DJ Spider & Hakim Murphy – Kaiju EP
New York’s DJ Spider and Chicago’s Hakim Murphy have been mainstays of the underground for years now, each bringing to the table a highly idiosyncratic but deeply appealing envisioning of familiar house and techno forms. But would you think to put them together? Perhaps not. Hakim Murphy is a details man compositionally, weaving sounds together just so; DJ Spider’s tough-to-peg tracks, on the other hand, tend to sound like they were dropped from an alien spacecraft as it speeds away in the night. Regardless, the two apparently have loads of mutual respect—Murphy has released a number of tracks on Plan B Recordings, Spider’s label documenting his own and other’s dark excursions through the recesses—and the Kaiju EP, fittingly on Plan B, finds the two properly joining forces.
Their chemistry is palpable, though the two take a minute to really get going. “Submerged Giant” is a jumble of contrasting styles that don’t seem mutually soluble, but after the palate-cleansing “Thermionic Emission,” the duo hit more of a stride. “Attack Lines” manages to pair the charred landscape of a Milton Bradley record with the gossamer deep house chords of someone like Lerosa. “Serpant Seed” pulls a similar stunt, though it takes less of a feat to meld its metallic chords with the fierce techno backing. All trappings of melody lift off by the playfully rhythmic “Sector Zero,” a departure hammered home by “Abort Mission,” the EP’s Godzilla-sampling, creepily beatless final bombing mission. By Jordan Rothlein – RA
A1 Submerged Giant
A2 Thermionic Emission
A3 Attack Lines
B1 Serpent Seed
B2 Sector Zero
B3 Abort Mission
DJ Spider & Hakim Murphy (Downtown 304 snippet link)
SESSION 1218: EVENT SESSION 01.20.12 MOLDAVITE – Mixed by Hakim Murphy, DJ Spider & Dakini 9