lamont: hold dat

Tectonic welcome Lamont to the team! Bristol's bendy-beats whizz kid is mainly known for dropping jaws with his releases on Swamp 81 and its various offshoots. This time, he's been chipping away at four fine-cut gems, especially for Tectonic -- bringing some darkside vibrations in addition to his usual bounce. "Hold Dat" runs at 135bpm, sitting in-between grime, dubstep, and housey/techno/whatever that thing Lamont usually does. Charged with a disgusting, totally greasy bassline, this one drops hard and keeps going -- quality moves for (now, mostly imaginary) dancefloors. "Push" takes it down a notch, to 130 for a more heads-y work out, laden with crackling, fizzing sonics -- and heavily punctuated by sub-bass hits. The energy levels step back a touch, while building intensity. "Brain" sees Lamont working more familiar territories -- sending a pounding 4/4 kick drum out to hold together a series of collapsing percussive hits and warping melodies -- as a "brain" sample, simply haunts your brain. The EP closes off with "Open Letter", taking things into a dread-space; dub-wise, deep, and dangerous. The lurching bass hits take charge and push you through layers of echoed hits and micro-melodramas, to round off this great EP in fine style.