Kontext: Falling to Weightlessness / Aeromonarchs Attacks
Immerse

Kontext: Plumes / Blinkende Sternje
Immerse

In which Bristol-based imprint Immerse combines four genre-defying tracks by Kontext—Russian-based Stanislav Sevostyanikhin (aka Dissident) who hails from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea—into a two-part EP. By combining varying amounts of dubstep, techno, ambient, and house in any given track, the material resists easy classification—though that's part of its charm.

Following an intro of jazz-fusion-like flourishes, “Falling to Weightlessness” falls into position with the forward charge of a bulbous throb offsetting its bass-heavy undertow and glistening light streams reflecting off its charging rhythms. An excursion into the claustrophobic realm of dark ambient electro-dub, “Aeromonarchs Attacks” layers a gloomy drone and industrial pulsations over a beautiful cocktail of marauding broken beats and classic dub bass lines.

In a dramatic change of wardrobe, “Plumes” tries on deep house and the resultant fusion of crackle-drenched machine-funk and buoyant uplift is lovely. Perched halfway between textured electronic design and groove-based dance music, “Plumes” calls to mind the similarly distinctive style of Dreck Records' AM/PM. Day's end brings “Blinkende Sternje” where the listener's taken on a scenic, texture-heavy dub-house stroll through the darkening city at an unusually quiet and peaceful moment.

August 2008