BRC Vol 2 - Black Rave Culture

 

Title: BRC 2

Artist: Black Rave Culture

Label: Self-Released

Cat Number: 

Genre: Black Rave

01. NEVER LEFT

02. CEREBRAL ATROPHY

03. ACTIVATE

04. MOROCCAN MIST

05. SOMETHING ELSE

06. PAY ME

07. DEEP BREATHING

08. SUB POPPIN

09. DOPPLER

10. ISSA BOP

11. LONG DISTANCE DILEMMA (PRACTICE)

12. IN MY BIZNESS feat. Dreamcastmoe

13. PACE PLAN (BONUS TRACK)

Black Rave Culture are “DC natives, Amal, James Bangura, and Nativesun” and with this release seem to be documenting and creating their own interpretation of floor-focussed electronic music. And it’s nothing if not engaging and polyvalent. Non-genre specific but united under the rave umbrella, this is indeed a piece of work. Along its layered length there are certain elements that I’m struck by more than others: the drum and bass of ‘Deep Breathing’ and ‘Never Left’; the subtlety of ‘Long Distance Dilemma (Practice)’, and ‘Moroccan Mist’; the deep, dynamic techno of ‘Activate’; and the dialled down oasis of calm that is ‘In My Bizness feat. Dreamcastmoe’, a track that feels more at home being pumped out of a yacht’s sound system, moored off the Amalfi coast, than in a sweaty Washington rave den. Other tracks like ‘Cerebral Atrophy’ and ‘Sub Poppin’ sound like they’re in a state of exponential entropy, where being locked into their groove is a voyage into the unknown with no apparent end until the chaos prevails. A notable piece of work that displays great range, ‘BRC Vol. 2’ has class, depth,  range and invention, and is an imaginative take on subliminal sonic dynamics.