seven

dj scud together with aphasic started London-based ambush records. the label deals with extreme incarnations of twisted drum&bass, mutated idm and even some power electronics elements. this split is one of the first ones I picked for the review, because it is most characteristic of dj scud's sound, one of the main reasons I started to look into ambush a while ago. his appearance as redeemer (on position chrome together with panacea) as well as stellar "mash this place up" sampler from ambush were enough to attract my attention.

what I like about dj scud's stuff is aggression and violence that is contained in the form of controlled noise frequencies, clashing drum&basss attacks and plenty of distortion and saturated noise elements that are blended perfectly into this mix. the result is dense, heavy, driving and pulsating atmosphere filled with breaks and heavy beats.

his three tracks on this vinyl start with very impressive "short sharp shock." after slowly developing interlude with sparse drops of percussion and small noises, the track launches into violent and heavy onslaught of simple yet very powerful drum&bass percussion and layered frequencies, noises, samples, abrasive explosions. the track pauses, breaks, twists and then assaults you with drilling violent sounds and at the same time manages to keep the sense of direction. following "v.i.p. pressure" emphasizes more textural elements built with dense frequencies and arranged among slower percussion passages. odd cut-up samples accompany this track. explosive and heavy "trauma" closes the side with more videogame-like samples and twisted textures among violent broken beats.

compared to this powerful number of tracks, I-sound appears to be more disjointed, even cluttered. there is too much noise, too many layers and no sense of direction. percussion is pushed way to the background of the track and lingers there desperately striving for some attention. the nature of the noise elements is too raw, at times turning into pure junk noise. first two tracks sound almost artificial. version of "short sharp shock" however manages to keep the right balance between percussion and violent piercing noise collages, turning out to be a good counterpart to the original on the other side.

overall, dj scud presented three very impressive tracks that are a great representation not only of his sound, but the sound of ambush as well. the extremities of I-sound might be appealing to some vinyl communication addicts, but dj scud simply overshadowed most of it for me. this split is something I could recommend to breakcore/noisecore fans or anyone that aspires to join their legions some day.