There's a sonic space in electronic music lying somewhere between deep house and funk. Artists like SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO and TIGA have been known to take residency here: crafting deep, sexy, bump-happy beats—equal parts smooth groove and sharp percussive energy (see 'Tits & Acid' by the former, or 'Trust Your Body' by the latter).
It was at about the thirty second mark of ADAPT OR DIE's 'Right Over You'—the first piece from the Sydney pair's latest two-track EP through Sweat It Out!—that I felt myself sliding back into this dark musical zone. It's a zone I've only dabbled in since five or so years ago, when SIMIAN and TIGA loomed large as two of the biggest players in the EDM scene; a zone at once sultry and sleazy. Sultry, insofar as these kind of beats invoke a certain dark, passionate club aesthetic; sleazy, insofar as almost any kind of passion realised within the darkness of the club necessarily begets a little bit of sleaze.
It's kind of like dirty dancing with Tom Selleck: packed to the bulge with swaggering, grooving charm and yet dripping with a kind of intrinsic obscenity. Even this track's central lyrical hook, "I wanna get right over you", is driven from what might've been a lovelorn sentiment into the more likely reality of a sexual proposition. Selleck smirking all the while.
The EP's second act, 'Won't Doubt Ya' is a somewhat darker piece. The male vocal loop of 'Right Over You' almost instantly gives way to a female sample, as the track builds for its full first minute toward that brilliant, bass-snare release. From here it's a hollow, nocturnal, bassy aesthetic: a sinister kind of industrial sound bouncing around in the epic space. And yet, as with its brother track, these dark flavours are set off against the soulful, groovy vibes of the vocal sample.
Things get a little more OIZO than SIMIAN here; a little more warehouse than club. With both tracks on this release, however, ADAPT OR DIE demonstrate their ability to channel the deep house with the funk; the sex with the sleaze; and the dark electro textures with a ripping dance aesthetic.
Words by Gavin Butler
SEE ALSO:
FREE DOWNLOAD: WHAT SO NOT 'HIGH YOU ARE' (ADAPT OR DIE REMIX)
