Available on: Deep Medi 12″

‘Kosmic 78’

How important is it to be adaptive within the music world? Will there always be a place for the original exponents of a genre, or by the very nature of widespread acceptance are these musicians destined to be viewed as somewhat staid and uninteresting later in their careers?

It’s listening to the new release from Benny Ill and J. King that’s made me question these things. Although not the most recognisable name to people outside the world of dubstep, Benny Ill’s early experiments with garage solo and as part of Horsepower Productions led the way for the likes of Skream and Benga to bring to the fore the genre we now accept as an increasingly dominant force. There’s a lot to respect and thank Benny Ill for, but I find myself at a bit of a loss as far as this release is concerned.

‘Kosmic 78’ rolls and tussles under its own weight, with a bassline that sounds disorientatingly close to someone glugging down your soul. The drums are spacious and lush, and help to create a real depth of field. Its counterpart ‘Lithium Soular’ is really quite similar; the same musical ideas just rearranged. There’s a sense of narrative about these two pieces of music, not just with the spoken vocal samples, but in the layering of textures – by the time either track ends, you genuinely feel like you’ve been taken somewhere, which is rare and important at a time when that seems to be lacking in a lot of music.

This record has a lot going for it and I’m sure for a lot of Horsepower fans, it’ll tick many boxes. It’s well produced, it sounds amazing over a big system, it has atmosphere and has all the other elements that made people sit up and pay attention to dubstep in the first place, but I do find this release a little… well, staid and uninteresting. Weighed up against contemporary records that showcase how far this sound has developed, it’s missing the x-factor needed to fit convincingly into today’s electronic music. Hopefully the forthcoming Horsepower album doesn’t share the same problems.

Benjamin Stefanski