Operatives :: Cursor Miner / ScanOne / Blackmass / Ardisson
release :: 2005
format :: vinyl & digital

(Click on PLAY button to listen)

A1: Cursor Miner – Carnivore

A2: ScanOne – Yes Yes

B1: Blackmass Plastics – Pump Maximiser

B2: ScanOne – 7th Bullet (ARdisson VIP)

Track of the week, October, Breezeblock Bomb, BBC Radio One.

“To say it’s a monster is slightly understating it as it’s got some incredibly fierce Electro and Grime tracks going on from beginning to end. It almost out-Grimes the entire Grime scene in one easy move, actually. Walloping great big beats and fantastically heavy basslines mean that this’ll be rocking it for some time to come. Big stuff and highly recommended. “ – Smallfish Records UK

“Combat records hit back with a new piece of plastic that’s sharp enough to slice the head off an elephant and nasty enough to spit the blood back in its face!” – Marc Adamo, Product01

“Ruff! I’ll definately play this out” – Keith Tenniswood, Radioactive Man

“The Cursor Miner track is SICK” – Vex’d

“It’s a work of total genius… :) it’s BRILLIANT!!! i mean, totally!! “ – Mary Anne Hobbs, Breezeblock, BBC Radio One

4 demonic blasts of dancefloor energy, born of the hybrid electro/grime/darkcore sound brewing in the London sewers… Already smashed on dubplate extensively by noted machine funk deviants Andrew Weatherall, Radioactive Man, Warlock, NoYeahNo, Si Begg, The Dexorcist, Controlled Weirdness, Shelly Parker, The Alt Ctrl Soundsystem, Uberdog, Yukimura (Czech Republic), Martial Flaw (Ammunition, USA), 214 (Ai), Stormfield, Digital Distortions and the Combat crew, autumn 2005 sees this sonic punishment tool unleashed upon dancefloors everywhere.

A 1 Cursor Miner > [ Carnivore ]

Better known for his ‘spazz funk’ outings on Lo Recordings, Cursor Miner is your atypical genius/deranged electronic lunatic with the odd occasional punk tendency… Noticing occasional glimpses of dark menace surfacing in his usual banging breakbeat / electro live sets, Combat investigated further and unearthed [Carnivore], an immense beast of a breakbeat / electro track. Written around the idea of dragon-slaying, it pushes you cautiously into a sinister, underground lair of cavernous reverb and disturbing atmospherics. All sense of familiarity is left behind, the deeper you descend, until within the total darkness the air trembles as a colossal bass growl resonates all around you. There is no turning back, no escape. Monstrous half-step rhythms claw left and right as thundering amen breaks crush the very foundations you stand on. ‘SICK’ as Vex’d succinctly described it. Easily one of the most extreme electro / breakbeat / grime tracks you’ll hear for a long while.

A 2 ScanOne > [ Yes Yes ]

Sci-fi electro syncopated in a grime/2-step hybrid style… “Yes Yes” shows ScanOne stretching the boundaries again, as he soundtracks a search drone patrolling a futuristic wasteland, it’s mechanoid bleeps and hisses accompany snatches of jittering vocals and blasts of bass as ScanOne’s trademark relentless subrhythms provide multiple layers of movement. Watch out for the brooding, majestically sad chords that rise out of the collapsing atmosphere…. Proven dancefloor subversion tool.

B 1 Blackmass Plastics > [ Pump Maximiser ]

Thorn Industries boss and Dead Silence affiliate Blackmass Plastics steps out of the shadows with a fierce blast of amphetamine-driven machine funk. Scattered, sinister snares provide little warning as the track suddenly rips out of the speakers in full charge, anger cranked up and hissing in the red. Pump Maximiser unites the darker side of old hardcore with some freaked out crunchy synth hooks, granulated snarls and heavy slabs of monotone bass, a dark and driving delivery from BlackMass Plastics who continually manages to unite the best elements of the old and new school sound system electronics. Slam this one in at the peak of a set and witness maximum damage.

B 2 ScanOne > [ 7th Bullet Ardisson VIP ]

Seed Records mainstay / London-based electronic lunatic Ardisson steps up to re-wire ScanOne’s ‘Every 7th Bullet’ (from Combat01), into a snarling hybrid beast of a grime/electro/breaks monster. It drops from the start into a casual, cocky side-winding rhythm like a feline on the prowl. Rising dubby pads provide a reference amid the disjointed chopped angular beats that follow, Ardisson’s characteristic beat programming keeps the dancefloor guessing yet totally locked down at the same time. It prowls along 2 step style with funky, distorted drums, loads of tight creaky edits and vocal snatches, gradually building up to an IMMENSE bass drop mid-track… the beast leaps into a violent carnage of snarls and distortion. Reworked countless times including a MAX/MSP programmed designed specially for the edits… this VIP remix is true assault track and probably Ardisson’s fiercest work so far…