Inga Copeland, along with the whole Hype Williams sound in fact, has always been hit and miss for me personally. Not to say some of it hasn’t been outstanding, but a lot of that crew’s efforts feel like art for art’s sake, something doesn’t work consistently with releasing music. At some point you need that stick in the sand to say “this is the great thing I’ve achieved, and I know what I”m doing.”
And here it is, a collaborative plate with John T. Gast, marking the first release for new imprint All Bone.
The opening cut is the standout, for track engineer Gast, the interestingly named ‘Ukmerge‘ that blends the best parts of trip-hop with digidub stylings, a joint that would be as home as much with Jahtari as Massive Attack as the LA beat scene. 8-bit synth bliss and crunchy drums that Copeland’s voice works perfectly with. The loose programming and sharp punch are also reminiscent of the first time I heard ‘Weekend Fly‘ (still one of my favourite cuts ever) from Cooly G. This is the type of track that’ll be worn out very fast from over playing, can’t get enough. It’s a lesson in stripping your music back to only the elements that work, and in this case the elements are close to perfection when they come together.
On the flip we’ve got the UK funky influences worn more on the outside with ‘Strict‘. Scattered techno kicks and snares with varying levels of mid accents make things a bit more frantic, closer to the 130 tempo. The vocal would almost sound out of place if it weren’t used so sparsely, but as with with the A-side the production team know exactly how much to mix in without killing the joint. Proper four-track early pirate plate vibes suit this, like the warehouse versioning that came a little too late in the scene and has finally come around again. It’s an DIY-party-system plate, which is probably the last thing we were expecting, and this is the side
Delivered in a decently heavy wax with a hand-stamped white centre that suits the package perfectly, this is a pretty special record in my opinion. Not too sure who’s behind the All Bone label but looking forward to more already.
Press release below, accompanied with a recent youtube up.
via Boomkat
**Hand-stamped 180g white label** Inga Copeland furnishes new imprint All Bone with two grubby sound system tools produced by John T. Gast ov Henny Moan fame. It follows her ‘Don’t Look Back, That’s Not Where You’re Going’ 12″ with a more rugged, minimal UK dancehall sound iced by those knowing vocals. Top side stars the barely-hinged, pitching snares and dread digi dub of ‘UKMERGE’ gilded with drowsy utterances, whilst flipside they tilt the tempo to a bouncing blend of mutant Dubstep and bruised techno – think Mala-meets-Container – with sparse, wellt-timed phrases from the former Hyper Williams enigma. TIPPED!