Dean Blunt - X-tasy

Dean Blunt has two tips for you along with his new cut, X-tasy. One is to “use speakers”, and you should take his advice. This bass-plummeting whirlpool of a track is an experiment in making your ears wince and your desk throb. Somewhere far along the more experimental end of Blunt’s spectrum, X-tasy feels like swinging in slow motion for four and a half minutes, building a very gradual sense of intensity.

The other hint of information is this Wikipedia link, which takes you to a page about the occurrences of the “Magical Negro” trope in fiction – this is a phrase coined by Spike Lee, referring to the appearance of a stock African American character in a narrative whose function is to magically solve the problems of the white protagonist. Set to slow-motion shots of D’Angelo’s video Untitled (How Does It Feel), it seems that there’s a pertinent comment being made here (as there usually is in Blunt’s work) about the way the media characterises or objectifies black men.

But mostly, there’s bass.

Hippos In Tanks and World Music will release ‘The Redeemer’ on the 1st May.