Glassy Sound is back in full force with the second release on the imprint.
Long time Juandem might remember that GLASSY001 was one of the first releases we ever reviewed, way back in the heady days of 2018. That review is still on the site, but you'll have to find it yourself - it still stands up, but the writing is a little looser than what we'd put out these days.
For those that don't remember, 001 saw Six Sunsets and Bloodklart Fiyah Mandem share a record - with a dubplate mix cassette tape also up for grabs. Looking back at it now, the mixtape release is quite interesting - it came out a month before Bengal Sound's Culture Clash release, which well and truly put the cassette format on the map for dubstep.
The second release on the imprint comes from Shanghai-based Swimful. A champion of the glacial end of grime, 'Eve' and 'Fell Apart' are Swimful at their best. It's been a while since I've heard new tracks from them, so it's nice to see them back on the radar.
Getting glacial sounds onto a label called Glassy makes a lot of sense to me.
The A-side, 'Eve', is dripping in classic glacial elements, from the chopped vocals through the soulful piano movements. It makes you miss the days of Boxed LDN.
The B-side 'Fell Apart' is quite interesting, taking Drilly 808s and weaving them into a glacial soundscape. The combination of the two works well and seamlessly blends the old with the new. Stellar track.
GLASSY002 is out now, available from the Glassy Sounds bandcamp. 30 unit dubplate business. There's one left at time of posting.