Bleep

DJ Shadow’s fledgling imprint bears new fruit with this EP from Bleep Bloop. A self-confessed Anglophile with a penchant for golden-era dubstep, the American producer’s sound bears some similarity to Shadow’s best music. Clearly rooted in hip-hop beatwork, the sheer range of influences telescoped into The Fifth Pupil means that we get a record that resists easy categorisation. The eponymous opener spends a minute sounding like something from the more monstrous end of Death Grips’ cyberpunk phase before dropping into locking into a loping half-step; the ‘Angry’ dubs both conjure images of someone taking an industrial hammer to the Brainfeeder offices; and ‘Man And Machine’ recalls the label boss’s excursions into drum ‘n’ bass.