XI
G Funk 3000/ Lucky

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What their label says...

XI, known for his collaborations with Loetech aka Matt “Bombaman” Carl, is yet another shockwave emanating from the active epicentre of dubstep located beneath Toronto. His productions and mixes on Streamizm are marked out by their carefully constructed and thoughtfully measured style, and these two tracks mark his first appearance as solo artist. Both tunes have already demonstrated an ability to blow minds, being unfurled momentarily on select occasions by both himself and Joe Nice at Dubwar in NYC, as well as adding alternative flavours to the mix on LoDubs’ just-released ‘Analog Clash’ CD. Their head-turning qualities are as much related to their melodic immediacy as to the fact that they symbolize the dubstep sound once again turning a corner into unknown, exciting territory. This is particularly striking with ‘G Funk 3000’, but no less so with ‘Lucky’. The a-side is, in its simplest sense, a jazzy number, but that reductive term doesn’t do justice to the distinctive Rhodes-like bass tone that surges with the intensity of a low octave piano key being somehow organically overdriven, while a doubletime rhythm of muted midrange percussion and subtle meandering horn figures prove that in this scene, dynamic invention as as much of a crowd-moving force as sheer bass weight. Flip it for ‘Lucky’, a sparse and steppy piece, that seems somehow to have a 4/4 drum pattern hinted at solely through the careful manipulation of bass velocity and swing. Supplant the worn-out epithet “minimal” with the far more accurate “economic”, and welcome XI as your guide to new paths through uncharted low-end zones.