Just A Gent blasts genres and builds worlds on ‘http://EP’
After trickling out advance singles all year heating hype to a boil, Just A Gent has finally served up his latest vision in full with a fresh six-track effort, http://EP. The Australian producer’s 2017 single “Future Bass Is Dead” was a proclamation, and his latest self-released EP is the solution: well-crafted bass music that bursts out of boxes and shrugs off monotony for a much-needed renaissance of the genre.
“Drowning” with fellow Australian up-and-comer Yvng Jalapeño sets the pace early with a ethereal and smokey, before striking into Koan Sound-esque percussion and swirling sound design. The haunting halts quickly on the next track, “Space Odyssey,” blending a bouncy house beat with sharp synth lines that pushes the pace – that is, until Just A Gent throws a textbook rhythmic switch-up in the works with a head-banging half-time drop. “Hold” returns the listener to the longing and melancholy of the opener, culminating in a string-driven acoustic outro that only further drives home how multi-faceted this project is. “VIBE” has been a rotation weapon for all of 2018, but finds new life in the EP’s context with its trap-infused swagger heralding the beginning of the project’s harder side. “404” keeps things hot and heavy with a glitchy drum and arp fest that feels like a full production chop flex from the producer. Album closer “Injustice” brings things back to the contemplative, laced with driving builds and thunderous drops.
The EP is at at once a celebration of the diversity possible within Just A Gent’s labeled genre, and the stark reminder that some of the most inspired projects are born from a blatant disregard of the rules. Sitting alongside fresh material, his previously unveiled singles find new meaning and context under thoughtful and thoroughly executed conceptual themes of system discord and the fight to restore balance. There’s even a dedicated website for the EP featuring the characters of the EP art come to life with their own MySpace profiles. But even beneath the thoughtful and rich world Just A Gent has crafted for this body of work, the EP is telling its own story about an artist with eyes on art much bigger than SoundCloud hashtags and Beatport genres.
Categories: Music