Last week I wrote about London-based production and DJ collective Rude Audio. Comprised of Mark Ratcliff (arrangement, production and keyboards), Amanda Greatorex (vocals and lyrics), Eucalypta LV (guest vocals), Lamis Harper (piano and keys), Tony Shea (guitar and ostrich guitar), and Owain Lloyd, the collective has developed a reputation across England for being one of the more critically applauded contemporary electronic acts, thanks to a sound that meshes deep house, acid house, techno and dub. And as a result, the members of the collective had produced and engineered several of their native England’s most renowned artists and for End Recordings; but just as important, the act has developed a rapidly growing national profile as they have seen radio airplay from the likes of BBC’s Don Letts, Tom Robinson, Gideon Coe, Nemone, Max Reinhardt, Rob Da Bank and XFM‘s John Kennedy — and for throwing legendary and highly-acclaimed underground parties such as their highly renowned residency at Kentish Towns’ Flaxon Ptootch, where they have collaborated with the likes of The Chemical Brothers and others, who are invited to drop by, dig deep into their record collections and playlists and play anything they want.
The collective’s recently released Rudest EP reportedly finds them refining their sound — while subtly drawing from dub, their sound leans heavily towards propulsive, club-friendly electronics. Whereas the EP’s previous single “Crystal Pylon,” was a club banging, bold genre and style meshing track that possesses a hypnotic Kraftwerk-like motorik groove with enormous, boom-bap drum programming, layers of shimming synths and swirling electronics paired with a distorted vocal sample. “Half Moon Glitter” pairs layers of shimmering and undulating synths with propulsive drum programming, explosive hi-hit and distorted yet ambient samples in a song that subtly meshes industrial house with hard house.
The recently released music video features artwork and visuals by Robert Bell and it features flashing geometric shapes that seem to subtly suggest some sort of subliminal messages, perfectly to the synths and percussion.