Horsepower Productions

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

never a dedicated thread on this lot, i think. They have a new album out, "To The Rescue". Was listening to it in HMV the other night, and enjoying. Seemed to confirm the fully-fledged return of the spoken word sample to dance - a 'good thing' IMHO. I've not heard "In Fine Style", but that seems to be rated highly in some quarters around here.

As good a time as any then for the 'classic or dud?' treatment. Opinions, please.

― zebedee (zebedee), Thursday, 29 April 2004 14:52 (twenty-two years ago)

in fine style = very very classic, holds up quite well, on par with the best dnb from the "peak" (hidden agenda and other early metalheadz, full cycle circa music box, early dillinja, etc.) perfect headphone dance music. yes, it strips 2-step of most of what made it exciting (cyborg divas, ragga and rap samples, overt hooks, "vocal science"), but in turn amplifies the twitchy groove aspect and crossbreeds it with a nice basic channel influence. (though the wags might note that this style could have said to have been perfected back in late 2000 with those early el-b/ghost tracks.)

to the rescue = not so great. some good grooves, but reflective of dubstep's stagnation over the course of the 18 months or so following in fine style's release. (i'm not the first person to make the comparison, but: compare hidden agenda's "is it love?" to johnny l's "piper".) "classic deluxe pt. 2" is downtempo, people! it sounds like it belongs on one of those later future sounds of jazz comps. also, the vocal samples remind me of old ninja tune records. (not a good thing, in my opinion.)

(still, much better than that dubstep all stars comp, which is the 2-step wormhole...a long, dark tunnel with no very bright light at the end.)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 29 April 2004 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

In Fine Style is great but somehow I'm not in a hurry to hear To The Rescue.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 April 2004 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I like To The Rescue. It's more of the same, with some good sampling going on. Classic Deluxe Part 2 I could do without, however, yes.

― JoB (JoB), Thursday, 29 April 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Woah! I totally just came over to ILM specifically in order to find a thread about them and say how awesome they are. Weird!

Anyway, I've been listening to In Fine Style exclusively over and over for many days now and I'm still not sick of it. Who needs other music?

― Dan I., Thursday, 29 April 2004 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)

it's such a gorgeous, classic, perfect record. to the rescue i', really not so fond of. i'm one of the biggest defenders of these guys, but i can't really get into it. jess has said it all, really.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 29 April 2004 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't think it's bad, it's just that "to the rescue" is not a progression from "in fine style."

personally i think Digital Mystikz and Kode 9 have since upped the standard.

some of my dubstep faves are listed here http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/002632.html

― martin (martin), Thursday, 29 April 2004 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

It was an instore listen alone and so shouldn't be trusted, but my quick previewing of To The Rescue left me very disappointed - so dry and dessicated! Very little of the lushness of In Fine Style but without much of the energy that Plasticman-style stuff tends to have. And the breakbeat tracks were just painful - like someone trying to make a deliberately unenjoyable DJ Hype track.

In Fine Style is still excellent though.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 30 April 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry meant DJ Zinc not DJ Hype there.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 30 April 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm certainly over the kung-fu/blaxploitation movie samples, but parts of 'to the rescue' really do it for me, 'synbad' and that TGS remix (cd-only track) in particular. can't touch the rush of the tracks on 'in fine style' though (which really was a singles collection more than a proper album). 'gorgon sound' is firmly in the hall of fame...
seems to me that some of the tracks on 'rescue' could be trimmed by a few minutes...

― heywood jablomi (heywood), Friday, 30 April 2004 05:16 (twenty-two years ago)

There was one *great* sounding track on To The Rescue which had a neurotic Oriental feel quite similar to Wookie's "Far East" - can't remember what it's called though.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 30 April 2004 07:07 (twenty-two years ago)

on the CD there's the oriental sinodub of "Sholay" one of THE greatest dubstep tunes ever... IMHO obviously

― martin (martin), Friday, 30 April 2004 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I was listening to the LP so it wasn't that.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:25 (twenty-two years ago)

There was one *great* sounding track on To The Rescue which had a neurotic Oriental feel

I bet that was Hand of Death.

― JoB (JoB), Saturday, 1 May 2004 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

NEw album sounds amazing from what I've heard. Especially the last track, Poison Wine.

― The Great Cool Lulu who sleeps in Riley... (dog latin), Sunday, 14 November 2010 23:47 (fifteen years ago)

five years pass...

latest album is actually really good. theyre doing 90s house, a bit of hip hop, and obv trad dubstep, so some surprises, but mainly its just how good it all sounds, and how good they are at all of it, even if its not at all innovative.

― StillAdvance, Friday, 27 May 2016 11:32 (ten years ago)

one year passes...

^I'm playing Crooks, Crime & Corruption as I type (now that 2017's done and dusted, let's go back to 2016 lol) and fully agree with the above - comfort music!

― Jeff W, Saturday, 6 January 2018 21:46 (eight years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.