Picked up this album based on a recommendation, and it's one of the best things I've heard all year. Sounds a bit like a dubstep version of Lamb, but it's the most original thing I've heard in ages.
I'll let the
Boomkat review do the talking - they have samples as well ...
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If, like us, your bullshit thermometer blows a gasket every time you read some hyperbolic froth proclaiming a new band will change your life and reinstate a flagging faith in music - then we accept that our lexical love for Various Production could have left you feeling a little apprehensive... Yet when releases appear that are as stunningly supine and utterly indispensable as the triptych of 7"s (‘Hater’, ‘Foller’ & ‘Sir’) that arrived anonymously from the Various Camp over the last year or so, then it would be a 20:20 dereliction of duty to do anything other than shout about it loud and clear. So we did. It therefore brings us great pleasure to face you in the direction of the debut Various Production long player 'The World Is Gone'; a genre-bucking mirage that takes in epic soundscapes one moment and guttural dubstep the next, all whilst ensuring the listener is never sacrificed at the altar of Clever Cloggticus... Utterly natural in it's spectrum straddling scope, 'The World Is Gone' features two of the tracks that got us waxing blind in the first place - allowing those without a needle in the house to experience what all the fuss was about whilst reminding those privy to Various' charm exactly how bewitching their cocktail can be. Concentrating on these to start with, the throbbing disposition of 'Hater' (to be re-released as a single in September, if there's any justice it'll cross-over) and ribald buckshot of pure mangled-pop on 'Sir' are still capable of raising every hair on the body in awed salute, with the shrouded Various duo (they're called Adam and Ian...) cherry-picking female vocals then sprinkling them over a bed of Squashed production that is just perfectly mangled. Moving on from these old friends, the rest of the album is similarly grand - kicking off with the neon buzz of 'Thunnk', Various manage to instill new life into the often threadbare environs of electronic-noir - as guttural throbs give way to a dislocated vocal sample getting chatty on the subject of nuclear war. Both exhilarating and overtly threatening, it's thrown into sun-dazed contrast by the closing shuffle of 'Circle Of Sorrow', wherein a crystalline shower of supine melodies is buffeted against brittle atmospherics and a vocal so honeyed it's still covered in pollen. On their own they're both compelling and intrinsically enjoyable, but put together they become testament to the scope and artistic palate 'The World Is Gone' can claim as its own. Elsewhere 'Don't Ask' drips dubstep menace from its padded echo-chamber, 'Deadman' looks to the world of folk for a smouldering acoustic masterclass, whilst the title track blows a hole straight through the Eastern pretensions that have come to litter the dubstep canon. Don't fight it people...
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