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RL Grime leaves us with goosebumps after release of album - Void
Drum and Bass | Tuesday 18th November 2014 | Nick
Where to start? The dark, mysterious drum and bass track, the trap anthems, the overall ambience? How about simply that RL Grime has been ripping up the trap scene since the very beginnings of the genre. With his pre-album release 'Core' hitting 1 million views before the rest of the album had even dropped, RL Grime really did it this time.
RL, previously known as Clockwork, has had a massive influence on trap and bass music since the start of the scene, combining stupidly low 808 kick drums, synthesizers, percussion, and everything in between to create completely unique music. It's hard to place his latest release and debut album, 'Void', in a single genre. nstead it takes the listener on a journey through various different influences.
The album opens with 'Always', a light intro piece that sets a slow tempo and is followed by RL Grime's first huge collaboration with Boys Noize, 'Danger'. It gives off a weird, acid house meets trap vibe, and is one of the biggest tracks on the album. 'Scylla' is an immensely produced creation, with tempo changes that throw the listener off and a drop by drop increase of pace with infectious sounds. Reverbed, filtered and generally mastered to an incredibly high standard - it's a track which will undoubtedly be on a lot of DJ set lists for years to come.
The next huge collab is with Big Sean and a song called 'Kingpin', skilfully mixing very recent hip hop and rap music with trap. A prolonged distant horn gives a very similar feeling to his equally great What So Not collaboration 'Tell Me', and brings a slower tempo and completely different feelings to the other tracks on the album.
Up next is 'Valhalla', featuring Djemba Djemba, for a massive trap anthem. This song will undoubtedly be heard at a lot of events all around the world these next few months, with a huge 'trap inspired' drop, a small high pitched synth only faded out to expose a dangerous kick drum worthy of shaking ribcages. With the classic heavily filtered percussion for the melodic part and a little tease of drum and bass at the beginning, this song may as well have been dipped in gold.
However, 'Core' is surely the biggest track on the album. Released as the first single, its clear RL Grimes' confidence in it was well placed: with over one million total listens in its first month, its scary vocal loops and horns backed by snares build up to one of the most iconic trap drops ever.
If you ever get the chance to see him live, do not pass it up: his creations only show half of him and RL is an absolute killer behind decks. His music know-how leaves him with one of the most varied sets in the trap scene, as his versatility enables his sets to push genre-boundaries just as he does on this record.
'Monsoon' typifies this multifaceted approach. With a light trap feel, similar to some Ryan Hemsworth tracks, it's more gentle than his usual offerings and has an 'away with the stars' feel.
The last song on the album brings us back to the old drum and bass roots, featuring looped lyrics I'm sure you'll all recognise and a very naughty, dark drum and bass break beat. Showing off his talent at creating various different genres of music, and exposing a wide spectrum of musical influence within this album, 'Julia' represents the whole album in a nutshell: basic ideas but masterful productions.
The Void tour is only in America, however RL Grime likes to surprise us and throw end of tour parties in London, so on 17 January 2015, he'll be taking some special guests to Village Undergroud in Shoreditch.
Follow RL Grime on Soundcloud
and Twitter
Get tickets for his London gig here:
BuyVoid on iTunes
Nicholas Beaven
