Lokiboi - Hood Cuts
Returning for another offering of instant dancefloor head-turners is Moscow born Lokiboi. Picking up where he left of after his last release ‘Night Swing’ on Telefonplan, Lokiboi treads a new path this time away from party anthems to a darker side in the form of ‘Hood Cuts’.
‘Hood Cuts’ has been realised on the Moscow ‘Capital Bass’ who have already and impressive CV with such releases as Pako’s dark and stylish ‘Legacy’. Kicking things off is ‘I know’ - it seems to rise from the ghetto depths, plateauing into a —beat to beat— kick and snare set. Slinking in behind is a layering of dark static that creates a canvas for the vocals to keep everything in check. The drum machine provides Lokiboi with a partner in crime throughout this EP setting up each tune with a ridged framework for the other elements to intertwine and swell the tracks out. This clever set of ingredients gives each track with self-assurance to express itself individually whether that be a minimal, stripped down attitude as in I know or the sci-fi powered ‘Dats’. Lokiboi creates an unusual three way partnership between tribal syncopation, sci-fi led synths and hard house hits in Dats – Lokiboi’s use of high-hats here really lay in parallel to early dubstep producers such as Silkie and Quest; the work both in unison with the beat but operate on their own skipping around this super cool track. This impressive work is another big hitter for Lokiboi, each hardware-packed track sets the regimented theme for the synths and vocals to float in and out uncontested.