If you aren’t familiar with Blasta, you’re probably not alone. The St. Petersburg (that’s Russia, not Florida) based producer has been around for a little while now, releasing drum ‘n bass on Strictly Digital, Dub Bullet, and Respect, but with one full-length (Blastorama) already on his resume and now with the release of The Incredible Adventures Of Kenzolika And Quetzalcoatl Among The Air Castles on Argon, he’s going to be getting a whole lot more attention.
Granted, with a title like that, it’s easy to think Blasta might fit somewhere more along the lines of the Aztec Mystic/Los Hermanos crew or a Studio Ghibli press release than Russian junglists and dubsteppers. While the Detroit contingent shouldn’t have a problem finding things to like about this release, The Incredible Adventures is instead an exercise in future-breaks that straddles the line between the atmospheric ideas of Good Looking and Silkie’s City Limits Volume 1, full of best-behaved gangsta swing and future funk, both alien and organic at once.
And just look at that artwork!
My first exposure to Blasta was the third track on the album, “Saturday Morning Bed Steppin, ” so we’ll start there. Even though the first few moments are a fairly familiar drum/sound intro, there was an obviousness that the track was going to go somewhere. Indeed, once it did, all bets were off. The full swing of the track kept my feet thinking jazzy drum n bass, almost Peshay-ian in its rhythm, while the step and bass had my heart set to dubstep.
It is both rare and sad that I don’t spend nearly enough time these days listening to albums from beginning to end, but when a track like “Saturding Morning Bed Steppin” gives me the full-on business like this, it’s not a hard decision to make. Starting over again at the album opener, “Owl’s Fall” acts a nice introduction to the album - jazzy sax lets you know you’re going to be in for a good amount of soul along the way, while hand drums mixed with delayed snares keep the rhythm uplifting but not strenuous.
Blasta’s Rasperry Syrup mix of L-Wiz’s “Syrup Feeling” moves the tempo up a notch and makes it clear that this is going to be a listening experience nearing blissful overload. It might initially seem odd to include a remix of another artist on an album - especially as the second track - but it works here, much as it did on Blastorama. Watch out for that guitar lick, syrupy indeed.
Even slower-tempo numbers like “Blast Air” are meticulously composed to keep the listener engaged. Jazz keys and upright bass build a foundation for stuttering brushes and a soulful “I fell in love with you” vocal to all drop into a reduced-bpm step that just asks for an arm-around-the-waist dancefloor embrace, perfectly suited for either late summer evenings or cold fall body-heat nights.
“Feels So Good” is a throwback UK Garage track in the very best sense of the tradition. It’s the sort of thing that had me reminiscing all those speed garage comps that flooded the States a decade ago, but never could manage the quality control of what was going on in the scene itself. This would sit perfectly with the likes of Tuff Jam or MJ Cole.
“Zeppelin Nacelle” keeps the momentum moving forward with a driving but not aggro wobble at its core and plenty going on in the mid and high ranges. Clean and crisp tones press this into a track tailor-made for discerning, loving dancefloors.
“Your Dub Delay” gives the first sinister hint on the album, taking a lower-midrange and echoing vocal and throwing it out over a more dubstep-oriented rhythm track than elsewhere on the release. When the vocal line drifts in at around two minutes in, Blasta builds the tension until the first real drop kicks in, and we’re on from there. I’d classify this as the pop-club number on The Incredible Adventures, and while the track is a bit too maudlin for me to give it a full thumbs-up, I will give credit where it’s due to the lyric “I could be your dub delay, feeding back every word you say” . . . clever! Could you ever really be mad at a girl that got that reference though? I don’t think I could.
The last third of the album serves as an exercise in demonstrating Blasta’s ability to, much like the aforementioned Silkie album, continually tie the influences of post-hardcore, pre-techstep era of drum n bass through the UK Garage/2-step movement and into the present-future of dubstep While so many former junglists are trading in their amens for wobbles, tracks like “Black Muscatel” and the bouncy space-funk of “Butterflyz Inside U” show that there is still life in the livelier nuances of breaks-oriented music, life that doesn’t need to rely on overtly aggressive razor-yobbles to define a presence.
The album closes out on “Trip 42,” a sublime, downtempo-leaning number drenched in atmospheric horns and filtered guitar that would sound perfectly at home on an Earth or Cookin’ compilation. The final piece of Kenzolika And Quetzalcoatl’s Adventure, it’s a restful homecoming and an understated confirmation of this album.
Solid and cohesive from beginning to end, similar but still engaging, Blasta has given Argon a release for sitters, standers, and swingers. I think that’s just about got us all covered, doesn’t it?