Flagship of the Bristolian sound aesthetic, Chris Farrell’s record store and label Idle Hands sits as a peerless reference for all things dubstep, UK bass and garage, with a mouthwatering back catalogue featuring contributions from all key members of the local scene: Peverelist, Kowton, Kahn, Alex Coulton, Bass Clef, Shanti Celeste, Facta, Leif, Bruce and many more. Strongly impressive to say the least.
Last in date to grace the grooves of Farrell’s beloved imprint, Milan born-and-raised producer Piezo – who unsurprisingly lived a few years in Bristol before returning to Italy – steps up with the motley ‘Lume EP‘, a three-track plate where Kowton’s pared-down structural formula meets the shuffling grind of vaporous deep house and borderline abstractness of dubby riddims and drone’y meanderings. More nuanced than his previous iterations on Artikal and Subaltern, ‘Lume‘ blooms as a subtly vibey chunk of parallel-moving genres brought together by an all-embracing vision and cohesive palette.
If ‘Opeq‘ starts as a destructured bassy object that draws closer to Ossia’s off-standard dubs, it rapidly veers off towards luscious tape-saturated house territories. Whilst it doesn’t opt for difficulty with the oh-so-classic pumping hats moves and slow-scudding pads, its fine textural arrangements really carry the day here, taking its rather casual and calibrated buildup into upper spheres. ‘Novemiluano‘ sinks even deeper in the aqueous side of things, blurring the line between fully functional breakbeat complexions and a sheer loungy ambience to languidly drape yourself into.
Closing the EP in cold-blooded style, the title-track ‘Lume‘ finds Piezo returning to the minimalistic principles of the opener’s intro, offering an icy and clinical dub masterclass. Delayed snares ripple and dissolve in a thick gangue of micro-sampled organic sounds and brittle reflections. Never quite running out of gas but maintaining the energy flow of his compositions steady, Piezo shows deadly accurate when it comes to setting up numbed and penetrating dubby drifters.
Lume EP is released via Idle Hands on 31st March, pre-order a vinyl copy from Juno.
TRACKLIST
A1. Opeq
B1. Novemilauno
B2. Lume
Discover more about Piezo and Idle Hands on Inverted Audio.