VeElSkSiEdL is the new split EP from bright young Bristolians Vessel and El Kid out this month on left field bass music label Astro:Dynamics. Interestingly, it’s being released in physical format as a cassette tape. An interesting choice, perhaps, but it all begins to make sense once you start listening. Vessel starts off his portion of the EP with ‘Voluminous Coils’; a track which somehow manages to spin swathes of unsettling atmospheric textures over stuttering house beats, without either ever sounding out of place. Second track ‘Glitter’ changes pace slightly, throwing a carpet of frenetic beatwork under bubbling and swirling lo-fi samples, while Vessel’s final contributon, ‘Patina’ is an intriguing mix of chopped vocals, field recordings and bass stabs. El Kid provides a shift of gear to a more introspective sound, with two percussionless pieces; ‘Lazy Love’ is driven by a slow, muffled piano, laden with tape hiss, and bathed in analogue crackle, while ‘Snow Amnesia’ is a blizzard of twinkling static, underpinned by slow marching piano chords. The pace is shifted up again ever so slightly by the down-tempo house of ‘Construction No.104’ and the relaxed post-hip-hop groove of ‘89’
Despite their disparate approaches and varied influences, Vessel and El Kid have managed to put together something that sounds like a unified piece, drawn together by the carefully crafted lo-fi feel that pervades VeElSkSiEd, and about as suitable as I can imagine for release on a dying (or dead, depending on your level of pessimism) format.
You can listen to VeElSkSiEdL in full over at the Astro:Dynamics Soundcloud. The EP is available in digital and physical formats here, and if you want it on tape, I suggest you move fast, as there are apparently only 100 of them being made, and one of them already belongs to me. You can also download a collaborative track by Vessel and El Kid here.