Breakbeat Science
2004
High Society
About This Album
High Contrast's 2002 debut was entirely unpretentious. Its giddy rookie drum'n'bass skitters went ballistic into vintage vocal sample atmospheres with nary a pander to the electronic music community's savagely permutational itch. In '04, after a year of stellar remix work, Contrast (aka Welshman Lincoln Barrett) returns with High Society, a remarkable statement-maker that drops its share of can't-miss dancefloor moments, but also revels in posing hyperkinetic percussion against gently swelling, almost melancholic basslines. This dynamic in the emotions and music makes Society as much an album as Contrast's first recording was, but also highlights where he's grown. Grime-hopeful Nolay spits hollow-point bullets over the snare reports, snyth cues, and bass pulses of "Angels and Fly" -- it sounds like Future Sound of London backing the boastful, malevolent transmissions of a pirate radio MC. But "Angels"' post-millennial tension is at sharp angles to "Just Say," a collaboration crossing Contrast's usual percussion slap with sunny guitar drop-ins, dubby horn samples, and the soulful patois of garage/dancehall vocalist Spoonface.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)

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