Album Review: Anuj
Rastogi - Dark Matter EP
Reviewed By :
Ravaliya (Swara)
Date:
August 4, 2009
As I sit h ere on a raining saturday in London, the album
cover of Dark Matter by Anuj Rastogi tells me this release is going to be
interesting in one way or another. Anuj has always been known to fuse eastern
and western ideas together in his Omnesia work and I was not expecting anything
less with 'Dark Matter'.
Rather than follow the path of song writer, Anuj has chosen
to play the part of sound engineer and producer taking heavy Dubstep rhythm and
bass influences and setting them on a direct crash course with the fluidity and
organic sound of indian instruments and melodies.
Bassic Instinct is a
great opener to the release as it starts very slowly but with a constant energy
and builds over time as the layers of percussion enter into the arena. The
intricate style of the drums and percussion really fuse indian and western
rhythm together and is my favorite part of the track.
As soon as Code Blue starts you're locked in. Giving
the sarod the first spotlight was a great move by Anuj as it now plays part of
director in the whole track. Even when the drums drop you are just waiting for
the sarod to come in a start ordering the track around like a bossy aunty from
mumbai. Anuj doesn't fail to deliver as the sarod is constantly used to build
energy and carry the track.
Darth Veda is the first
track of the EP to have a slightly more traditional dubstep sound because of
the open sound of the bass synth jumping around with an LFO. The energy and
pace is however still very much Anuj's imprint as he uses vedic vocals to add
some dark matter to the track. Punchy kick drums ensure that the rhythm is
never lost and having a bit of Master Yoda in your track never hurts either!
Militant Flower has to
be one of my favorite tracks of the release. The intro doesn't mess around. The
crazy synths sound like they have had too much acid for breakfast which just
begs for the tight drums to come and tell them off and sort their rhythm into a
groove that you can't help but move to. The constant battle of supremacy
between the sweet bansuri and synths is classic thing for Anuj to do, but
delivered in a chaotic manner which I seem to love.
The pulsating synths in Shadow Crawl really give the
track its name as it cleverly becomes the mystery and drive behind the track as
the beautiful Violin of Sharat Chandra Srivastava gives you a thinking point to
focus your energy. My favorite part of the track has to be the dafli breakdown
at 1:44 where the violin is given a platform to shine.
From the deep sarod of Code Blue and the vedic vocals
of Darth Veda the whole EP has an air of dark indian energy around it
that seems to really complement Anuj's own unique interpretation of the dubstep
sound.
The one thing I have found about this EP is that it is in no
way traditional dubstep. Rather than having an in your face club style energy
from london, Anuj has managed to bring energy in subtle but yet chaotic layers.
These layers are often battling each other with one side saying "I'm Indian
and this is where I come from" Where the other side says "Screw
tradition I'm the future of sound and rhythm". Anuj allows each side its
own space to shine and in moments of madness throws them both into the same
boxing ring. Sometimes I don't know which one wins, which I guess is a good
result. The battle of Eastern vs Western in Anuj Rastogi's eyes . . . draw!.
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Swara Bio:
Swara is the name given to the production duo that is
Ravaliya and Kurran Gadhvi. Based in East London and founded in the summer of
2006 on a traveling trip to India, Swara make a mish mash of east meets west
music with live acoustic instruments and electronic sounds.
When Ravaliya and Kurran joined forces they understood
the unique blend they had could be used to make some great music and started to
produce together. Currently unsigned, they have had major support from Radio
1's Bobby Friction and Nihal, who made the track Line of Control number 1 on
their show for a few weeks running. They have also had major support on BBC
Asian Network, being interviewed as a 'Future Friction' and DJing Live as
'Superstar DJ'. Massive support has also come from El-Vishio on Sabras Radio
who still plays the track Atomic Meditation, and Saad Chisty from Dallas, Texas
station KZMP. More recently Swara won a remix competition held by The
Freemasons and Future Music magazine to remix the Freemasons track 'Pacific'
from their album. The Swara Step remix of Pacific was personally picked by the
Freemasons out of thousands of entries, winning them all sorts of studio
goodies and a feature in Future Music magazine.
Links:
www.myspace.com/swaramusic
www.myspace.com/ravaliya
www.gotyourspace.com/swarasessions