First, a quick personal exercise. When you hear "grime," you think:
a) of a style of music originating out of East London in the early 2000s based on 8-bar loops
b) Dizzee Rascal and/or Wiley
c) of a future that died in either 2005 (when Run the Road came out and you left the ILM messageboards) or 2008 (when "Wearing My Rolex" was released)
d) still around and thriving now more than ever
e) you really need to hit the carwash
Up until late 2013, you'd be forgiven for answering anything other than d). Grime as a genre thrived a decade ago on London's pirate radio stations as a vehicle for the nervous urban energy of up-and-coming emcees and producers. But as dubstep and UK bass took over late in the decade, grime fell upon fallow times where it didn't seem like much of anything was happening—look at the Wikipedia page, for instance, which contains just two citations more recent than 2008. Anyone would assume it didn't exist at all anymore.
In the past year and a half, however, keen-eyed observers (and those with the free time) have noted a shift away from the genre's traditional emphasis on the emcee and mic work toward the production end. The arc is easy to trace: with emcees self-identifying as pan-cultural "rappers" rather than as specifically "of grime," production action picked up with Butterz as the oasis in the turn-of-decade desert, Night Slugs (via bright Butterz synths) and Slackk (via the Boxed night) following their lead. Fall's war dub battle reinvigorated long-dormant producers, and dozens of outlets cropped up in the last year taking that inspiration in their own directions—Oil Gang, Goon Club Allstars, the usual Rinse staples, unknown producers out of the woodwork from far-flung locales.
Coyote Records is among them. Founded by Tomas Fraser, enthusiastic scribe at Clash and editor at Mixmag, Coyote's history begins with Fraser's stint at the University of Leeds and progresses through his writing period on to the decision to give vinyl releases a go with Mella Dee's "CTRL" 12" in July of 2012. Coyote is in a right-place-right-time situation: With but five releases to their name leading up to Coyote Kings, the label's momentum seems to be riding this wave right at its crest.
In a way, that's understandable. The label's first compilation is a wonderful selection of tracks that demonstrates how much grime has changed from the days of Wiley's iconic eskibeats. Though the label has put out known names like Mella Dee, TS7 and P Jam, the focus here is on Soundcloud self-starters like Arctic and OH91. In an enlightening interview with Passion of the Weiss recently, Fraser notes that, "It’s essentially a Grime palette. Not all of it is Grime, but everything has that edge to it."
Annoy's hard-hitting "Fort" is a good way to bridge the gap between old and new. Its clipped string samples, skidding tires, and hard snare are a slightly slower BPM than traditional grime, but the baleful vibes will feel familiar. Arctic's "The Sicilian" is really where you start to delve into newer territory as the busy rhythms run through your headphones amid an ominous male chorus, chopped vocals and what sounds like a car horn in there somewhere. I'd love to see the raw audio file.
Checan's rubbery bass and chipmunk R&B vocal guides "Don't Know What to Do" while Notion's "In the Corner" reaches for bass depths like no other track on the comp. Atlanta's trap and Chicago's drill remain close to the heart of OH91's "Stealth VIP" and P Jam's "Be Yourself" takes obvious inspiration from jungle. Jon Deville's lush "Crossed Eyes" remains a highlight in part because it has hardly anything to do with grime.
Which leaves us with the real question Coyote Kings doesn't quite answer: What is grime anymore? Producers have moved far enough away from emcees at this point that it's not about serving the rapper but serving the dance floor. It's not about the 140bpm rhythms or the gun shot samples, either, since those are being slowed, deconstructed or destroyed (see also: Logos' Cold Mission).
Rather than position itself at odds with the rest of UK urban youth music, the development only seems to be an alignment. There's a second Coyote compilation coming in 2014 and maybe that will elaborate more on what it means to be grime in this day and age. As is, Coyote Kings is an interesting snapshot of excitement for excitement's sake – as a reification of grime's identity, the picture is complicated rather than crystallized.
