South London Ordnance: He Do The Police In Different Voices (Aery Metals)
The latest deluxe EP from South London Ordnance builds and expands on the dark vibes of his Witch Hunt 12" from last year, with sounds that fall further outside of traditional dancefloor boundaries for the maiden voyage of his own new Aery Metals imprint. In that sense, He Do The Police has sort of two separate identities. Perhaps the closest match to the sounds of that previous outing are found in “Floating World,” with its swirling chords and deep bassline coupled against a clattering, almost industrial rhythm section.
A close second is the big room sound of “Obsidian,” a collaboration with Femme en Fourrure that ought to work well getting any ‘floor’s sweaty bodies moving.
In sharp contrast to that is “Black Acre,” a collaboration with vocalist Brolin, falling closer to 90s trip hop than any of the warehouse sounds of SLO’s other tracks I’ve heard. Chris Carter delivers a dubbed out remix of the track, pulsing with a dense treatment of the original’s groove and reverberated synths, ditching Brolin’s vocal completely.
There are two remixes of “Modular Splash” (the original is nowhere to be found), handled by Factory Floor and JD Twitch. Factory Floor’s remix is a prolonged tease, all delicate sequences with the suggestion of an impending anthem that just never happens. It’s awesomely tense and fairly bold, a remix that pines for the dancefloor but which is fundamentally less than compatible. JD Twitch delivers a typically stunning rework, though, aimed directly at the dancefloor and smartly touching on all of the various areas that the other tracks on the EP do. Vocal snippets stutter in time with a persistent, layered, dense set of sequences, anchored by a steady kick and a crisp snare. Its squirmy bassline and bright high-end synth patterns are what seal the deal, lending it that almost-off-the-rails crescendo and energy that he’s known for. It’s a somewhat schizophrenic release then, with so many different sounds and approaches colliding in a seemingly random order. But each track is engaging in its own right, and well worth a listen. If anything, it greatly expands my perception and expectations of SLO, far more than the couple of tracks I’d heard previously. An interesting and varied set of sounds for clubheads and beard-scratchers alike.
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