Boddika and Joy Orbison spent 2012 turning out some of U.K. club music’s most sought-after tracks on the vinyl-only SunkLo label; now they’ve got a date with destiny. “&Fate,” the duo’s latest collaboration, is due out on February 25 as a part of Think and Change, a new compilation on Boddika’s Nonplus label. Judging from the four-minute preview just posted to SoundCloud, the two producers have further refined their particular brand of grudging, screw-faced endorphine rush.
A long intro piles loops upon loops, teasing the filters and tickling the synapses while steadfastly refusing any kind of release. Then, bam: The tune kicks off in earnest, with nervous triplet arpeggios throwing elbows over a jacking house groove, and a moody vocal sample adding just the right amount of warmth. It’s no “Hyph Mngo” — it’s likely that Orbison will never make another track that’s quite so ebullient — but it’s also a reassuring step back from the ahedonic abyss that characterized SunkLo’s most forbidding fare. It’s good to know that they can play nice every now and then — especially given the chilly extremes of the duo’s “Mercy,” a SunkLo standout that gets the VIP remix treatment for the comp. Judging from the sound of it, “VIP” in this case must stand for “vampire infidel predators,” or possibly “vertigo-inducing panic.” Just wait for the foghorn in the breakdown, and see if you, too, don’t begin to go weak.
Think and Change comes out February 25 as a five-piece vinyl box set (also to be sold as individual 12-inches) accompanied by two additional “sampler” 12-inches of exclusive material. Artists featured on the comp include NonPlus regulars Lowtec, Kassem Mosse, Basic Soul Unit, Endian, and Instra:mental & dBridge, along with Four Tet, Pearson Sound, Martyn, and SCB (a.k.a. Scuba); special mention goes to Joy Orbison’s solo contribution, which takes its po-faced title after the succinct style of blurbage favored by Berlin’s Hard Wax record store: “Big Room Tech House Dj Tool – TIP!” We’ll believe it when we hear it.
