This week I’m reviewing the new release from Kleu on mighty Manchester label Grand Theft Audio Recordings. Kleu have been smashing the scene with releases and DJ sets right across the board. They are joined by Akas, G3MC and Sola on this huge 2 track release. Let’s take a look at it now
Kleu and Akas ft G3MC – Ramo
The tune starts with some nice filtered breaks and percussion, alongside some ravey synths, before we drop down into a little bass stab and the chunky vocal of G3MC. He’s got a pretty traditional drum n bass vocal tone. It’s nice and deep and thick with cool rave based lyrical content. The tune builds nicely and kicks into a super heavy, bouncy and aggressively tinged drop. Lots of heavy neuro bass sounds and cool reply and answer style bassline work to be found here. The drums on Ramo are thick and push through the mix nicely. The snare is appropriately smashy and the percussion is pretty slick. Despite the aggressive nature of the tune, the mix from Kleu is super clean and has lots of headroom, which is great as this can often be lost with pushed sounds of this nature. We get some more cool vocal melodies and fxs, plenty of wicked mid bass work and a deep sub that slides and pumps in and out of the tune. The odd amen break fill and some great builds into each 16 keep you on your toes. The synth stabs have a really sinister feel and work really well. The tune is similar in the 2nd half, but keeps the vibe moving really nicely and overall the tune is really solid and bouncy. Perhaps a bit more variation to the first half would have added a little extra to the tune. The production is nice and clean and not pushed too far, so I think it will sound great on sound systems in the rave and peoples headphones alike.
Kleu and Sola – 10 Steps
This one starts with a retro synth arpegio, which sounds straight out of a video game. The drums come in pretty sharp and pretty pushed, especially the snare which has a lot of weight. We have a pretty cool vocal which works well with the build and we drop into a really bouncy bassline driven tune. The drums on 10 Steps fit really well as they drive through nicely with the bass arpegtiating throughout. We get a few more splashes of the vocal, before we drop into a reese and synth driven chorus section. It’s got a nice chord progression and keeps that rave theme going throughout. A little less headroom than the previous tune but it’s a real dancefloor smasher and that can be forgiven. It’s super catchy and will get the crowd off their feet and dancing for sure. The second drop is the same as the first and we launch into a final chorus section after this and to the end. Perhaps a return to the amazing drop later in the tune would have been nice, as for me this is the the most catchy part that I want to hear again. All in all a fantastically produced tune by Kleu and Sola which is pushed sonically to the edge of the cliff without quite falling in the sea. A great bassline and some heavy drum work with a cool vocal which ties in well with the tunes style, accompanied nicely but some retro sounding synth ideas.
Check out the tracks here
