Sabotage

The sober, tough sounds of Sabotage need not express anything beyond a silent appreciation for the production that surrounds them.

These murky sounds are not the thoughtful drum n bass atmospheres Alix Perez has made his name on. It would be wrong to call it a departure, though - Perez is no stranger to 140-bpm dubstep. He's the godfather of the acclaimed label 1985 Music, one that has explored and brought light to the deepest depths of the underground's new guard, largely ignoring mainstream trends and instead pursuing talent in the more reserved corners of European bass. Perez himself is an accomplished musician, no less, and his prowess in these areas is has been shown time and time again over his career, but Sabotage picks out its own pocket.

Largely it finds itself in a plaintive, empty room. Where the lush, clear sounds of Perez's liquid funk have disappeared off to, this album does not concern itself with. Sabotage understands its minimality; it picks through it carefully, cautiously, and certainly not in a hurry. Indeed, Perez takes his time - though just eight tracks, the record approaches forty minutes of runtime, ruminating. "Cape Reinga" is a thoughtful opener, one that revels in ambience and a sobering vocal and, eventually, diligent percussion, but it is this diligence that carries Sabotage through the next few tracks. It is unafraid to be harsh, even in its rumination - "Mother Cell" brings a clipped, stoic bassline that is only exacerbated with the following tracks, ones that seem energetic yet maintain their echoey presence. "Watch This" follows - it is perhaps the best example of this, since its sample would be at home in a rave, as would the sharp garage beat, but there's something about its mix that detaches it from being truly energetic.

Uncertainty begins to percolate the soundscape. "Cape Reinga" would have you believe that Sabotage was to be almost spectral, in a reticent manner, floating around its barebones room, but the power of Perez's deep dubstep bassline pries that ghostly quality from its clutches. To say that it is meticulous, though, would still seem correct. Even by the time the clamorous "Rush Them" strikes, Perez continues reinforcing the echoey sound design, creating space and emptiness in the mix where there is none to create. "Rush Them" has snares that seem to crunch down before flitting off into oblivion, and whilst it's certainly produced with a bit of a kick, the restrained feeling remains, as if Perez leisurely examines every corner of Sabotage's room, every little nook and cranny. And even when the album ends with the short, jagged "Kal-El", where Trim - grime MC and former member of the Roll Deep crew - spins out his bars in a rapid yet examined fashion, the closer's groove still pays respect to the more thoughtful atmospheres before it. They are atmospheres armed with razor blades, to be sure, and industrial hydraulic presses, but they are atmospheres that are detached from the world of violence that dubstep often finds itself in.

The influences of Sabotage feel, inexplicably, personal. There is certainly something evocative about the loneliness it exhibits, and whilst it draws much from the UK scenes of garage and footwork (and, of course, old-school 140-bpm dubstep that stems from those), it doesn't quite belong in that musical zeitgeist - it doesn't particularly fit into any zeitgeist at all. Discounting the 2000s London scene would be folly, of course, and yet when Sabotage inhales and exhales it does so to the rhythm of its own lifeforce. The textures that should seem straightforward instead shift restlessly, but they are muffled - the rhythms that should be electric and thumping are instead mechanical and paced-out. Sabotage is not a dangerous record, but it is contemplative and breathes slowly; by contrast, it is not a quiet, ambient immersion project, and the weapons it carries remain on display.

All of that is to say that, despite its shorter tracklist, and its longer, less dense tracks (that do occasionally overstay their welcome), Sabotage is a quietly powerful record from the veteran producer. The respect that the record holds for its own music, as well as its influences, is a respect that should be accorded to the tracklist itself. It is a respect that Sabotage does not command, but rather waits for, and it does so ingeniously.

Listen on Spotify here.