Rockwell takes on This Mortal Coil and Untold

Rockwell ‘Aria’ (clip)

Rockwell is is on fire.

One of our favourite UK producers right now, he’s previously described his sound as “drum and bass, with an emphasis on different break patterns and percussion sources”, but that scarcely does justice to his deadly, free-roaming sound. Its complex rhythmic constructions at times call to mind the brain-boxing output of mid-90s Warp and Rephlex tackle, but there’s also a strict minimalist discipline at work, meaning that for all his rhythmic experimentation, Rockwell doesn’t lose sight of the dancefloor and its demands. He also has a soft side, balancing that razor-sharp drum programming with lush strings and choral layers.

2010 was a breakthrough year for the producer, with superlative 12″ and EP releases on Digital Soundboy, Shogun Audio and Critical Recordings. Particularly notable was the limited edition ‘Reverse Engineering’ 12″ on Darkestral: not only was the music consrtucted out of reversed samples, the record itself was cut inside out – i.e. it plays from the centre-label out to the edge – and all the label info was written backwards to boot.

Next week sees the official release of Rockwell’s Aria EP on Critical (white label copies surfaced earlier this month). It’s a 2×12″ affair featuring four devastating new productions. The title track samples elements of This Mortal Coil‘s version of ‘Song To The Siren’, strapping them to a tricksy but tough steppers’ rhythm and heavy bass-synth stabs. ‘Live For The Moment’ is an expansive, Photek-style roller, all swooping strings and wah-wahed chords.

Our man collaborates with erstwhile junglist Untold on ‘Rehoku’, an intense, tribal drum work-out tempered by eerily dubbed vocal effects, and the EP is closed by an Ulterior Motive remix of ‘Noir’ from Rockwell’s previous Critical EP. In some sense this is the most “traditional” drum ‘n bass tune on the EP, but there’s enough danger and dynamism in the arrangement for it not to be shown up by the three Rockwell originals.