Instra:metal helped build the bridge between techno and dubstep that, at this point, seems completely natural. By refining the marriage of techno’s forceful impetus with dubstep’s brooding ethos, Instra:mental (along with Martyn, Shed ect.) helped unite the German and British electronic music scenes, epitomized by tracks like “Vicodine”. The muffed out, humble kick drum, and the insistent pulse that urges you toward the floor, capture the numb sensation one feels at a party you know you ought to be having fun at but simply cannot. The occasional clav echoes into nothingness and you remember why you’ve been refusing to join the vacuous party that surrounds you.
Gerry Read’s “Patterns” begins by navigating that same space. Muffled pulses surround. Humid textures abound. But rather than submitting to the claustrophobic emptiness of the club, the track walks over to the bar, politely places its drink back onto the bar, straightens up its tie, and jumps headlong into the party. The synths surge to the top of the mix, thrashing wildly. It’s difficult to tell whether these are happy or violent movements but one suspects that such distinctions are besides the point.
A plucked melody soon follows, confining that childlike joy one gets from dancing alone and setting it to song. Discreet depression gives way to dastardly delirium so seamlessly, one wonders why every wallflower beat-head isn’t thrashing about.
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