[Meanwhile]

Does anyone else feel that really good dub music seems to have something to teach you? The melodies and rhythms play with each other at arm’s length within a wide open space. This always suggests to me that most everything dubsided is more concerned with finding out how the musical pieces interact than with building them around a theme or idea. And the good stuff always uses this process in order to say something about most of the rest of music not already known. In techno, Deepchord/Echospace are the professors with their heads in the clouds, whose absent-minded synth excursions probe as deeply as can be done. Bovill and Murmur, on the other hand, make tracks like slightly sexy high school teachers, who might not have quite the same foreboding expanse of knowledge on hand to deliver but nevertheless present what they’ve got to say very alluringly.

Both have been making quiet waves with restrained cuts on their own UK-based Meanwhile label since 2004. “Low Pressure,” by Bovill, and “Magnetic,” by Murmur, are the two sides of their latest 12″. Of the two tracks, “Low Pressure” is more instantly forceful, with a big bouncing kick gyrating along the low end, whereas “Magnetic” is brighter and less hurried. Both deepen like a coastal shelf (to borrow from Philip Larkin), but neither grow to feel depressingly somber, like some dub techno. Rather, both remain lascivious: “Low Pressure” for its kick, and “Magnetic” because of its devilish melody. It’s hard to pick a favorite between the two. In fact, the producers seem to be of the same mind to such an extent it might be natural to assume one artist was responsible for both sides, if you didn’t know better. Both tracks stand out from the rest of the pack, though, for cultivating the feeling that every note is in its carefully considered right place. For this reason, both retain their appeal and intrigue after several spins in a row, while their many contemporary tracks go for broke and quickly outwear their welcome. Bovill and Murmur certainly provide a haven from tracks dropped once too many, all while showing up to the classroom revealing a little skin. I’m crushing hard.