Bok

At long last, Night Slugs drop a EP from the label's co-founder Bok Bok. Representing his full gamut of influences as well as his label's hypercolour, bottom-heavy, club-ready aesthetic, the Southside EP is an extend manifesto of a release for the South London DJ / producer. The three tracks on the 12" share a core sound palette, one that merges raw and convulsive acid house with functionalist 8-bar grime: the warm sound of vintage drum machines and analog bass combined with the razor-sharp, dystopian digital dread of noxious sawtooths and gliding squares. "Hyperpass" unfolds with a thunderstorm sequence, as a warped spoken-world vocal announces its dominance before delivering a core mantra: "trax gotta get made". Raw and cavernous, it's built to dominate the darkest warehouses. "Reminder" is a raw and uncompromising 8-bar number, featuring an ominous sublow tone that trades places with a row of jackhammer pulses, framed by tuff 909s to fully work your body out. "Silo Pass" is Bok Bok's ode to his beloved techno-tinged grime productions of the early 2000s, reconstructed for 2011 as a crunked-up squarewave floor destroyer, complete with a gleaming arpeggiator sequence, birdsong, clattering rimshots and soaring, fluorescent chords. Modular, geometric, stripped down and emotive, this is Bok Bok showcasing his definitive sound.