Release Date: August 12, 2013
DBridge, otherwise known as Darren White, kicks off his latest EP in an unconventional, albeit fitting way. The first track is a collaboration with DJ Skeptical, and the intro sample is abstract and oddly political. A man explains his investigation of colonialism and exploitation in Jamaica, which found him constrained by “spiritual vampires,” and the only thing that could bring him from this spell was for someone to yell, “Move your Bumbaclot!” With that, the 170 BPM madness begins.
For dBridge and DnB producers in general, the slow trajectory of a song is paramount. On “Plain to See,” electronic signals send between synthy hi-hat pulses in uneven ways that gradually smooth out as a groovy, 8-bit bass line moves its way in.
This slow walk through the electronic landscape of “Plain to See” becomes eerie when a distant, alien sounding drone works its way into the track. Sampled strings pluck and form a progression that wouldn’t be unwarranted in the poppiest of EDM tracks, but context is everything, and this chorus-like section certainly fits, especially with the little accenting beats that dBridge sneaks into the track.
“Plain to See” is a good composition, though it shades in comparison to the following track, “Death of a Drum Machine.” If this is the music marking the death of a drum machine, then that drum machine is putting up a fight. Unnerving chimes ring out over a sample of a man saying, “Too black, too strong,” and the breakneck beat jumps in. “Death of a Drum Machine” doesn’t stray far from the DnB formula, and it’s not dressed in high-quality samples or the usual trite trapping of modern dance music.
Much of electronic music today is glittering with perfect production and ends up overblown by trying to include the myriad competing ideas of what constitutes “good” electronic music.
Here we have dBridge crafting tracks like “Death of a Drum Machine” that are simple, yet still as fresh as they were when he began in 1990. However, dBridge’s minimalist method also runs the risk of being lackadaisical and drying up in repetition.
In spite of this, Move Way has some diverse moments in spite of having only three songs, and it’s all under the guise of smooth transitions and slow introductions.
Move Way is a solid release that serves its purpose as dance music, and dBridge stays true to his roots. What amounts from the countless wacky vocal samples, the choppy beat, and the driving bass is a super groovy album that’s steeped in “retro” electronics.
By some standards, Move Way is hardly innovative and forward thinking, though it stands above most electronic music by defying the current standard, even if it’s only supplanted with an old standard.
dBridge – Move Way tracklist:
- “Move Way (feat. DJ Skeptical)”
- “Plain to See”
- “Death of a Drum Machine”
