Question Mark by Batu

On his first record for an outside label in seven years, Batu delivers a decisive statement on his recent focus on hypermodern club music with a distinctly UK streak. Question Mark heralds the launch of Lethal Press, a boutique sister-label to Istanbul-based Oath focused on exclusive releases from landmark artists.

Omar McCutcheon's celebrated work as Batu has pushed at the vanguard of bassweight dance music for more than 10 years, largely centred on his Timedance and A Long Strange Dream labels with notable excursions to respected platforms such as Hessle Audio and Livity Sound. His last solo release for another label was 2018's Rebuilt 12" for UK indie heavyweight XL Recordings.

Throughout the evolution of his career, McCutcheon has mutated conventions around techno and soundsystem music with a precise intention according to the ideas and inspiration that drive him. As well as applying his affinity for sound design and composition to non-dancefloor projects, on recent singles he's been drilling into the essence of his club-oriented work to hone the visceral impact of his tracks.

Question Mark represents the culmination of this specific area of exploration for McCutcheon's work as Batu — a definitive statement on his deepening understanding of the mechanics of club music, bound together by a parallel embrace of cutting-edge software synthesis and the unmistakable flair of his expression. The four tracks on this new EP are charged with electric, dynamic lead lines that lend themselves to the restless futurism intrinsic to the Batu sound.

It's immediately apparent the results on this EP remain firmly committed to bold new ideas as opening track 'Question Mark's soupy arpeggios and metallic shrouds do the lions share of the rhythmic work. The three-dimensional vibrancy of the production is more than enough to incite movement without ever delivering an obvious club trope.

'Seize' is much more direct by comparison, chiseling a gnarly bass hook and rowdy beatdown into rude perfection with all the swagger of a seasoned dance wrecker. While these seemingly simple principles of drums and bass move with familiarity, the bristling energy crackling around every inch of the production, etched down hard into each fill and slithering around the breakdown, speaks to the accomplished intensity in McCutcheon's studio craft.

There's a dembow lean to 'Clump' as it comfortably rolls along around the 100BPM mark, all the better to hear every infinitesimal modulation of the undulating low frequency lead, the steely swell of textural layering and the crystalline crack of the drums.

'Meridian' closes the EP out with a swirling, spiritual poise that serves as a potent bookend to the high-pressure middle tracks of Question Mark. The percussion is denser, the pads more fluid, the arrangement more widescreen, serving as a meditative foil that finds its own weighty presence in subtlety and droning sub-bass.

Relishing the opportunity to create an EP in dialogue with a label compared to the autonomous work on his own imprints, McCutcheon has delivered four bolts of starkly original soundsystem music that carry the DNA of dubwise abstraction from the scenes that preceded his own musical journey.

Producer, DJ and owner of the Timedance record label.