Bass Clef
A Smile is a Curve That Straightens Most Things

5
...according to our Brian on 23 November 2006.

We know a man called Ralph & after sniggering at his silly name for two years we've now had to eat a whole skipload of humble pie cos he's just delivered this rather ace experimental grime/dubstep album under his nom de plume BASS CLEF (cue more sniggering - sounds like cleft!) After realising i have the mental age of a retarded squirrel, I also have to accept I have the musical appreciation of a beard stroking grandmaster of tunesville! (hahahahahaha) Cos this bunch of skittering, playful beats, insane schizo bass frequencies, moody dub textures & excellent programming is honestly one of the best progressive electronic albums i've heard in months. He's obviously been ingesting sounds from the entire IDM spectrum for years and has just thrown his cap into the ring with this collection of futurestep classics for the laugh. Ranging from spacious minimal dubstep to Warp style pioneering technoid stuff like Milanese, taking in influences from the likes of Squarepusher etc, this CD, 'A Smile as a Curve that Straightens Most Things' (a sweet title) is an absorbing journey for intelligent beat-heads everywhere. On Blank Tapes. Really you should click on this

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What their label says...

Blank Tapes are proud to release the debut album from Bass Clef, aka Ralph Cumbers. Having spent years refining and distilling his sound, Ralph finally locked himself in his tiny studio in Hackney 8 months ago to emerge with a clutch of demos that contained some of the freshest, most dazzling beats that the Blank Tapes posse had heard in years. Anyone familiar with his earlier release as RLF for labels like Rex or Hombre will notice a distinct progression in his sound. Gone is the clatter and clutter and higher tempos, instead things have been eased to the steady hearbeat of dubstep. But there the similarities with the fashionable new genre end. Utilising just an old cassette four-track (ask yr parents), a drum machine, a sampler, a vintage synth and valve compressor, Ralph has concieved a striking and original debut. Opting out of the race for the latest sequencer/processor/sound card which drives much IDM, Ralph is somewhat of a connoisseur of vintage analogue equipment, polishing his literally broken beats with analogue fx held together with blue tac gives his work a wholly unique character, charm and depth. Think the viral dubspaces of Mad Professor, the DIY intimacy of Third Eye Foundation and the brain-teasing beat- programming of AFX, all with live interventions on trombone, theremin and cowbells and you’re nearly there.