Jam City

Waterworx EP Jam City

Following on from last year's "Magic Drops", this is the South London producer's second full salvo for the label. Where Magic Drops was on a grime/crunk tip, Waterworx is a portal into JC's unique universe via stripped down, tracky House. On this 12" he clears his substantial cache of club material before focussing on his debut album, to follow later this year. On the A-side is the forward anthem "Aqua Box". An intro of voices, toms, hats and subs sloshes around building tension in the reservoir before a great barrier gives way unleashing the track's huge siren of a drop. Disorientating, like wading through fog, and with a leaden squarewave bass, this is a big, strange rave dominator. On "Countess" on the flip, we overhear one side of a bratty phonecall while a pulverising Linndrum beat hammers away in the foreground. Soon enough we are engulfed in a maze of phasing electrofied arps, jet engine synths, hi-hat workouts and bitchy metallic stabs. Though perhaps aptly named to describe the bare-bones elements that comprise its rhythm, "Barely A Trak" is poised for the dancefloor. A raw and skeletal 808 beat plays host to Jam's signature gliding square synth, forming another uncompromising siren tone designed to fill huge spaces with its sheer density. As the tone shifts octaves from high to low, a vocal demands "What you want me to do?". At 4:30 the rhythm suddenly folds in on itself and begins to play backwards in what is possibly an impromptu ode to Ron Hardy, while another intangibly beautiful synth-drone builds and grows around this new alien beat.