Available on: Kapsize 12″

OK, time for the necessary disclaimer for when someone criticises something as popular as this release: I think Joker, obviously, is pretty great. Until this year’s ‘City Hopper’ I owned every original Joker 12″, and I’m one of the first people to ever interview him (something the Bristolian insisted was done over MSN). His releases might not carry the same ‘must buy!’ aura they once did, but that’s inevitable – no one should resent a young producer making money off remix commissions that understandably aren’t as important to him as his original productions, and really, when your first five singles are ‘Gully Brook Lane’, ‘Holly Brook Park’, ‘Play Doe’, ‘Snake Eater’ and the incredibly underrated Kapsize EP, it’s hard to keep up that sort of form forever.

There is, however, a nagging feeling that Joker, who became popular on the strength of his colourful grime synths that were so different to anything else in dubstep three years ago, has started to simply retread old ground, content with rearranging those trademark sounds in slightly different ways and calling it a new track. ‘Stash’, ‘City Hopper’, ‘Tron’ – these recent Joker singles have a definite feel of More of The Same, which is sad. Hard drums, ominous intro with synths circling overhead, standard Joker bass drop, catchy melody, repeat. They all just do the same thing as ‘Purple City’ but not as well, basically. Let’s hope Joker’s saving the real heat for his album, because it would be a real shame if someone who started off sounding like nobody else (I mean, who remembers ‘Grimey Princess’?) ended up stuck in his own system.

Tom Lea