Vex'd - Cloud Seed

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 18 Mar, 2010.

Jamie & Roly are now separated by choppy seas & masses of land but their tentative work towards a second album was still kind of in the can. Badgered relentlessly by top electronica gangster Mick Paradiso of Planet Reflex records to part with their half-formed sophomore opus, 'Cloud Seed' is that very disc you've been hankering for - years after the tuff-assed grime & aggressive mogadon jungle of 'Degenerate' first burst a sub-bass cone in Tarquins student house that Saturday night. This is a slightly less dense & more sultry affair, a record infused with both grace & urban tension. I really like the pace and feel of the tracks here, they've got some top notch female vocalists roped in this time, from Warrior Queen's rumbling patois on the brooding, bleepy sci-fi opener 'Take Time Out' to the glacial purr of Anneka on 'Heart Space' (sort of ties up everything Various Production were attempting and drop-kicks it into a cocked hat). It's a slow, calculating record is this, stuffed with fine detail, nifty bass maneuvers, mechanised half-step beats for that tribal doom sensation & some very wisely chosen samples. Still essentially lurking on the outskirts of grime rather than the more fashionable areas of dubstep, this is smoky, industrial soul music with occasional neo-classical flourishes that is totally meditative & moving in spite of all its foreboding seriousness & sonic profundity. Fantastico.

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* Vex'd are a legendary duo. Their 2005 album "Degenerate” was one of the first and most successful dubstep long players and remains to this day one of the most respected.

* It bravely re-wrote the rulebook and is lauded for establishing a new template for the dubstep sound, beyond it's roots in 2-step & UK garage skipiness, bringing in the influences of techstep jungle, breaks and apocalyptic noir soundscapes, putting them to use in dubstep’s ‘bass and drums at a 140 bpm’ setting, with results that were never less than astounding.

* “Cloud Seed” is a follow up of sorts to that album. Selected from original music intended for the second album plus rarely heard remixes from the same era and expertly sequenced to flow like a full album, it’s an addendum to the career of Vex’d (who rarely work together anymore), made from the best of their work.

* Though one might be tempted to think “Cloud Seed” is an album of unfinished sketches, the result will confound that expectation. It is in fact an incredible album in it’s own right. Made with Blake’s apocalyptic vision of London in mind, it’s atmospheric with an ear for a cinematic intensity that rivals Burial, and a complex darkness that rivals the Bug. It
contrasts light and dark, the rough and the sophisticated to amazing effect, drawing you in for repeated listens. The album also features a small selection of guests, from “Warrior Queen” (best known for her work with The Bug)

* TRACKLIST:
- CD: 01 TAKE TIME OUT (FT. WARRIOR QUEEN) 02 REMAINS OF THE DAY 03 HEART SPACE (FT. ANNEKA) 04 OUT OF THE HILLS 05 SHINJU BRIDGE 06 SLUG TRAWL DEPTHS 07 BAR KIMURA (JAMIE VEX'D REMIX -ORIGINAL BY PLAID) 08 DISPOSITION (FT. JEST) 09 SUITE FOR PIANO & ELECTRONICS (VEX'D REMIX - ORIGINAL BY JOHN RICHARDS) 10 KILLING FLOOR (MAH MIX) 11 SUTRING QUARTETE NO. 2 (VEX'D REMIX -ORIGINAL BY GABRIEL PROKOFIEV) 12 FALLEN (VEX'D REMIX - ORIGINAL BY DISTANCE) 13 OCEANS 14 NAILS

- 2xLP: A: TAKE TIME OUT (FT. WARRIOR QUEEN) REMAINS OF THE DAY B: HEART SPACE (FT. ANNEKA) OUT OF THE HILLS C: BAR KIMURA (JAMIE VEX'D REMIX - ORIGINAL BY PLAID) DISPOSITION (FT. JEST) D: OCEANS NAILS

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