Bristol is and always has been a hotbed for musical innovation, cross-breeding, and refinement. One of its most experimentally-prone institutions is the recently revived Applepips, headed up by Appleblim out of the ashes of the revered Skull Disco imprint. It’s a label that has released tracks by producers from both side of the pond, taken bass music tracks and given them unexpected dub techno and tech house makeovers, and it’s this kind of fearless fusion that dubstep desperately needs before it inadvertently buries itself alive. One of the newest trends emerging out of Bristol appears to be the meshing of tech house with bass music, as evidenced by the latest twelve from the label by the enigmatic Komonazmuk and its surprising remix by Aus Music figurehead Lee Jones.
Komonazmuk is one of Bristol’s most underappreciated figures, currently caught between two extremes; at one end, he’s a member of Jakes’ HENCH crew, a label and collective that deal in violent, aggressive dubstep, and at the other end he’s a frequent collaborator of Appleblim’s, lacing techy productions with restrained and delicate touches. It makes sense that his first release on Applepips is more in line with the latter, forgoing the anger in favour of something sexier. “Dance Too” takes the forward lunge of recent Bristolian dubstep a la Headhunter and spins it like a top, whirling deliriously as the oppressive percussion rises up in the centre like a funnel cloud. Its churning momentum drags the phased vocals and soft pads along for the ride as they encircle — like a tornado made out of shattering disco balls. The B-side is a tech house rework by Lee Jones that stunt’s the tracks ascending tendencies and flattens it out into over eight minutes, grinding on a funky bass riff that Jones seems to fashion out of thin air. The chords are polished, lusher and more luxurious and blanketing the track rather than prodding at it from the sides. That a remix like this doesn’t feel one bit out of place on what is ostensibly a dubstep release bodes well for the future of Applepips as well as dubstep’s future as proper dance music — the more walls that are already broken down, the less chance there is of a collapse.
