Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

Sydney’s Royalston is a fairly new face on the electronic music scene – at least in the UK – but he’s climbing the ranks at an impressive rate, with a string of extremely strong releases on various labels. “Cerulean Blue” is his debut EP on Med School, and it’s as high quality as you’d expect from this skilled producer. Dark, technical and intelligently dirty, it should tick all the boxes for discerning screwfaces everywhere.

Title track “Cerulean Blue” starts proceedings as they mean to go on, with a mutant rhythm somewhere between future jungle and halfstep, peppered with echoing found sounds, electrical surges of bass, glitchy asides and a particularly sinister synth melody. The operative word here is control – Royalston has a knack for making his tunes sound like they’re a couple of seconds away from going absolutely batshit insane, but always manages to reign in the ferocious sub frequencies and agitated drum work just enough to remind us that he’s in charge.

This menacing opener gives way to juddering bass-quake “Bonesinger”. Starting with crystal clear pads, layers of white noise and sporadic crackles, you could be forgiven for thinking you were being led into a smooth neuro roller. Except then it drops, and all your teeth fall out. Like a thirtieth century mechanised giant stomping its way through a helpless city, “Bonesinger”’s abrupt, juddering beats and throbbing cyborg bass frequencies will undoubtedly smash skulls at the right point in a mix. But, as with “Cerulean Blue”, Royalston never once loses control. This is not just filth for filth’s sake – every element is deliberate and precisely engineered for maximum impact. Likewise with track three, “Mantequa”, whose corrugated industrial opening, augmented by thunderous tribal kick drums, gives way to another absolute monster. Similar in tone to “Bonesinger”, this one retreats even further into halfstep territory, breaking up its maelstrom of buzzing bass, percussive stomps and forcefield hum with what sounds like the roar of some kind of space troll.

Finally, and most fascinatingly, we have Royalston’s remix of “Japanese Bones” by MA. While the preceding three tracks will definitely find their place in DJ sets – I’m not sure these tunes were made with home listening in mind – this weird, unsettling rework straddles that home / club divide with mind-warping time signatures, hauntingly distorted vocals and ominous bass and synth work.

If you’re a DJ looking for the latest in first class whomp, or simply a listener who likes to scrunch up their face and mosh out, “Cerulean Blue” is for you. If you’re neither of these things you probably haven’t read this far, so I won’t bother fini