Sunday 17 July 2011

SBTRKT: Walk Like An Egyptian

I knew this would happen; I decide to review a song from the 1xtra playlist instead of Radio 1 because of the weekend in Majorca and The 2 Bears' Bear Hug makes it onto the playlist. But it's SBTRKT's new song so it'll be cool anyway. I can always review The 2 Bears next week.

A little bit of info about SBTRKT; firstly it's pronounced 'subtract' but was shortened because no one else is crazy enough to call themselves SBTRKT. He likes to keep his identity secret (always wearing a mask when he performs) but on 1 July it was revealed on Twitter that Aaron Jerome is his real name which is quite cool anyway but nowhere near as good as Orlando Higginbottom (TEED's real name).

It was after the success of Living Like I Do and Wildfire that he made a name for himself and if you haven't heard of either of those songs then you're missing out. He makes 2 step electronic music with dubstep (yes another dubstep song) and garage influences. Synthesisers feature heavily but his main focus is on arrangement and syncopation.

And he has a new song out - Pharaohs. It's a little bit quicker than Wildfire and loses the edge by making itself a summer anthem but it's still great. The beat's really catchy and guaranteed to get that pelvis thrusting. The production is dead simple but in a good way that makes it unique rather than just overloading a track with the same old dubstep/DnB effects that take no risks and are plain boring because of they've been overused on so many other tracks (the reason I chose this over Drumsound & Bassline Smith). It's bass in its simplest form, and at its best.

The vocals aren't as good as Wildfire but you can't compare Roses Gabor to Little Dragon. She's got a fairly good voice and it must sound better without SBTRKT making it sound all raspy which he seems to have been doing a lot recently. It creates a nice atmosphere but it doesn't really promote Roses Gabor that well. Having it one syllable at a time like: "You. Stars. Open-arms. Pharaohs. God. Golden." is quite catchy but not so imaginative. Jerome uses the vocals as more of an instrument but, as a Roses fan, I'd prefer them left alone sil vous plait.

So this is Pharaohs by SBTRKT featuring Roses Gabor; an anthemic blend of Summer madness with bass brilliance.

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