DJ Hidden – The Later After

March 6, 2007 • Ad Noiseam

After my recent good experiences with darkstep and finding that it's a genre I enjoy, I've been trying to explore it a bit more and see what else it has to offer. A bit of exploration led me to DJ Hidden's debut album The Later After, and for being a very impromptu listen I was pleasantly surprised.

As with the Black Sun Empire I recently reviewed, one of The Later After's strongest points is its atmospherics: bits of dark ambient, buzzing drones, shimmering highs, and spoken word samples that permeate the music. I really like it; it helps make the album pretty spooky and sometimes industrial-sounding. The beats and drumlines themselves, though, should not go without mention. They are some of the best I've heard in recent memory. They alternate between being just barely there and being incredibly heavy, which fits the atmosphere well and is really effective at emphasizing dynamics. They're also pretty danceable (at least, that's what I'm guessing; I didn't actually dance to them).

Interestingly, though, DJ Hidden has managed to put together a sound that works well with pretty much nothing else. It's mostly drums and ambience—very little melody, and not much bass either. When there is a melody, though, it's always very deliberate and purposeful (see "Here Lies the Confusion"). The consequence of this is that the music feels very sparse (yet, again, I think that's the point, as it's supposed to feel creepy and atmospheric). Also, I already listen to a lot of electronic music that's very rhythm-based (and hip hop) so it's not too alien to me, while I can expect some people to be turned off by something like this. And amazingly enough, despite the style of this album being pretty consistent throughout, I don't really feel like it ever gets very repetitive. Even each track, which may only have one or two different beats to it, is still combined effectively with the atmosphere and has plenty of dynamics to keep things interesting.

I'm really glad I found this album; it's very much right up my alley in terms of style with the noise and ambience. I might concede that it's not the ideal DnB album, as there is such a heavy focus on the drums and not as much buzzsaw bass as I like, but that's okay. It's still a really good listen; recommended, as long as you know what you're getting into.

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