There’s no fucking around with Stazma The Junglechrist’s new EP, entitled “A Giant Skull Made of Guns” – a 5 track slab of breakbeat dissection and deliciously engineered aggression. With nothing straightforward about this at all, it deviates wildly and concisely between jungle, gabba, lurid acid lines and calm melodic interludes – at the same time both playful and serious. Stazma wears his influences on his sleeve, with the touch of Squarepusher shining unreservedly through the mangled beats and synthetic manipulation – and he shares both the gentle melodic elements as well as the more punishing recesses. “Noise & Acid” particularly does what it says on the tin – shifting quote unrelentingly between more gentle climes of breakbeat acid and tasty reeses and quite brutal noisecore.
It’s the title track that gets me though, with it’s dubbed-out snare oriented Hip-Hop, and distorted lead that still somehow manages to retain an air of its Reggae roots (still might be the snare that does that, but hey-ho), amongst some enticing squelch. I’m a sucker for tracks of this nature, slightly veering towards the epic – it’s definitely one you’ll be hearing in sets from MethLab crew.
“Gunshot” is also a winner in the ‘let’s fucking dance’ competition, with its unashamedly frenetic lashings of cut breaks, tied to the tastily layered synth elements. It’s balls-out motherfucking Gabba as it peaks… perfect to finish off the ravers.