Trouble & Bass veteran Star Eyes has teamed up with 5kin (of 5kinandbone5) for a brand new project Dark Ages, mixing the darkest elements of garage, dubstep and drum & bass. If you remember that period in D&B where everything got really slow and menacing right before dubstep kicked off, it’s a lot like that but without the boring swagger. Also, the press release is to die for (what a revolting sentence).
“Dark Ages is the result of a Taoist gangster mind meld between Star Eyes of Trouble & Bass and 5kin of San Francisco’s very own 5kinAndBone5.”
As ever, that Star Eyes touch (however intangible) makes itself known from the outset; the former XLR8R Editor-in-chief (I didn’t know that either) creates a dark, brooding low-end menace with just a dash of gothic minimalism. As for what 5kin brings to the table, an insatiable love of UK garage and ghetto samples. I’d love to tell you this is more than conjecture and guesswork, but it isn’t so I won’t.
A preview of the new three-track ‘First Born’ EP is available for ears to listen to below. Use them to do that before it comes out May 28 on Frite Nite.
