Backini The Future

Company B-Boy - Backini
from Company B-Boy EP on Lumenessence (2003).
Istanbul - Backini
from Dreamer EP on Lumenessence (2003).
The Builder - Backini
from the album Re:creation on Lumenessence (2006).

Backini (aka Rob Quickenden) is one of the legion of early 00s bed room producers from the UK putting together layered beats for the instrumental heads. In 2003, he released a couple of EPs and an LP (Threads) that was one of my favorites of the year. I never really heard much more from him since, other an a remix that appeared of Skalpel that appeared on Ninja Tune. But in late 2006 he released his second album Re:creation.

If the above picture isn't enough to make it clear, Company B-Boy should ID Backini as a clearly cheeky fellow. Based on the hit WWII tune Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters, this track uses a nice bouncy backing beat. It is the accents that kill on this tracks: horn stabs, old poetry, scratch choruses, and a hot little guitar lick that is present all too briefly. Fans of the Avalanches should really dig this one.

"Istanbul" sobers up quite a bit, but still has that happy shuffling style of beat that pervades Threads. The track has a slight middle-eastern tinge as the name implies, and it a warm, mellow downtempo piece I've enjoyed on many a sunny day.

Re:creation has a much more heavily processed, less organic sound than Threads and suffers from that lack of warmth. Backini can still be quite fun and funny, but there is darker atmosphere to this album, even if it is a more cohesive whole than Threads. There is also a more decided indie rock flair (or anti-flair?) present. DJ Shadow, RJD2, now Backini...all these beat guys are branching that emo direction it seems. My favorite track off the new album is the hidden track "The Builder," which is fuzz funk work-out rather dissimilar to the rest of the album.