Stand up and turn on your hidden tape recorders– The bootlegging talents of Best DNB’s own Nvrsoft have arrived. Up to the chop is Criminal Thugs, a slick, minimalistic jump-up track by the one and only Jam Thieves, the Brazillian duo that smashed on to the scene with their “Hackers” LP on Playaz this year.
The edit is a halftime take on the original track’s familiar 2-step rhythm, turning the track upside-down with a simple but satisfying kick-snare groove. Filling the space between kicks and snares are clever loops of the original track’s eerie sub-bass wobble and immense, ultra-distorted reese. Nvrsoft’s edits are clever and well-timed, working the short bursts of the reese from the original track into long, warbling stretches, all without burying the slick percussion, a crunchy snare and a thumping kick drum.
What makes this bootleg cool is how paradoxical it is; subdued in its rhythm, yet devastatingly powerful in the reese. It strikes me as a breakdown-without-a-breakdown kind of a track; something in a DJ set which could cool down part of the crowd while hyping up some of the rest of it, maybe even do both for some people.
Rated S: This bootleg is a simple but clever tampering of the track without getting into its stems. In other words, it's the Start of Something Special.
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