- The SEO-averse Joe has followed a frustratingly choppy release schedule to date. There was his initial run of form back in 2009/10, where he established his extraordinarily poised, playful style by riffing on dubstep's 140 BPM framework. Then, after a silence, a clutch of productions in 2012, which explored more house-friendly terrain, whether it was luscious broken beats ("R.E.J. Bit") or a skewed disco edit ("MB"). All were great, but it felt like Joe's sound, singular as it was, merited more thorough exposition. We may, in the coming months, be in for just that: the low-key London producer left his day job to focus on music earlier this year, and this single for Hessle Audio is the first fruit of his recent labours.
"Slope" is the chief attraction. Its crisp, itchy beat, peppered with sample-detritus, is instantly recognisable as Joe's—as is the bassline, prim and proper but sporting a slightly coarse triplet turnaround. What's new is the textures Joe lays over the top: clotted drone loops at the opening, growing into lush, enveloping strings, before falling away to a ring-modulated snarl. Somewhere along the line a kick trots into frame, but the whole thing follows such a seamless through-line that you'd be forgiven for missing it. "Maximum Busy Muscle," blustering along at 135 BPM, adheres to a more characteristic arrangement. It's the more refined cousin, perhaps, of fellow Hemlock affiliate Randomer's 2012 output, though the farty re-pitched horns in the latter half hint at playground humour behind the bookish facade.
Tracklist A Slope
B Maximum Busy Muscle