Typing ‘Arktic’ into Google yields mixed results. If you pine for a visceral and fresh approach to Dubstep, you will be catered for. On the other hand, if you are looking for a German manufacturer of staircases, who incongruently use a polar bear for their logo, you may also be sated. I prefer to focus on the former result.
Arktic is definitely something new. Having only been producing under that moniker for a year, he previously handled Drum and Bass and released several tracks as Reaxion. This influence and experience certainly shows in ‘Hurting’. The sound is massive, with a tempting bassline underscoring epic presentations of surprisingly intimate melodies. This conflict gives it a playful, but also a slightly sinister tone. Taking most of the best bits of Drum and Bass and applying them to Dubstep results in a huge gregarious tune, that at the same time manages to remain almost private. In other words, it’s fucking full of win.
These contrasts are deconstructed in the excellent Camphor Haze remix, which adds a subterranean depth through cunning production. Although the heavy industrial element is evident, it remains quite delicate and enigmatic as it twists and contorts the sound into something thumping and brooding.
I highly recommend checking out both artists, as well as investigating ABAGA and Eight Stone Records. Or if you don’t want your senses to be assaulted and pleasured, then feel free to go buy a German spiral staircase instead. Then you can walk up and down it repeatedly and remember how you were too much of a pussy to listen to this awesome music.
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Released 20/05/09. more info at www.myspace.com/eightstonerecords
http://www.juno.co.uk/labels/EightStone+
http://www.digital-tunes.net/labels/eightstone_records
http://www.dancerecords.com/labels/Eightstone+Records