Hannibal Rex. The latest mystery man in dubstep. Ever since I first heard his sounds courtesy of J:Kenzo on his Rinse FM show, I’ve been wondering, who the hell is this guy? Why is his Instagram so…odd? Why are his beats so damn sick? And is this even dubstep? Well thanks to growing UK label Kikuji Records, we get to know Hannibal Rex a little better with his debut EP ‘The One Hundred & Forty Faces Of…‘ as he gives us a peak into his twisted, enigmatic world. And today we have the pleasure of premiering ‘The Good Times‘, one of my favourites on the record.
However that being said, my absolute favourite has to be the opener ‘Responsible Liability‘. It was the first I’ve heard from Hannibal and still remains one of the meanest tunes I’ve heard this year. That spine-tingling western riff, the heavy kicks amongst the filthy percussion, it’s certainly an impactful introduction to the sounds of Hannibal Rex and gives a clear insight of what to expect.
‘Old Books & Log Cabins‘ gives us a first encounter of Hannibal Rex‘s distorted, soul-filled vocals. He expresses abstract poetry over a fairly stripped back, jazzy production with snappy drum fills and warm, luminous keys. But before indulging in more alternative vocal lead creations, ‘Moonshine‘ plunges back into dirty, distorted arrangements, featuring break neck rhythms and rough guitar licks that eventually progress towards a proper shred fest.
Our premiere ‘The Good Times‘ sees Hannibal Rex return to his vocal offerings over another raucous production with crunchy percs and some of the deepest sub-bass on the record, particularly noticeable when the distortion gives way. Hannibal waxes lyrical over a more rhythmic, guitar lead track on ‘This Place‘, before a soulful conclusion with ‘Forsight, Wish I Had It‘, focusing a lot more on organic, natural instrumentation. It encapsulates Hannibal Rex‘s obscure, genre-contorting sounds; a blend of raw instrumentation and deep, processed sub-bass. Is this what alternative dubstep sounds like? Indie? Who knows, all I know is Hannibal Rex is doing his thing and doing it well.
KKJ003 is out this Friday (28th February) and available from the Kikuji Bandcamp.
Check out Hannibal Rex on Soundcloud.
Check out Kikuji on Soundcloud and Twitter.