The sub on Feng Shui doesn’t drop so much as settle into the floor and refuse to leave. This is the deep, patient end of dubstep: no screaming mid-range, no festival-sized theatrics, just a bassline that moves like something big turning over in its sleep. Cartridge and Hypho both come out of the UK 140 scene where restraint is the whole flex, and this is a masterclass in saying less. There are maybe four elements in the entire track and every one of them is load-bearing. I put it on in the car and the door panels started buzzing at a frequency I didn’t know they could reach, which is honestly the only review a tune like this needs. It’s built for a dark room and a proper rig, and on phone speakers you’ll wonder what the fuss is about. That’s not the track’s fault, that’s physics. Music for nodding slowly in the corner while everyone else waits for a drop that was never coming. I’ve had it looping for an hour and the space in it still feels enormous.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.