Kalbata

Artikal Youth / Helem

Kalbata is Ariel Tagar, is a bass music pioneer from Tel Aviv. Regardless of genre, his distinct musical approach comes through in everything he does - a deep affection for the lowest of frequencies and a collection of vintage effects and instruments which guarantee his razor sharp beats will always have a warm analogue feel, floating in a pool of endless ripples and echoes. Kalbata spent the naughties in east London and was a part of the city's squat party scene. His first productions fusing tuff electro bass and techno made their way into Dave Clark and DJ Hell's sets. Witnessing first hand the beginnings of grime and dubstep, Kalbata was taken by these new sounds, connecting the dots between his ravey start and his deep involvement with London's reggae sound system culture. The inevitable link quickly found its way to his own productions and soon enough, his studio skills became in demand with a line of big remixes for artists such as Roll Deep, Spank Rock, Fat Freddy's Drop, Jacoozi, Sunship and more. In 2009, Kalbata was the man behind the mysterious 'Ninja We Ninja' white label, championed by the likes of Toddla T, Benga, and N-Type (who included it in his Rinse:09 mix-CD). His recent dub release on Soul Jazz won support from heavyweights such as The Bug, Freq Nasty, RSD, and Sinden. This year has also seen the release of Kalbata's 'Wallabee' on Double Science, a dark garage chant featuring a brilliant remix by Cosmin TRG. His latest outing, for Yellow Machines, finds Kalbata paying true tribute to his hardcore roots, mixing it up with a dub and future garage vibe, and both tracks have been secret weapons in many DJ sets for a while now. 'Artikal Youth' delivers pure dancefloor damage as a garage shuffling beat builds to the drop, unleashing the heaviest dub bassline that will slay the crowd in any rave, and bleeps work their way in and out of the track to set up a future rolling ride. On 'Helem', staggered 2 step killer tech rhythms offer a glimpse of a twisted vision of future garage. Robotic bleeps and hair-raising wood percussions build up to the drop, then a squelchy and dense bassline winds through the tech infused landscape, where elements of old school hip hop can also be heard.