Sinden & SBTRKT - Midnight Marauder (Grizzly)

Laura Bruneau | Tuesday, 01 June 2010

If you can imagine a mix of World Cup advert music and a dirty club track, that basically sums up the feel of 'Midnight Marauder'. Vibrating bass throbbing alongside scuffy high hat skates this track along whilst gradually layering up the rest of the tune with beeps, crowd noises and scant vocals.

When you come to think about it, clubs are not unlike being at a big international football match; a big crowd of sweaty, grinning enthusiasts, getting drunk and making friends with the people jumping around next to them. And maybe that's what makes this work.

Yet, however much 'Midnight Marauder' might get you in the mood for the impending World Cup, it is overshadowed by its far brighter brother, the b-side. Utilising darker, trip-hop shades and tuned percussion alongside the synthetic sounds, it has a haunting intro that transforms into a harder, snare-drum beat.

Never ones to settle for monotony, the big shifts in this track come when SBTRKT and Sinden play with textures, one moment, throwing in rich layers and new sounds, only to strip them bare again. These moments of minimalism surrounding the female vocals work to enhance the multiplicity of the rest of the tune and stretch out the tension as you wait for the…beat….to…drop.

Rating: 3.5/5