Joy O - Jels / Wade In

Joy O - Jels / Wade In (Hot Flush) - 10/03

Definitely the most ballsy Joy Orbison record to date; despite the glossed-to-fuck synths he's made his trademark, the 303 bassline rubber-ducking it's way through Jels is far harder than anything from his previous house / r'n'b / step variants, and combined with beefy kicks and big booming claps, makes for a seriously jacking peice of work. Of course, there's the obligatory vocal dropped into the mix - a detuned, mournful cry of "torn" cutting through, but this one's played a lot straighter than other Orbison tracks, basing itself around classic house grooves. Wade In is similarly grounded in proper house, building from solid 303 percussion and a definite kick-clap structure, but shuffling the rimshots and cowbells to weirdly accentuated positions. The filtering, loopy vox is still garagey as fuck, as is the surreally strung-out breakdown, but the piano riff worming it's way through the drop is pure Chi-town stuff. Without retreating into simplistic formulae and done-to-death styles, UK bass music is circling back a degree or so, dragging with it all the new flavours and styles acquired along the way; the artist formally known as Orbison might just turn it all into house music again....

"Them pigeonholes were never nothing to hold me"