Toob // Chop House Vol 2 [Chop House]
Remember the good old days of vinyl when you used to walk past your local record shop and they’d hand you a latest release totally free? Thought not. This is the delight of the digital era; acts like Toob can suddenly give away quality slices of audio totally gratis. And give they will, as the vision is to populate the Toob blog with more in the Chop House series over the course of the year.
Stepping back for a touch of bacground; the duo, Jake “Jakeone” Williams and Rich Thair, have already had successful excursions via their roles in Red Snapper, an act that was part of the founding old guard of Warp Records. Naturally, with roots in a label renowned for pushing the boundaries of electronic music, their work as Toob is now prodding at the fringes of House, crafting music that is distinct from the average.
After an orchestral analogue appetiser sets a serious scene, you are kicked straight into Our Marble Roll. The best way I can encapsulte this is likening to the sort of soundtrack you’d hear at 3am on a meatgrinding dancefloor; you’ve endured the “I feel out of place” initial entrance to the club, the 2 hours where the only things that exist are colours and sounds, exiting at surreal place of clarity where your fellow man is all locked in unison. A ridiculously catchy and cheerful bassline cleverly disguises an ever so slightly discordant array of classic House sounds, all sounding like they have been bounced off a brick wall, through a clothes wringer and re-sampled as they are squished out. Crisp, clear yet a little bit unhinged.
Just taking the intensity down a level, Nudge initially rolls forward with a military march accompanied by muted synth stabs, before unexpectedly devolving into an orchestral drone halfway through. This short moment of ambience is quickly brushed aside by the angular Techno of Grin, the relentless kick just about managing to keep a grip on the sludgy bass and eerie choral sounds, like grubby hands trying to hold onto wet soap.
While your head might quickly identify structures such as House, Techno and Electronica, nothing within Chop House feels derivative. Its like one of those EPs you would save your limited pennies for, to be repeatedly rewound to Intro over the coming months. The fact it is welcoming you with open hands on the Toob blog is just a delicious confectionary item X on top.
I’m sorry, I just don’t do cherries.
Release Date: Out Now
Words: fourfourfun
