Available on: Hyperdub 12″
I’ve got a lot of love for Terror Danjah of late. This is in no small part inspired by the fact that he’s recently been giving away a fair amount of free ’07 era grime via the internet. And there’s no quicker way to a man’s heart than free grime.
There are a lot of reasons to love Terror Danjah though. He often gets labelled with tags along the lines of “grime survivor” but this downplays how relevant his productions still are – making him sound like some old betamax tape still trying to make it in a VHS world. This is one of the UK’s best producers still working towards the top of his game, as he’s shown on his other releases for Hyperdub, Planet Mu and Butterz so far this year.
‘Bruzin VIP’ keeps up this run of strong releases – although opposed to a new track, it’s actually a reworking of one of Terror’s grime instrumentals from the earlier half of the noughties. It’s a pretty great reworking though, taking the rough-edged, colourful liveliness of grime’s peak and updating it, pulling it into the kind of warped take on 2-step that Hyperdub has made a name out of. Anyone familiar with Kode9’s recent DJ-Kicks contribution will already be familiar with the track, recognising its punchy kicks, stuttering snares and melodic, catchy lead synths. Terror is at once playing with new ideas while still making the most of the signature sound palette – gremlin samples and all – that followers have come to know him for.
‘Hysteria’, a co-production with long-time collaborator DOK, is livelier still; based around a set of housey synth chords lifted straight out of a mid-‘90s rave. In fact, speaking subjectively, it’s maybe a little too far on the lively side. As a short nod to the parties of bygone decades it’s certainly fairly fun, but doesn’t quite match the A-side in terms of craftsmanship. That aside, this is another strong release from Terror Danjah. Word has it that a full album is on its way via Hyperdub in the near future. And based on recent evidence that’s certainly something to be excited about.
Si Truss