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SHACKLETON
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/shackleton |
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In 2004, prior to the founding of the label Skull Disco, Ian Hicks of Mordant Music liked and released an early Shackleton track entitled Stalker. The track later appeared on Rough Trade's 'Best of 2004' compilation. Around this time Shackleton started thinking about forming a label to release "interesting bass music" and "interesting percussive stuff". Around the same time, Laurie 'Appleblim' Osborne was making similar bass heavy music with abstract beats. Shackleton was impressed with a track, Mystikal Warrior, and it hence appeared on the first Skull Disco release; a double A-side with Shackleton's I Am Animal. Shortly after, Shackleton began the (now defunct) Skull Disco nights in London. Attendees at the first Skull Disco night included Loefah and Mala. Releases on the Skull Disco label are typically double A-sides featuring a track apiece from Shackleton and Appleblim, however the most recent release is a 2CD compilation, Soundboy Punishments, which includes all releases to date, as well as some early Mordant Music and Hotflush releases. Skull Disco releases often tend to use unusual sounds, atypical of the dubstep genre; they often eschew the familiar drum tropes of dubstep for African percussion and samples of ethnic vocals, combined with massive, wobbling sub-bass and sometimes elements of four to the floor, Basic Channel-esque drum patterns. Typical artwork on releases (by Zeke Clough) is also of an idiosyncratic nature, the penand- ink covers referencing egyptological symbols as well as displaying a decidedly metal influence. Shackleton's music seems to have tapped into a wide range of genres with support for his music coming from djs as diverse as Kode 9, Ricardo Villalobos, Radio Slave and Mary Anne Hobbes while the Hardwax record shop and The Wire magazine are also very enthusiastic. Shackleton's releases have been record of the month in publications such as Mixmag and IDJ magazine on several occasions, whilst Mixmag also included Skull Disco and Shackleton in their Best Act of 2007 top ten list as well as being in the top five record labels and at number one in the remix chart. Shackleton has also been involved with remixing for Simian Mobile Disco and legendary dub techno pioneer, Pole. Shackleton's 'Soundboy's Suicide Note' mix was even made the official mix of the year on Mary Anne Hobbes' show on BBC radio. The Summer of 2007 saw Shackleton do two European tours whilst 2008 has already seen him play room one at the famous Fabric nightclub. Whilst Shackleton's music tends towards the idiosyncratic and intricate percussion in preference to the big, bass drop, his music is still geared towards the dancefloor and audiences respond in kind. Reviews: IDJ magazine June 2006 Single of the Month! Shackleton - Soundboy's Nuts Get Ground Up Proper ep Although this won't be to everyone's taste (grime purists - avoid!), this is awesome music that I guarantee you'll be coming back to in time. 'Blood On My Hands' leads proceedings with a chilling vibe - in both senses of the word, as a depth charge vocal guides the listener through. 'Naked' continues with the introspective sound, tablas and inviting melodies awash with sub-bass and alien vocal snippets. 'Hypno Angel' finishes off this excellent EP, with ethno-dread vibrations to melt your head. 5/5 (Rob Ellis) IDJ magazine December 2006 Shackleton - New Dawn/Massacre Sam Shackleton comes with more of the fresh vibes we're used to hearing from his Skull Disco imprint. 'New Dawn' opens with all the sounds and smells of an African bazaar, before breaking out into a bongo driven roller, peppered with ethnic yelps and bursts of dub static. On the other side, another carefully drawn-out intro from Shack drops into a frantic workout of hand percussion and snaking bass. 4/5 (DJ ThinKing) Wire magazine September 2006 Shackleton/Gatekeeper/Appleblim - Soundboy's Bones Get Buried In The Dirt Vol. 1 & 2 ...two new releases on London's excellent Skull Disco label [create] their own kind of nonplace. Gatekeeper and label head Appleblim both revive rave culture as it probably felt to nobody but the most drug addled and paranoid - their bolts of bass and jagged stabs are pure dystopian fantasy, a cartoon nightmare so far removed from its source that no one could mistake it as a longing for the real thing. Shackleton's contributions are by far the most 'ethnic' of the four cuts, from their African inspired percussion to their Middle-Eastern melodies. But the curiously unmodulated quality of the drums leaves them feeeling strangely deracinated: the mere traces of MIDI commands that happened to be triggering sounds with a certain nostalgic charge. The nostalgia dissipates with every successive hit. Bass is the place, it turns out: the only living ground beneath a graveyard of digital memories. You may be following the high end, but the low is what's persuing you. (Philip Sherburne) Wire magazine June 2006 Shackleton - Soundboy's Nuts Get Ground Up Proper ep If ever there were a record that made you ashamed of your stereo's puny bass response it'd be this one, a three track stormer from London dubstep imprint Skull Disco. Shackleton's bass drops are huge, shoomping bolts of leaden mass - neither in tune nor out of it, they are simple there, wobblingly omnipresent. To the requisite dub signifiers of melodica and sampled patois, Shackleton adds jittery piano House chords. All three tracks are littered with enough rimshots and congas to keep them moving forward, even when the atmosphere smells like burnt earth and dead air. "Blood On My Hands" is surprisingly tender, despite a creepy voice that describes watching "the towers fall...fall...fall". (Philip Sherburne) |
