[Osiris Music UK]

The musical tradition that’s developed in the UK over the past 20 years that critic Simon Reynolds calls the “hardcore continuum” describes a sequence of styles originating from hardcore techno and currently exemplified by dubstep. So many developments in electronic dance music have their roots in that early 90s club music, each spreading out in different directions: jungle begat drum ‘n’ bass, which begat 2-step and grime, which begat dubstep. Kryptic Minds, a former Metalheadz act known for epic and emotive tracks, have offered demonstrations of this evolutionary scene for Tectonic, Swamp 81, Defcom Records, and more. After fully establishing their signature halfstep sound on 2009’s One of Us album, the duo have issued three EPs on Osiris Music, the latest being Follow Me VIP.

Many of Kryptic Minds’ tracks thrive on a quiet and mysterious menace, full of ominous spoken words and cinematic textures that were staples of Metalheadz drum ‘n’ bass releases. “Follow Me VIP,” however, is perhaps Kryptic Minds’ first love song. Recalling a slow-rolling torch song, it’s fronted by a chopped up female vocal sprinkled on wide-open waves of delayed synths; its snares are coated in gigantic helpings of reverb and cascade through the song with relentless momentum. This track recalls the bright sides of dubstep’s ancestral heritage, fitting in with Goldie’s monumental Timeless album or acts like Peshay and Alex Reece. Where “Follow Me VIP” is a shimmering and elegant piece, the flipside is devoted to a towering low-end monster. Never has a track name seemed so fitting as that of “Rubberman,” a song so elastic I keep expecting the bass line to drop down so low it never comes back up. One of the major elements common to the aforementioned hardcore continuum is the “drop,” that moment when a song fades out and then slams back in with full force, lifting the listener and propelling them five paces forward. The springy bass in “Rubberman” does this every bar, over and over, creating a leaping structure that constantly keeps you nodding and moving. Returning with the dark rhythms is a subdued narration and creeping melody that furthers the sensation of being doggedly pursued or wrapped in a thick maze. Over the course of this latest Kryptic Minds single, with sounds sometimes light and hopeful, sometimes gloomy and oppressive, you can hear the whole history of dubstep.