This weekend has been a combination of busy and lazy, although in all honesty most of my weekends favour lazy so anything more than household chores I feel entitled to define as busy. I’ll leave the details for another post but will tell you that during my lazy period I’ve been busy listening to ARP XP’s debut solo album Closer, a delicious drum n bass and dubstep infused collection of tracks that was released a few weeks ago on the French label IM:Ltd
ARP XP is better known as Simone Deiana from Cagliari in Sardinia, the only place in Sardinia I have actually been to. Simone is one of those annoyingly multi-talented guys. Not content with being an exceptional drum n bass dj he’s also a very good graphic designer, I say that based on the work he’s done for the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Roni Size, Jazzsteppa and Red Bull but I digress, it’s not Simone I want to talk about, it’s ARP XP and some of the tracks that make up his12 track album.
Now, the title track Closer is an interesting piece, it’s a hauntingly beautiful piece of work matched with some melancholy lyrics from Estel Luz. Make no mistake, it’s dark, it’s moody and it’s bloody good (as is the remix by Stunna) although I have to admit I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the official video which is available on YouTube, it’s something a little different than the norm, think art house cinema and you’ll be on the right track.
On Maybe Tomorrow the beats crank up a notch, to 135bpm to be precise; this very tasty bit of dubstep which the label, quite rightly, praise for it’s middle-easterny bass has also got a touch of the night running through it, which is a common theme throughout the album. This probably won’t be an album you’d play at a Sunday afternoon barbecue when your nan and granddad are over although that does a disservice to tracks like Uneasy and Upon Waves which definitely have a generous splash of Sardinian sunshine running through them as does my favourite track Surrealism a deliciously tasty 175bpm drum n bass number that my toes can’t stop tapping along to.
ARP XP is a resident at the Sun and Bass festival which takes place in Sardinia every September, if your idea of a good time is a week of sun AND bass infused beats, that’s where you should be heading.
Closer is available as a download from Juno and Beatport and the CD is available from Triple Vision
