To D’n'B fans, any mention of DJ Zinc will evoke memories of grimy, raucous drum’n'bass nights. But he’s now (wisely) turned his hands to house music – or at least his take on house music; the self dubbed ‘crack house’. What’s crack house? I dunno really – possibly a cynical marketing scheme, trying to whip up a blog/internet frenzy on a par with the accidentally-forged fidget house… But the tunes Zinc’s knocked up so far certainly sound as crazy as crack, er, in a good way (to clear things up…you don’t need a penchant for crack to enjoy these).
Zinc’s ‘Bingo Bass’ (an offshoot of his own original ‘Bingo Beats’ label) has been sending me his crack house mixes since January and they’re alot of fun – alongside his own tunes, Zinc chucks in everything we’re loving right now, from Foamo and Switch’s bouncy house to skream’s dark dubstep.
La Roux’s quick assent to fame after everyone went ‘in for the kill’ mad, left us all wondering if the great combination of Skream and La Roux was a one off. Perhaps it was, but Zinc’s done a brilliant job on Bulletproof – almost equally infectious as ‘In For The Kill’. Heavy droning bass throbbs between La Roux’s sweet vocals – a tight production and a real grower. (this was sent to me by accident by Bingo Bass, it turns out La Roux’s label owns the copyright and has to be withdrawn from the blogs, sorry). But you can pick up the dubplate for just £6 here.
Bingo Bass also kindly sent over Zinc’s Killa Sound EP. It includes collaborations with UK hip-hoppers Foreign Beggars – a wobbly bass monster called ‘Move’. But the standout is ‘Submarines’, a mesh of drum’n'bass, breakbeat and house. He uses that bleepy sound familiar to Zinc fans (found in his pioneering ‘Super Sharp Shooter’) and bears alot of resemblance to Redlight’s sound (another former dnb producer turning his attention to reinventing house music):
Zinc – Submarines[pelski highly recommends]
Speaking of La Roux, check out Foamo’s dubstep remix. The production seems a little more rushed than the housier remix he did (find it on hype, it’s done the rounds), but his dubstep take is fun nonetheless:
La Roux – Bulletproof (Foamo’s Dubstep Remix)
And n the subject of crack house and new genres… L-Vis 1990 has had a fiddle with a couple of huge dubstep tunes to come up with his very own ‘dubblestep’. It’s not any entirely new genre, and neither are these edits huge alterations on their originals. But the hugely inventive L-Vis 1990 injects a bit of pace, with 2-step percussion, cutting these dubstep bangers into jittery dancefloor tunes. It sounds a bit like 2-step and soca, with choppy dubstep bass. L-VIs 1990 injects a new lease of life into these much played tunes:
Joker & Jakes – 3klane (L-Vis 1990 Dubble Step Edit)
Caspa – Where’s My Money (L-Vis 1990 Dubble Step Edit)
