Applebottom – ‘Top Knott Wut / Young Money’ [Black Butter]

Listening to AppleBottom’s new bit ‘Top Knott Wut’ is like drinking 8 vodka Redbulls, taking a handful of whatever and jumping around in Josh Brooks’ basement till the sun comes up.

As far as I know this guy is from Gloucester and now lives in London. Having come across him a few years ago via the Eton Messey YouTube channel I’ve been periodically following his releases and mixes. He’s one of many young UK artists to be launched to success by the Eton messey hype service, a prolific producer and deck frequenter there’s been plenty to hear from young Joe Arthur. Search Applebottom on the old Googles and you could listen to hours of blinding house-ey tunes.

If you fancy seeing him laptop-DJing he’s sure to be at every single (house-ey) festival this year not only because of his four to the floor-current house trend-nail on the head sets, but also his excessive student lifestyle (I have him on Facebook and his life seems ridiculous). This latest release which came out a month or so ago on Black Butter records is exactly what you’d expect to hear from this talented and seldom serious fella.

Black Butter has released records for the tone deaf, mind-worm screecher that is Jess Glynn, the eclectic but charming Bipolar Sunshine and every underground fans least favourite underground act Rudimental. Applebottom therefore is destined to have a song played over and over and over on Radio 1 in the not too distant future (or hopefully just Unity FM).

Since hearing ‘Let you’ however many years ago I’ve admired AB’s simple yet effective production style, never having had the knack for house myself I appreciate the delicate precision and cleanness he’s continuously produced. This latest production is however on another level to his early bits. The production values have accelerated wildly and being that he’s about 18 years old I can only presume he’ll get even better.

‘Young Money’ and ‘Top Knott Wut’ are fairly standard house affairs as far as their structures go. 4/4, syncopated hats, cheesy samples but the intricacies of production and Joe’s personality make them exceptional. From the clean and effective kick-drum and perfectly pitch shifting/ portamento bass in ‘Top Knott Wut’ to the driving “donks” of ‘Young Money’ there isn’t a hint of clipping, everything is executed perfectly. Despite his age, scene and genre there’s a reserved, minimalistic, controlled approach to his music making something normally saved for latter life producers.

This release of course features his trade mark lol-meta-youtube-2015-meme’o’caust sense of humour. The “I’m a gangster miss Katie” sample in ‘Young Money’ being taken from a 2009 Katie Couric interview with Lil Wayne, hence the songs title as well as the hilarious yet untraceable samples used in TKW.

In conclusion this is a fun chart and club ready record with great production and a tongue in cheek finish. Definitely one for whacky student parties involving inflatables, foam, morph suits and other assorted ‘lolz’. It will not only provide a fun atmosphere but will sound fucking amazing on those 2billion kilowatt speakers the eldest house member hired.

@Frenchfiremusic

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