There are enough wannabe cool student druggies about to make dubstep into some sort of national scene. It’s one that’s got a lot of talent invested in it too, with artists like Burial making some genuinely groundbreaking music, whilst the likes of Kieran ‘Four Tet’ Hebden have been dancing around similar soundscapes for quite a while. However, there’s been an alarmingly limited crossover to mainstream culture, with a few articles in New York Times and the NME, as well as Skream’s remix of ‘In for the Kill’ being amongst the few notable exceptions.
It’s a genre based upon a good idea. With Condors, Nedry are building upon this solid foundation to make something truly breathtaking. Whilst the album has been knocking around for a few months, it’s only now that it’s being given the exposure that it so rightly deserves. Originally being put out by themselves, it caught the attention of music bloggers around the UK, as well as the attentive ears of Huw Stephens, who gave the band a memorable session on his show. Monotreme records have stepped in to give the record a proper release, and it’s obvious why.
Whilst the rhythms are firmly entrenched in dub, there’s more than a splattering of everything that’s good about modern music in this. And whilst the twitchy, glitching guitar work and broken beats would make a truly magical instrumental piece, it’s the vocals of Ayu Okakita that furnish the record with the distant warmth that makes it so arresting. There’s more than a nod to Portishead and the trip-hop genre in her lingering, beautiful singing that acts as the perfect counterpoint for the dark, electronic sound that it’s layered upon.
The fact that this is a debut release is almost beyond belief, and the confidence that seeps from every second of the record is almost contagious – from the very first listen it sounds seminal, with every song having its own unique identity and purpose. Nedry may be making a noise that resembles a dark, computerised future, but they do it with the personality that dubstep seems to have cut out. As soon as final track ‘Where the dead birds go’ finishes, there’s little else you want to do other than stick opener ‘A42’ on again and let it wash over you. Condors is a record that pretty much has it all, and if music is to do anything great this decade, it could do worse than taking notes from this.
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Other albums by this artist
I love this record so much!
“The fact that this is a debut release is almost beyond belief” – Amen to this. Sublimely good, debut or no!
I should agree that the vocals of Ayo Okakita creates a sonic spectrum that harmonizes the sound as a whole. very good!
Live life Bowflex Extreme loud
‘There are enough wannabe cool student druggies about to make dubstep into some sort of national scene.’
Oh lord.
Would I be right in thinking Burial and that Moth/Wolf Cub AA side are pretty much the only Dubstep you like Mr. Britton?
I’ve no problem with bigging up Nedry, I’ve heard a couple of tracks and they’re real swell, but NONETHELESS the supreme ignorance displayed in the first paragraph of this review goes a pretty long way to supporting the ‘Dubstep for Indie Kids’ hypothesis.
But, I mean, like, how can anybody like this sort of music unless they’re on drugs? It’s so repetitive.
Nedry is repetitive?! 0.o
Wade – that was sarcasm, sorry if it wasn’t clear. My point was that to suggest that a genre of music is enjoyed exclusively by those under the influence of drugs is to imply that it has no intrinsic merit for the sober amongst us. Which, in the case of Dubstep and its variants is, I would say, complete bollocks.
Hiya, sorry that it took so long to reply – I was India when this was published, and it's only today that I've checked to see if there were any comments on old articles.
I wasn't trying to imply that the whole of the dubstep scene is drugged up student dickheads, but that a lot of the fluff behind it is – the friends of mine that are major dubstep fans are either desperate for ketamine or have wasted away with methedrone.
Of all the music to come out of the last decade or so, Dubstep has probably been the most innovative, exciting and challenging, and that's certainly something that should be celebrated. But as with any emerging scene, there are always more clingers on than there are fanatics about the movement.
Matthew