Bass Clef - Dawn Chorus Pedal (Idle Hands, Sept 17th)

Bass Clef - Dawn Chorus Pedal (Idle Hands, Sept 17th)

When Bass Clef's excellent Reeling Skullways dropped a couple of months back, a discussion on our radio show ended up with us concluding that he'd obviously purchased a whole bunch of tech and had made an album just to get some use out of it. Reading an interview in Wire from a couple of months back, turns out we weren't exactly wrong, and his forthcoming single on Idle Hands is equally techno-driven and rich sounding, indulging Cumbers' love of vintage drum machines and analogue synthesisers. The warm bass synth from Reeling Skullways reappears in Dawn Chorus Pedal, providing a springy Detroit undercarriage for otherwise screwy techno - Bass Clef experiments with discordantly tuned toms, erratically delayed hi-hats and uncomfortably mixed snare smashes to continually mess with the techno formula. Consisting of three movements, Dawn Chorus Pedal starts off with a solid four-to-the-floor kick, building to an obvious breakdown before re-emerging as erratic breakbeat that in turns dissolves in reverb washes and synthesiser drones - a structural technique that enhances the offbeat feel.

The flipside, You Don't Know Don't You Know is a simplistic, loop-driven sketch that takes its cues from hypnagogic pop, ambient and dub - vocals get chopped and screwed around varying delays, with a warm bass riff and epic tom rolls. Reeling Skullways saw Bass Clef growing as a producer and moving away from his lo-fi sound, and whilst the title track seems to continue in the same vein, You Don't Know Don't You Know is something very new and unique sounding that shows growth as a producer.