- Bristol's Punch Drunk records is a label that tends to deal in extremes; on the one hand, there's the reduced time capsules of label-head Peverelist and dusty dubs from names like Pinch and Gatekeeper, and on the other hand there's the exaggerated melodies from producers like Guido and Gemmy. The label's newest signing, newcomer Superisk, is a bit of an odd fit. His debut "Find Your Way" leans toward the latter category, but is endowed with a lifelike realism not usually seen on Punch Drunk.
If it's not the top-heavy lurch of the mangled synth that gets to you, it'll be the tumbling harp sample; to be glib, Superisk's palette of sounds is brash and overwhelming. It might be exhausting were it not so drunkenly propulsive, the synth never tiring of its endless manipulated whine. There's a price for such hi-def vibrancy: The percussion is relegated to a simple throb and the bassline is disappointingly one-dimensional, as if Superisk forgot about the important parts while sculpting his wonderful melodies.
This percussive void is something that fellow Bristolian Mensah tries to remedy with his remix. But Mensah's take on the track is all too straightforward, and he ends up quashing and flattening the track's quirks in favour of his blandly suffocating drum track. It's surprising to see a trend-hopping producer like Mensah on a label as unforgiving as Punch Drunk, and after hearing his submission I'm still not sure that he belongs. Call it a very rare misfire for one of the best dubstep labels going, though the original's attention-hogging hooks are hard not to love.
トラックリストA Find Your Way
B Find Your Way (Mensah Remix)