aaamusic | On 02, Jan 2011

Once again, I have to plead ignorance here: I know precious little, if anything at all, about the recently-emerged dubstep scene, and so my approach to ‘Comic Book’ by Talen is my outsider view as opposed to an expert analysis. However, I’d like to think I’ll give most things an open-minded stab.

Opening track ‘Batgirl’ is a stellar stomp, with Lady Saw’s vocals not so much leaving a sense of personal stamp as branding them with red-hot attitude, as her commanding voice kerb-stomps heavy beats and grinding electronics to create a rap thump that can’t help but grab attention with its assured tones and swaggering, dark and dirty feel. Following on is ‘Green Lantern’, another rhythmic, scuzzy grind overlaid with rapping. However, this shows some 8-bit electronics in places and some male vocals that are grittier, quicker, and perhaps a little less dominant and aggressive, meaning this is a much more lighthearted and even bouncy track.

‘Johnny Blaze’ trickles in jungle in the electronics, and reggae-influenced basslines that are barely perceptible in the maelstrom of synth and attitude, however this doesn’t sacrifice listenability, as this is strangely accessible in its seductive scuzziness that contrasts rap and dance and old-school videogame bleeps.

There are also several remixes of these tracks, each made for a different context. The Kalbata remix of ‘Batgirl’, with its tribal percussion and sinister tripped-out atmospherics is ideal for the patchouli-and-UV-gear psytrance crowd, as is Son Of Kick’s similarly percussive rework of ‘Green Lantern’, although it could equally be used in a club setting, given its ambient/dancebeat contrast moments and dark, sleazy overtones. Both Stereotyp mixes of Batgirl are interesting in their quest to reinvent a heavy electro-jungle-rap track into something much more stripped down and hip-hop are interesting, but neither really pays off unfortunately despite version 1’s intriguing percussion sounds and version 2’s tantalising synth instrumentation.

The helium tinkles of the intro of the Robot Koch remix of ‘Johnny Blaze’ are uninspiring, and the backmasked beats are simply annoying after a while, and the I-Wolf remix of ‘Batgirl’ is simply too glitched out to be listened to at times, proving too abrasive and juddering to keep my attention.

I would like to say that I have been converted to dubstep by this, but despite the truly appealing and enjoyable double-whammy of ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Green Lantern’ with their two ends of the attitude spectrum each offering up a real kick and smirk alongside hypnotic and seductive rhythms and quirky electronics, ‘Johnny Blaze’ is a letdown, feeling a little too similar to its predecessor, and the sheer volume of remixes fails to hold my attention.

Author: Katie H-Halinski