When it comes to neurofunk and hard drum & bass, Ford tends to work his techy synths and dramatic sound design into whatever project he’s working on regardless of label but for an EP such as his latest Abstract Places, Eatbrain is clearly the perfect home for it. That said, this EP still has a lot of diverse flavor and is definitely intent on keeping the “funk” in neurofunk. The drums roll, the synths have discernable melodies and the grinding, metallic sound design is as fun and chunky as the basslines.
Abstract Places is out today on Eatbrain and while every track is a dancefloor smasher, “Urgency” as our Bassrush premiere has a unique flavor in an EP of unique flavors. Its intro is poppy and sort of Hybrid-esque with lots of bleeps and bloops before the drop. The synth melody is made up of similar bleeps and bloops which are distorted along with an equally blown out bassline and even some clever, pseudo-amen snares. It’s cinematic, melodic and ravey, all while giving the sound design and distortion junkies what they crave.
All in all it’s another release full of dancefloor bangers from Joe Ford and it seems as if his rapid release plan is going to keep rolling through. Fans would still do well to take a closer listen to Abstract Places, however, as there’s much more to these tracks than meets the dancefloor ear.
Abstract Places by Joe Ford is out today, June 24, on Eatbrain. Check the Eatbrain website for purchase and streaming links.