3 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Producer: DMX Krew

Would you believe this is my first exposure to DMX Krew AKA Ed Upton?  You would?  Fine, whatever.

Volume 1 of the Wave Function series consists of two pretty different spins on the same beat.  A-Side Thrilling is a bit more straight forward, layering some synthy blips and beeps over the main groove for a few minutes.  It’s a really great beat, a two-step shuffle, and has a nice bouncy sound to it, but Upton refuses to build too much on the foundation, and so after a couple minutes you’re hoping for a bit more than just resequencing of the same few sounds.  Side AA – Space – has more of a ragga influence, at least initially, and lets the core beat go in and out, bringing in a couple new samples that push the track around before letting it flop back to the almost exact same shuffle and blips as side A.  Yet “Space” is shorter than “Thrilling,” when it deserved a bit more runtime, perhaps, to stretch its wings.

In terms of value, this would get a lower rating, since there’s not quite enough difference between either side to merit flipping it over – but musically, it’s an interesting intro to DMX, if the sound is at all consistent with his catalogue – a poppy beat without the smirk that some similar sounding Rephlex artists offer.