Offshore – Bake Haus

Aberdeen-born Ewan Robertson, aka Offshore, first came to prominence with a release on Stuff Records / Numbers, confirming him as one of the cream of the crop of Scottish beatsmiths alongside other up-and-comers like S-Type and Konx-Om-Pax. But where the longer-established likes of Rustie and Hudson Mohawke have tended towards a kind of super-polished space-age funk on their releases with Warp, Offshore is treading a more alternative, experimental path.

Bake Haus contains moments of shambolic genius, like the post-rock flavoured Fraser, the tight, minimal drum-funk of Lifes Too, and the swaggering, fuzzed-out future bass of Name Brand, which sounds like Rustie circa Jagz The Smack. Black Bun is a gorgeous piece of minimal synth-funk and slide guitar, while 8-bit influences riddle the title track with a wonky, skewed charm. As a taster for his forthcoming full-length album on Big Dada, Bake Haus is full of promise; categorically ideas-led. [Bram E. Gieben]