Mistress

Mistress

Hollygrove

Halcyon Veil

Outstanding debut of zinging, weightless productions by New Orleans-based Mistress, picked up by Rabit’s Halcyon Veil hot on the heels of that amazing Conspiración Progresso compilation 12” and their excellent Dreadfile mix earlier in 2016.  The six tracks on Hollygrove are articulated with an almost unmistakably American diction, yet draw heavily upon UK grime styles, existing in a double refractive flux of club music dialogue that transcends geography much like Rabit’s own output.  Upfront, they rumble out the shuddering echo chamber drill menace of Lie Dormant, an aching balance between stasis and cocked tension, whilst the dank-but-dainty southern bounce of Hollygrove nails a sort of gaunt 3-step swagger aching for an acapella, and Mjolnir sounds like a Scratchy ’05 riddim sent into orbit.  Flipside, that classic grime sound is twisted back into the twinkling 8-bar dancer, Kanagawa Homicide, and Behemoth veers back to U.S./Latino club sounds, and finally Gatekeeper ascends/descends into heavenly hellish, weightless baroque synth structure.  Fucking deadly 12" this.