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Facety 2:11
Hip-Hop · 2015

Facety 2:11

Roots Manuva

Skittering Four Tet production meets Rodney Smith's heavy South London baritone. A tense, bass-driven exploration of nocturnal urban energy.

May 4, 2015 · Big Dada Recordings

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Facety 2:11 represents a fascinating collision between the heavyweight presence of British hip-hop royalty and the intricate, clockwork precision of modern electronic production. The sound is defined by its negative space: the beats, largely provided by Four Tet, are skeletal and percussive, utilizing organic-sounding woodblocks and metallic clicks that dance around Roots Manuva's deep, resonant baritone. It feels less like a traditional rap record and more like a piece of architectural sound design, where every vocal inflection is treated as a rhythmic component. This is music for the quiet hours of the night when the city's machinery is most audible.

Moments Worth Listening For
the sudden entry of the dry, wooden percussion on the title track that mimics a ticking clock
the way the sub-bass frequencies swell and recede beneath the vocals, creating a physical sense of pressure
the rhythmic interplay where the vocal syllables align perfectly with the micro-edited electronic glitches
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does Facety 2:11 sound next to the rest of Roots Manuva's catalogue?

Tense+4.0σ

Tense saturates this record far more than the artist's norm.

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