Artists commonly object to genre labels. We get it: limiting, it boxes you in. Dylan wasn't just folk, Pearl Jam weren't merely grunge, and nobody-- nobody-- will cop to being chillwave. So have a little respect for Horsepower Productions, the decade-old UK production team who don't seem to be in any hurry to discard the dubstep label. If anyone has a rightful claim to it, it's ringleader Benny Ill and his cohorts, whose dub-heavy early B-sides were, by many accounts, the inspiration for the term.
After a six-year hiatus, Quest for the Sonic Bounty is the second proper Horsepower Productions LP (following 2004's To the Rescue; their landmark debut, In Fine Style, was partly a compilation), arriving at a time when dubstep enjoys fringe mainstream appeal. Quest thankfully isn't a transparent attempt to capitalize on reputation, but neither does it sound like a labor of love. Instead it sounds like plain ol' labor, as if someone spent a lot of time worrying about this music. The album's title is probably a joke, but with a nod to that threadbare line about jokes containing elements of truth.
Benny Ill, the last remaining member of the original HP team, now works with another producer, Jay King, and it sounds as if the duo have internalized dubstep's touchstones. They began as true dance producers, making garage and 2-step; they play with dubplates and have collaborated with Lee Perry; their albums feature obscure movie quotes recalling mid-1990s American hip-hop (Wu-Tang are an obvious touchstone). The album opens with nearly a minute of rain and deeply echoing keyboard chords before a skittering beat kicks in; one minute later, the signature bass wobble and some vaguely rave-y sirens sound. And there you have it: dubstep. If the genre's other leading names want to be pop stars, bards, or shut-ins, then HP are content to focus on the music.
Quest isn't the type of wretched, bigger/louder/wobblier dubstep that now plagues a lot of clubs and DJ sets. The album sounds best on a great system where its bass can dominate, but its largess supports the album's general tone and cinematic scope. The dialogue samples almost seem to suggest a narrative; survival and water are themes. On the group's remix of Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Exercising" (on CD for the first time here), it's clear that Benny Ill could more often use a shaman/muse whose natural strangeness augments the HP's concussed worldview. Still: "Water" absolutely explodes; "Damn It" is bright, sampledelic reggae. "Poison Wine" takes its Middle Eastern vocal samples and turns them into schizoid house divas.
A search for one of the album's movie quotes-- from 1983's Stryker-- led me to a page dedicated to movies that ripped off Mad Max. This is an unkind-- but funny-- metaphor for a genre whose dregs have made a living Xeroxing sonic oblivion. When I listen to Quest, I miss the relatively weightless stir of In Fine Style; it seems clear that the last decade of UK body music has gotten to Benny Ill. A new Horsepower Productions album offers the opportunity to reflect on dubstep's past, and Quest, for better and worse, sounds a lot like its blueprint, even if plans have changed drastically in the interim.
