Faze Miyake's brand of bass-heavy, hip-hop leaning grime has taken the genre by storm since the release of 'Take Off' last year, a track recently played by Baauer at his Boiler Room session in New York, highlighting both the reach and continued relevance of Faze's sound.
'The Second Six' followed the Take Off EP back at the turn of the year but nothing by way of releases has followed since bar a number of excellent refixes, all of which have been kept very close to his chest. His latest offering, the 'Versus' EP should therefore be welcome news to expectant fans and as with everything he's put out to date, it doesn't fail to deliver. The EP is a 4-tracker, each a collaboration with a different producer: Miyake teams up with Preditah on 'Dell' and 'Take Off vs Gargoyle', Teddy on 'Quantum' and highly-regarded beatsmith Flava D on 'Volt' and all 4 give us an insight into what to expect from bigger, forthcoming projects.
'Dell' has won its fair share of radio play over the last few months and does a good job of uniting two distinctly different sounds; Preditah dictates the tempo in typical forthright style but Miyake provides the undercurrent with chopped-up, low-end bass bringing the track together. Trademark woofs and 'woah' samples are also prevalent throughout.
By way of comparison, 'Quantum' is far more in line with the work Faze has undertaken over the last few months; there are definite similarities with 'Powers', his recent rework of Quincy Jones' 'Soul Bossa Nova' but this is certainly no bad thing. Rough, raucous and full of bass, Quantum is a track that Faze dictates with Teddy's influence lying more in the neatness of sampling.
'Volt' on the other hand seems to take Faze Miyake's deep-lying bass lines and up the pace completely, leaving us with dancefloor-ready, club-worthy grime from the off. Flava D, although something of an unknown quantity, is both prolific and consistently good and her influence on Volt is all the more apparent for it. Probably my favourite track on the EP.
Versus' final track is another joint effort alongside Preditah with the two blending Faze's 'Take Off' with Preditah's 'Gargoyle' to great effect - a firm radio favourite.
Although seemingly more of a filler to satisfy demand, the EP still packs a hell of a punch. The fact Miyake holds back from releasing unless he feels necessary is also a good omen but I'd hazard a guess that some exciting, more palatable projects are soon to be in the offing.
The Versus EP will be available digitally from all good online outlets from October 5th.
Pre-order via ITunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/versus-ep/id563474572
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