Kercha

Kercha

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Updated 1 year ago

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  • Witness EP
    BeatTracker #77 Top Releases in 140 / Deep Dubstep / Grime

    Witness EP

    Kercha

    Beatport Top Releases

    Wonky noir specialist, Kercha, is back with five spun-out cuts, merging dubstep, jazz, garage, techno and a whole lot of weird. 'Disarray' is as discombobulating as its title suggests, a slinky beat hidden among umpteen odds and ends from Kercha's cabinet of curiosities. A subby wiggle here, a far-off siren there, the warm tinkling of a Fender Rhodes, and was that someone falling down the stairs? Our only constant allies are a vaguely disturbing vocal and a bass clarinet that's definitely up to no good. 'Witness' employs a similar palette but switches tactics, stripping back to the basics as faint whispers and the ever-growing presence of a whirring alarm suggest something dangerous might be lurking around the corner. 'Conjugate' is more direct, the percussion elevated from its usual backseat as thudding kicks and taught snares make their presence felt among the digi-dub wobbles - a theme repeated on digital bonus track 'New World', though there, jagged mid-bass lines provide an extra dollop of screwface-inciting muck. And bringing this leg of DNO's journey to a close is 'Long Way', which rumbles along like a lonely night train, its chugging bassline matched with eeriie engine whistles, the rhythmic clink of a cowbell and, somewhere deep in the mix, the familiar clickety-clack of tracks. Weaving together disparate worlds like some interdimensional architect, Kercha simultaneously places us among the inebriated haze and freewheeling expression of a basement jazz club, and the 10-tonne rhythms that have fuelled DNO's parent party The Mine for the past decade, and will continue to do so into the future. Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.

  • Fulminating EP
    BeatTracker #86 Top Releases in 140 / Deep Dubstep / Grime

    Fulminating EP

    Kercha

    Beatport Top Releases

    Having opened the scoring for DNO Records with an explorative 'Broken Illusions' EP back in February, Gelendzhik-based producer Kercha returns to the Brighton label with his 'Fulminating' EP. This time, the Russian artist presents four tracks not dissimilar to M. C. Escher's iconic artwork, Relativity. Like the physically impossible, yet mathematically perfect staircases of the latter, Kercha's world is structurally logical on its most basic level - but beyond that becomes a thing of wonder. The familiar snap of each half-step snare is as rigid as the laws of Newton - solid, dependable. But the rest of the picture is topsy-turvy. Each track shifts in the aftershock of subs hidden deep in the frequency spectrum; while gaping expanses and narrow corridors of negative space twist together, leaving room for the imagination to wander. There are more tangible but no less fantastical properties too. From the opening crackle of 'Hold Your Breath' to the closing whoop of 'Fulminating' itself, Kercha stirs a concoction that's gloopy and viscus with the immense gravity of sinkhole bass, yet comes alive to haywire samples that bubble and fizz in organised chaos. A whistle blast here, a whispered vocal there. Suddenly, an erratic ping that whizzes off into the ether. Each element comes together in a swirling, psychedelic mass that would be completely mad if it wasn't so damn brilliant. Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.

  • Astral Dimensions
    BeatTracker #90 Top Releases in 140 / Deep Dubstep / Grime

    Astral Dimensions

    Khromi , FLO , Kercha

    Beatport Top Releases
  • Broken Illusions
    BeatTracker #92 Top Releases in 140 / Deep Dubstep / Grime

    Broken Illusions

    Kercha

    Beatport Top Releases

    The Black Sea is a curious place. Bordered by Europe and Asia, it is somewhat isolated, but still nourished by seas and rivers that touch ​distant lands and times past. Its unique geography causes the water to form two separate layers; the top is full of movement and life, while beneath lies a basin devoid of oxygen, where nothing but the most basic organisms can survive. On the coast of the Black Sea, in a Russian town called ​Gelendzhik, lives Kercha - a rising producer, whose new 'Broken Illusions' EP reflects all the mysterious complexities of the depths just beyond his doorstep. Like the sea's rich surface, each of the EP's tracks draw from sources separated by vast distances and generational gaps. Opener 'Eagle' looks to the Middle East, its methodical plod accentuated by eerie, sun-baked flutterings - ancient instruments meeting a distinctly digital dubstep pulse. 'Frozen' matches oily, oscillating mids with half-heard flashes of jungle; throwing yet another curveball via the thick pops of distinctly electro kicks and snares. 'Broken Illusions' itself harks back to turn-of-the-millenium UKG, intricately skipping percussion meeting urgent snatches of clarinet and suspicious sax straight from the neon-lit, rain-slashed streets of some classic noir flick. Underpinning each track is an obsidian low-end - abyssal subs that, like the hidden expanse at the bottom of the Black Sea, threaten to suffocate all life with their oppressive bass-weight. These three stone-cold cuts not only showcase Kercha's irrefutable raw talent, but also mark the first outing from DNO Records, the new label from the brains behind Brighton dubstep institution The Mine. A home for international talents who refuse to be confined by genre or tempo, DNO promises to be a home for rhythms of postmodern realism, and a force to be reckoned with on the dancefloor.