Data Breaker

Fledgling Seattle net label Car Crash Set
is primed to make important ripples in
2010. Under the auspices of producer/DJ/
glitch.fm personality Ill Cosby, C/C/S
has commissioned a clutch of cuts that should be finding their way into the virtual record bags of major jocks in the global-
underground future-bass-music network.

Two new C/C/S releases demand your attention. First, Freddy Todd’s Can’t Fathom This, the follow-up to the Detroit producer’s Ghost Dance Messiah EP (the imprint’s debut). Todd’s original of “Can’t Fathom This” radiates Hollywood-blockbuster drama and opulence, like a Dilla production on a seven-figure budget. For his revamp, Oakland’s NastyNasty slows the piece’s roll and increases the mysteriousness, burrowing into its rhythmic guts to find hidden frequencies. London’s Om Unit adds undulating metallic percussion and a more chilled atmosphere to Todd’s bravura composition, revealing an unexpected facet to it. RNDMS ups the tempo to a disco-house strut and creates hypnotic punctuation through brilliant, Paisley Park–toned synth squirts and sliced-and-diced male vocals. “Lofi Fiction Blaster” skulks down meaner alleyways, like the Bug, but with less girth and noise and more stealth. Wicked stuff for gutsy DJs.

Ill Cosby negates charges of self-
nepotism with The Powerful, which follows his excellent Lo Oyen single and comes in UK and NW editions. “The Powerful” oozes a mystical illbient aura as it slugdubs its way into the heart of darkness. Sinuous tones redolent of Ethiopian master vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke form an arched spine of tingly eeriness throughout the track. One can imagine Skiz Fernando of dubhop stronghold WordSound putting his stamp of approval on it. The UK single
is rounded out by remixes from Irrelevant and Abacha. The former embellishes “The Powerful” with forlorn bell tones, wooden percussion hits, and humid atmospheric pressure, before accelerating the pulse to something resembling Muslimgauze on muscle relaxants. Abacha imbues the song with a similar subliminal uneasiness while adding resonant frame drumming and blurring the main vibe riff.

The NW single finds Seattle’s 214 transforming “The Powerful” into a lean, cracking, Gescom-style electro heater while Eugene’s Place bulks up the bass throb, keeps the vibes front and center, and introduces a dashing swivel into the rhythm. As great as “The Powerful” and its versions are, my fave of the dual release is “Hold On Dub,” whose exorbitantly supple, tactile bass spasms and hushed, erotic ambience make it a wondrous dubstep anomaly.

(Visit www.carcrashset.com for future developments.)

Recommended show: L.A./UK dubstep brohemian Rusko, Kid Hops, Dash EXP, Surpass perform Thurs Feb 4, Trinity, 9 pm, free, 21+.