Serious Saturdays: It’s Oil Gang Grime Time!
Britain-based label Oil Gang is a non-stop war machine! Their canons have been set to rapid-fire, bombarding the civilized world with some of the heaviest, ground-shaking Grime tunes imaginable. Spearheaded by Spooky (not to be confused with DJ Spooky) as an outpost for his own work, the label has lately grown exponentially. Their aptly named Quadrant EP is a 4-way split, from Darq E Freaker, Mistayif, Splurt and the general himself, Spooky.
On Quadrant, with clap sequences, a classical string section and hard hitting kicks, the gang pays homage to their roots and ’80s handheld video gaming by sampling and using similar sounds as Grime godfathers such as DJ Oddz and Rebound X. The odd man out is Splurt, who delivers a seriously twisted turn on the genre by demolishing all precepts, by simply utilizing stabs and stops in between each bar. The anxiety he creates is a palpable monster that only DJs with serious skillsets and a cocksure bravado should ever even attempt.
Back to the head honcho himself, I’m putting up Spooky’s vocal edit of “Spartan,” featuring the cream of the crop of the UK Grime scene such as Kozzie and Marger. These are some classic grime war riddims, and everyone from Rinse FM to BBC1 has been playing the track like crazy. “Spartan” also got some amazing remixes from Terror Danjah, Darq E Freaker and J Sweet & Alias, who are back with a vengeance!
And speaking of Darq E Freaker, he’s the man behind Tempa T’s modern classic “Next Hype.” His Cherryade EP is Oil Gang’s latest release, which (no surprise) has been receiving a lot of love over in the UK. The PAR master delivers hard-hitting bars that will haunt your nightmares, and unforgiving stabs that will smash up any rave, any time, any day!
Keep your eyes and ears on the entire Oil Gang. These producers are key in the current classic Grime reassurance, and have truly been slaying it single after single after single. And if you need an aperitif, check Spooky’s recent 1Xtra mix and his B2B set with Spyro for your all your Oil gang needs and grime exclusives! Pray for bass.
- Shark
May 7th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
Cherryade is so hot! Lot of great tunes coming out the grime scene lately.
May 8th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Big ups for the post! If you like the records we are putting out then have a listen to the last mix I did.
Wifey Mixtape #5: Oil Gang by Wifey on Mixcloud
August 11th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
[...] Since then, he’s produced and remixed tunes for a grime who’s-who that includes Slew Dem, OG’s, Skepta, Kele Le Roc, Family Tree, Teddy, Rude Kid, Infared, Brick & Lace and Mark Morrison. In addition to playing gigs all over London, he holds down three weekly radio shows and runs his Ghost House label. In 2010, Spooky scored another grime hit, the “300”-quoting “Spartan,” a banger reminiscent of those by Alias and J-Sweet. He’s also released tracks on the label that’s spearheading the grime renaissance, Oil Gang Records. [...]
August 15th, 2011 at 9:49 pm
make sure u guys check out the Mishka mix posted above me! and check out my debut show on DeJa Vu FM right here @ http://wp.me/pI0T9-aa #GRIME