May the Wub Be With You
Electronic producer Slikback’s new release for influential dubstep label Tempa is a bass-bombing riot.
Here’s a pairing of artist and label that just feels right. The Kenyan producer Slikback started exploding dancefloors at the end of the 2010s with a restless sound that incorporated elements of drum’n’bass, footwork, dembow, trap, dubstep, and African house styles like gqom. In the years since, his tracks have only gotten bassier and more nightmarish: 2023’s Tapestry is essentially a hectic noise record, something that could sit comfortably alongside drone metal druids Sunn O))) on an end-times playlist.
The London dance label Tempa played an integral part in spearheading the bass-wobbling dubstep revolution in the 2000s, releasing classics like Skream’s “Midnight Request Line” and Benga’s “26 Basslines” that set a blueprint for many a wub to come. But the sound famously turned into a caricature thanks to opportunistic DJs and rampant commercialization (never forget that Kmart commercial), and Tempa stopped releasing records in the middle of the last decade. Then, late last year, with the inevitable dubstep revival on the horizon, they put their entire catalog on Bandcamp. And a couple of weeks ago the label put out their first release in nearly a decade with Slikback’s three-track Data EP.
The whole record is a diabolical barrage, and “Sea” is the standout. Yes, there are drops. Yes, there are frequencies that all but require you to add a massive subwoofer to your hi-fi setup. And yes, the track will make you headbang hard enough to schedule a chiropractor appointment. But “Sea” isn’t a cute little throwback. Slikback brings intricate sound design to this track that recalls Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer; if Christopher Nolan ever makes a movie set in a postapocalyptic S&M nethersphere, this needs to be on the soundtrack. So when an out-of-nowhere ambient wash shows up halfway through, it feels like a thoughtful moment of mercy. Soon enough, the bass is back, harder than ever, with cut-up vocal samples and digital static swirling around it like a tornado. Safe to say Kmart will not be using this track in any of their upcoming ad campaigns—though I’d love to see them try.
