Available on: Airmiles EP, Planet Mu

My old friend and former FACT reviews editor Simon Hampson used to say that the reason Wiley was often better rapping over other people’s instrumentals than his own was because whereas he held his own tracks in high esteem, on another producer’s material he could attack the beat with total disregard. ‘Airmiles’, the lead track on young grime artist Swindle’s first physical release, is the sort of track that even a prime Wiley or Goodz would find hard to tackle and come out on top.

Combining early grime’s riff factor with a sound that’s half swelling, super-vibrant Joker bass and half shredding, MMM style techno, ‘Airmiles’ is ragged rave music, and sounds like little else that has come out this year. It’s obviously the best thing on this EP, but ‘Daredevil’ comes pretty hard too, warping the human voice to disturbing effect over West Coast synths. I’m not so keen on ‘Coffee’’s filtered guitar but ‘Molly’’s just interesting enough to work as Purple Wow Longue Music, or something.

Tom Lea