Cosmic Bridge kicks off 2018 with an energetic four-track EP full of fresh ideas. Proc Fiskal is the alias of 21-year-old Joe Powers, an Edinburgh native who fell in love with UK dance music and the various strains of the hardcore continuum thanks to YouTube. He refined these inspirations at 160 bpm and began to receive airplay from the likes of grime veteran DJ Spooky. A debut EP for Hyperdub followed in 2017, speeding grime to jungle tempos for fascinating results. These unique tracks caught the ears of Om Unit leading to the Hello Boss EP, on which Proc Fiskal further explores the sweet spot between dark garage, grime and ragga jungle.
The tracks on Hello Boss were produced with DJs in mind. They’re energetic, versatile, and above all highly contagious in the dance. “A Fragrance” imagines Potential Badboy hanging out in the studio with Osmosis. The result is a fresh combination of mid-’90s jungle and UK garage with tightly-edited breakbeats, snapping drums, and a dark bassline clashing against flutes, sirens, horns and vocal samples. “Hello Boss” was inspired by a stand-off scene in a Bollywood movie, drawing its main sample from it and a tension that plays out in the interaction between drums and bassline. This is peak time dancefloor action, a dark roller to shake out the demons. Can you dig it? “Who Can’t Hear” is the most direct jungle production on the EP and shows Proc Fiskal for the dutiful student he is, able to tame the undiluted power of classic jungle with a modern touch: resonant bassline, smooth breakbeats, floating percussion, uplifting pads and a flurry of samples for a pure blast of junglistic joy. “Window Cat” closes the EP with a grime touch as icy, angular melodies rub against a robust bassline and sharp claps.
Hello Boss highlights the ingenuity and energy that can be found in the cracks of 160 bpm dance music, a space with enough room for innovation. It’s a natural fit for Cosmic Bridge, a label that has made its name by celebrating the weirdness on the fringes of genres. As Om Unit puts it, “Proc Fiskal’s sound fits sonically as well as logically alongside some of the pioneers we have supported over the years.”