Coco Bryce - Dis Cam Belie
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on December 7, 2010Right on the heels of their debut release, the Lowriders Collective come back with another EP, this time courtesy of Netherlands-based Coco Bryce. Bryce contributed a remix on the first Lowriders release from Ghost Mutt, and now it’s his time to shine. This is Bryce’s first solo EP, and he quickly establishes himself as a beatmaker to know.
Much like Ghost Mutt, he bridges genres, combining hip hop, funk, dubstep, glitch, and skweee, a style of music popular in Scandinavia that derives it’s name from trying to squeeze all the sounds you can out of old synthesizers. I’m not very well versed in it, but this article from the Guardian UK is a good place to start.
Bryce manages a sound that’s almost menacing, due to a fondness for synth strings and heavy fuzzed-out bass lines. His off-kilter, funky beats recall Prefuse 73 or Machinedrum. They don’t flow smoothly, but instead are chopped and disjointed and forced together. It does work, though, and the small skips and hops in the beat just add to the syncopated funk.
The EP opens with “Supercalifragilistic,” which pairs a minimal synth loops with some eerie strings to form the melody. The beat pushes us forward with a groove that I’m tempted to describe as a funky march–what Darth Vader would use as a processional march if he had more swagger to his step. Bryce comes right back with “Metropolis,” a collaboration with Spanish artist Niño. It shuffles along under a deliberate bass line that provides room for the keyboard melody to grow and flourish. It’s a simple formula, but takes a good ear and patience to do it right and Bryce clearly has that.
As we soon discover, this is all to set the plate for the title track. “Dis Cam Belie” is dark, heavy funk with bass that demands to be heard. If you can sit still while listening to this, you should probably see a doctor. If Herbie Hancock, Prefuse, and El-P had a baby, it might come up with something that sounds like this. I can’t recommend this song enough. We finish up with a remix of “Supercalifragilistic” by 1000names out of Sofia, Bulgaria. It’s got a warm, welcoming sound to it, adding in elements of house music, but keeping the beat downtempo. It’s nice change of pace on a solid debut EP.
Title: | Coco Bryce - Dis Cam Belie |
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Label: | Lowriders Recordings |
Year: | 2010 |
Rating: | 7/10 |