artist: SCORN
cat no: COMBAT020
format: vinyl & download
release autumn 2008
genre: dubstep / dancehall / breakstep / garage
distro: Veto Music (vinyl) & Kudos Digital (downloads)
As autumn creeps over us and darkness falls, the mighty Scorn raises his head once again out of the Combat battlefields with part 2 of the Super Mantis series, featuring remixes by deep, menacing beatsmith Elemental and exciting new blood producer Threnody.
The man Mick Harris should need no introduction. Involved in creating, playing and influencing the deep, dark and disturbed areas of sound since day one, through early grindcore (Napalm Death) and nightmarish ambient soundscapes (Lull) to his current solo work of Scorn. Wielding perfect mastery of cinematic landscaping and physical, low-end bass and beats, his work has sometimes been referenced to dubstep, though really it's the other way around: Scorn's work predated the genre by several years.
The original Scorn Super Mantis 12" was released in early 2008, nacked with a crushing Blackmass Plastics remix on the flipside. Now it's time for the next wave of destruction: further remixes from the Combat clan, who are huge fans of Scorn.
A Super Mantis (Elemental remix)
LISTEN
Side A sees the North London beats'n'bass don Elemental on remix duties The mysterious studio genius started producing in the early 90's with just a Roland D5, Atari ST, moving on to Akai S2000 sampler and a PC. Focusing on DnB and experimental electronics, he music. Releasing his own DnB 12" at the age of 18, he shortly afterward formed one half of breakbeat garage duo ‘Elemental + 3D’, releasing on their own label Runtime Recordings in 2002. A couple of years later after some time abroad, he caught the likes of Search & Destroy on Rinse FM and found the sound he had been looking for – dark, heavy syncopated beats and bass.
Since finding Dubstep and it's peripheral mutant forms, Elemental has been focused on bringing his unique sound to the masses, undeniably hard yet dubbed out, dirty bass and hypnotising rhythms. He has had many releases from Destructive, Hotflush, Pitch Black and Halo Beats, and more recently, his seminal track Soulfire featured on Tayo’s Fabric mix cd. His live sets (so rare in the world of dubstep) are nothing short of astounding, deep, textured and considered; a fluid block of sound with spooky old Photek overtones, with interlocking rhythms and surging dark subs.
This remix was featured on Steve Barker's Wire show, and on Mary Anne Hobb's Experimental show on October 2008, tracklist HERE
The mastering session can be seen on YouTube
HERE
B Super Mantis (Threnody remix)
LISTEN
Side B is the result of Super Mantis parts being handed to exciting new-blood producer Threnody . Based in Stafford, the Sub FM resident pilots the late night sessions representing experimental beats on the station, fuelled partly by his own prolific studio output.
Occupying the uncertain space between dubstep, breakstep and electronica, these works of deep, brooding sounds, broken breaks, fragmented vocals and low-end destructive bass have ended up in the hands of DJs like Mary Anne Hobbs, Rob Surgeon, Stormfield and have found their way onto various labels such as Creative Space, Urban Graffiti, Red Volume and Combat.
Keeping in line with the other Scorn remixes in this series, Threnody's rework certainly doesn't disappoint: this version is a sludgy, tracky monster armed with razor sharp beats and furious rhythms that will batter you senseless while a gigantic sub rises and falls like a huge undersea kraken. Unstoppable.
In contrast to the unstoppable beats and bass, Threnody plays light, almost wistful keystrokes of melody atop the roiling landscape of destruction below, like snow falling over a burning city. Dark, bleak and beautiful at the same time.
The Threnody remix was featured by Rob Surgeon on the excellent Electronic Explorations podcast in Oct 2008... big up! Click here for the download.
More Scorn remixes are in the pipeline, reworked in strange and menacing ways by sonic deviants King Cannibal, Zan Lyons, Noiz, Stormfield and Bracket.
further info:
www.combatrecordings.com