EP: Eugene Black – Incubus

Not heard of Eugene Black? Well, its the new musical project for Paul Rip who, if you’re still in the dark, was a driving force behind the first wave of rave culture that gripped the UK back in the late 1980’s. Back then, Rip ran the infamous RIP parties at Clink Street Prison with resident DJ’s including Mr. C, Eddie Edwards and Colin Faver. It was these, along with Zoo and A-Transmission that inspired many of the M25 Orbital Raves that were behind the acid house revolution around the same time.

His new EP, Incubus is out on August 18th and appears on the Superfreq label, run by his long time friend and collaborator (and former resident DJ) Mr. C, a man with whom he co-founded Plink Plonk Records, and recorded with under the name Somanbulist.

Opener Transylvanian Slap is directly influenced by FW Murnow’s Silent Horror film Nosferatu, filmed back in 1922, which was a big influence on Rip and his decision to return to music, after a lengthy time travelling and engrossing himself in art, design, photography and engineering. It has this slightly off kilter style about it, referencing the subject matter no doubt, on the 303, while over the top there are these added dots and bleeps, rumbling basslines and 808 handclaps surrounded by gently deviating drum lines.

Follow on Incubus (an original mix, along with three remixes) has similarly retro influences at work, with a stripped back drum line embellished with seemingly dark influences; shooting electronics, hisses of white noise, and general eeriness ensue. Towards the end familiar acid house bleeps add to the texture of the record.

The three remixes Rip has provided to finish the EP all demonstrate his producing skill, and all do so in a different way, or sound. The first, the Slippery Tung mix brings a lot of old school electro to the party, with this pumping bassline and shuffling percussion clearing the way for pulsating, stabbing synth lines. The Blubber Rub mix is this deeper, dubbier mix that has some genuine menace about it, festering away in the background, while EP closer Snake in the Grass mix is a much more ambient, warp records style mix.

Welcome back Paul Rip. Stick around.