TOLCHA VS SOOM T
SEND DEM KIDS TO WAR
Meta Polyp
Al-Haca collaborators Tolcha, Berliners hailing from the bass-obsessed Meta Polyp family, are part of a global movement determined to shake a polyglot sense of promise out of "urban" music by applying steadily increasing subwoofer pressure. "Void" channels splintered-wood glitches into a rippling dancehall pattern flecked with hand drums and Asian-influenced strings; in top form on the record, MC Soom T sticks to the low end of her range, weaving menacingly in and out of the tuned drums. It's not radically different from Timbaland and Missy Elliot's work from a few years back, but as club music goes, it still comes as a minor revelation. The buzzing, ragga-meets-electrohouse bounce of "What About Us" might be harder going depending upon your tolerance for its burnished, doubletracked vocal hook. Far better, the doubletime "Send Dem Kids to War" might be the only dancehall track that might feasibly find its way into a Justice set. Jahcoozi, Eva Be and Al Haca all offer remixes, of which the latter is the standout: uncomfortably balancing woozy triplets and a swung Schaffel-house rhythm, it sounds almost like one of Thomas Brinkmann's classic double-tone-arm variations.