Recently, when London producer SBTRKT dropped “Gamelena” through Soundcloud, he only had a few words to say about the song:
“back in the studio. working towards eps/ album/ etc…. something new – no plan for it – just thought id share”
Upon listening to the track, I was glad he let the song speak for itself. Opening with looped chimes and a deep dark bass that never lets up throughout the song, “Gamelena” is a dance instrumental through and through. I wouldn’t be surprised to find this song blasting in a raging club in the UK at 3 AM. This is SBTRKT showing us he knows how to have fun, and that’s exactly what this track is: fun. It doesn’t feel like a full song, lacking some of the complexity and structure of SBTRKT’s full album. It just doesn’t carry as many layers or hit so many beats as most of the tracks on his full-length, which had some of the best electronic music of last year, but he did say that there weren’t any plans for it to go on an album or EP, so it makes sense that it feels slightly lacking.
But even when he is making party music, SBTRKT somehow manages to instill it with some dark-creepiness. Throughout the song, the driving bass is supplemented with hypnotic tones and scratching that continues to give me the image a dancing club, but perhaps a club that I wouldn’t want to go to if I was an incredibly happy mood. These various levels of tone just shows how talented a producer SBTRKT really is, and make me excited that he is back in the studio and experimenting with his sound. SBTRKT was a fantastic album, and hopefully his follow-up can be even better. Until then, at least we have “Gamelena” to tide us over.
