Bandcamp seems to have taken over as my primary source for musical expenditure as of late. Spurned on by a strange desire to dig out more local music it’s certainly been a satisfying turn in events away from online stores, even if it does feel like I’m reaching the tail-end of it for now.
The Reverend Glock is the jungle alias of Phil Gektor, also known as Geko and Moodswing operating for the most-part from within Melbourne’s hip-hop scene as a lyricist, producer and founding member of Crate Cartel. Sub-label C:CWhite seems to release exclusively from Getktor’s catalogue of production side projects as limited run physical projects with a heap of digi EPs to boot.
Last year Step FM dropped, a pirate radio concept album drawing on news monologues from the ’90s as the jungle scene took over London. The release relies on the samples as the narrative to drive the tribute to amen break music without going too heavy in to jungle loops itself. The end result is a dope listen in it’s own right, like scoring a futuristic sci-fi film entirely on acoustic guitar or any number of the electronic soundtrackings to silent films that were in vogue a few years back.
The Departed 1 & 2 is the real deal however. Originally released as separate digital EPs the cassette edition collects all eight killer drum n bass dubs from both volumes in a format we love. It’s dirty as hell, with a tough ragga swing and relentless layering. Drawing on some familiar rhythms and loaded with samples – heavily paotois in areas – the tracks as a combined album are cleverly flipped in a manner covering multiple iterations from what could be considered the peak time for drum n bass. Stripped back rave starters? Check. Chin-stroke ambient synth loops? Check. There’s even the obligatory soulful jazz samples and female vocals taking you back to the days right before the pot overflowed. And it all bangs hard.
It may not be reinventing the wheel but it’s certainly a complete listen comprised of fresh dubs from a great producer.
Copyright states 2017, CC:White Records but actually released on the 13th of March 2018, there’s a limited stash of 50 cassettes to bump on your tape deck.