Bleep

Always nice to get a new S-Type joint in. While the producer’s singles run back in 2018 certainly kept us on our toes, the Beat EP is the first collected work we’ve had from S-Type since 2015’s SV8 EP. In keeping with his previous work Beat sees the one born Bobby Perman back on LuckyMe and turning in another set of day-glo hip-hop instrumentals.

The big-room trap style which S-Type helped define in the early 2010s hasn’t left Perman’s music. Tracks like ‘Fetch’ and ‘Infinite Lives’ still bubble with the erratic energy of TNGHT, with digital rave synths piped out over kick-to-the-chest bass drums and thick wedges of sub. Much like Rustie was doing around the time of Green Language, Perman continues to pepper his sound with EDM flourishes here - check the helter-skelter triplet rhythm that leads ‘Tick-Tock’.

There are also some moments on Beat where S-Type changes course slightly. Though still full of bright, shiny synths, ‘Waiting’ has a new jack swing thing going on in its groove. Indeed, the 80s influence is so strong with this track that, if you took out some of the hyperactive keyboard leads, it could pass for a Com Truise cut. ‘Gazelle’, meanwhile, is dark and moody in a manner that recalls Konx-om-Pax - a fellow luminary of the Glasgow beat scene.

Scottish trap go-to S-Type continues to set the pace with his new Beat EP.