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X District is a new project featuring the well established Jimmy Edgar of Warp fame and new figure, Laura Clarke, who lends her words and vox to the Color Correction MAXI-single. Interestingly enough, this collaboration/conversation went down on the fly over video chat with Jimmy rearranging the rhythms as Laura laid down the vocals from Leeds. The result is four songs of dark, druggy moods and obscure stories over skanky electro.

Plus Minus finds Jimmy in his filthy R&B slow-jam mode, but maintaining the electro flow consistent with this EP. The growling bass and slapback claps provide a solid groove while leaving plenty of space for Laura’s vocals to drift around. Synths pulse in dubby delay patterns that are gradually given a grinding filter treatment, and finally give way to a brassy stab. This has a dark, but chilled-out vibe that would dovetail nicely with your Dabrye or Prefuse 73 joints.

Color Correction comes correct with funky sub-bass and an almost deep house sheen. Of course, the beats are broken, but with the rising synth lines and Laura’s teasy whispering, this wouldn’t sound out of place on a label like Dessous.

9 Red Rooms is the cut of choice on this EP. It starts off with some lovely intro weirdness, quickly busting out some serious electro drama. Laura wastes no time setting the sleazy scene in all her monotone glory. Percussive bleeps pop up and around the beat, lending some funk to the crunchy beats. That’s when Jimmy starts flexing the edit skills he’s known for: bending notes, doubling up the drums and otherwise turning shit on its head. Reach for this one when you want to twist their noggins. DJs will be keen to look out for the Egyptian Lover remix coming soon.

Icosahedron builds around a dubbed-out synth stab reminiscent of Basic Channel. But this has a solid 808 backbone and throbbing bassline worthy of any sweaty dancefloor. Laura’s gated vocals float above it all, stuttering and echoing in the depths the dark mood being conjured up. The break comes to a head with some nastily filtered drums syncopating and building back into the snap of the main beat. Unfortunately, Laura’s delivery comes off too detached here and seems to lose time with the groove.

While Jimmy and Laura touch on the genius of Miss Kittin & The Hacker, this effort comes across as a bit long on concept and short on final product. However, even if not groundbreaking, it is a noble experiment and will do the damage on darker dancefloors.
[review c/o Aaron Sparks]

For audio clips from X District, and info on upcoming events and releases – check out their myspace page: www.myspace.com/xdistrict.

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