Grimey beats and whipping snare love from the realm of dubstep. But that’s not all Rusko has on offer with O.M.G.! Purist dubstep fans would probably spit at my shoes for liking the overly grunge driven harshness of dubstep of artists such as Excision, Datsik or even Borgore. But I’m OK with that. I think I was expecting something similar from Rusko after hearing several tracks over the last year. I was, however, wrong. Quite wrong.
Being a bastard child of several genres of electronic music and collated in underground mystery, dubstep itself has varying forms. Amidst the wobbling bass and cracking drums of dubstep, there seems to be a disregard for any concept of calmness and the embracing of something that rides a simultaneous line of structured chaos with a mash up of musical influences. Hip hop, R n B, reggae, drum & bass, garage, techno… classical jazz… I made the last one up, but I’m sure if you searched hard enough you could find almost anything.
I guess Rusko has played it safe with O.M.G.! Each track seems to be well thought out and there’s no outrageous risks being thrown down. But I still like it. A lot! Opening with the distorted love child of a stressed out synth and a lazy snare drum, “Woo Boost” lies more along the grungy dubstep vibe I was expecting. But Rusko offers more than seedy beats and grimy wobbling bass. Further into O.M.G.! some more garage or drum & bass sounds are heard with the likes of “Kummon Kummon” and a more electronica dance feel with “Feels So Real”.
Commercial is a word that comes to mind when listening to the album. This isn’t a bad thing and I don’t mean it in a Nova 9.69 way. It isn’t a Katy Perry generic pop production, rather it settles somewhere between giving fans enough of what they expect while offering a taste of dubstep to the masses. The pop dub grime effect works well and opens up dubstep to a wider audience, even if this upsets a few. “Oy” is a great example of this pop dub electro grime love. It is tame enough to appeal to a wider audience but has enough bite to land on the dance floor with a bang. With this approach I can see some hardcore dubsteppers frowning a bit, but I think it’s a great album. It is well thought out, has a huge array of beats, some interesting bass lines and a fresh approach that and has a lot to offer for a wider group of listeners. Go get ya grime on!
Review Score: 8/10
