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Razor X Productions
Killing Sound



Super-hardcore dancehall sounds blow speakers, burn the house down.

Razor X Productions

Feted for 2008's fab long-player London Zoo, Kevin 'The Bug' Martin earlier collaborated with Bradford dub sorcerer The Rootsman on singles and other tracks collected on this brilliantly poisonous horrorscape of extreme raggacore. While raw-larynxed dancehall MCs including Warrior Queen, He-Man, Cutty Ranks and Bongo Chilli growl songs called Killer Queen, Killer, Boom Boom Claat and War Start, ragga beats spring, hammer and punch as synths are tortured - other sound sources include sirens, concrete-shaking bass and, as on the fierce and murderous WWW (voiced by dancehall hardman Mexican) bursts of a machine gun, all elements artfully arranged for maximum abrasion. There's a second disc of dub versions which, if anything, turns up the pressure: the re-rub of the aforementioned WWW Version brings stygian bass and noise and Mexican's distorted vocalising echoing off into a landscape charred and scorched by the relentless brutalism. "I don't believe in music as escapism," says Martin, whose youthful mind was opened by Pil's Metal Box and On-U dub. "I want it to assault body and mind simultaneously." On Killing Sound, the job is, in a very real sense, done.

Ian Harrison

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 02/10/2009

Further Listening

The BugPressure (Rephlex, 2003)

Daddy Freddy Meets The Rootsman - Old School New School (Third Eye Music, 2000)

Aphex TwinCome To Daddy (Warp, 1997)


Related MOJO content:

Razor X Productions , The Bug

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