[Numbers]

When I turn to Numbers, the prolific Glasgow-based amalgamation, I’m not usually looking to get my skull blown off. While other UK bass music labels to play up the distance they’re pushing the envelope (Hessle Audio, Swamp81, and maybe even Night Slugs come to mind), Numbers first and foremost implores you to party; the fact that they have a rather nifty approach to keeping you pinned to the dance floor feels secondary. It’s this nonchalance about experimentation — coupled with an utter commitment to good times — that makes the label so charming. Similarly, South London’s Deadboy isn’t on the most forward-thinking of musical journeys, but any lack of innovation in his tunes is more than made up for by a knack for sewing his heart smack dab on bass music’s sleeve. David Kennedy may have spent all of 2010 running circles around tracks like his, but Deadboy tracks like his hotly tipped rework of Drake’s “Fireworks” stuck with us last year in large part because they sounded like they sincerely needed a hug, and we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to let go.

We wouldn’t expect a Deadboy EP on Numbers, then, to be some kind of dubstep gamechanger. But could we conceivably see Numbers go emo, or Deadboy discover his inner Jackmaster? The Here EP manages to find the middle ground and remind us that, while neither Deadboy nor the Numbers camp is synonymous with the eternally next-level, they’re very much engaged with those who are. Had A-side “Wish You Were Here” fallen into Will Saul’s hands, it almost certainly would have been another feather in Aus Music’s cap this year, feeling positively of a piece with such mega-tunes as SCB’s “Loss,” Midland’s “Through Motion,” and George Fitzgerald’s soon-to-drop “Silhouette.” Though still driven by big, teary-eyed chords, “Wish You Were Here” is likely to make you put your hands up for reasons other than attempting to grab a box of tissues off a high shelf.

The EP’s other offerings manage to feel more like club tracks despite leaning less towards the anthemic; perhaps this is because prickly and bouncy are two of this label’s signature adjectives, and these B-sides have them in spades. “Here 4 U” takes Kode9’s synthesizer on a joyride and hits all of Numbers’ favorite potholes. But “Ain’t Gonna Lie” nearly steals the show, which is rather impressive considering the track it’s backing. The obvious referent here is Martyn’s big run in 2008-2009, but the leap is all Deadboy’s own: if so much of this producer’s discography recalls the blurry end of a night where you either got bigtime dumped or bigtime laid, then “Ain’t Gonna Lie” is the sound of getting a good night’s rest and emphatically picking up the pieces in the morning. At any rate, there’s plenty to like across all sides of Here, no matter the size of your room or the hole in your heart. It ain’t rocket science, but it’s definitely something.