Browse by Artist: KRYPTIC MINDS

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Can't Sleep
Label:	BLACK BOX (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	BLACKBOX 010EP

"To prime listeners, Black Box is pleased to announce 'Can't Sleep,' the title track and their most in-demand dubplate. The track opens in classic Kryptic Minds style, with moody strings and synths setting the vibe before the entrance of vocalist Alys Blaze -- her powerful voice belying the fragility of the lyrics, her vocals circling like a moth around some unseen flame. Coupled with the sheer force of the crisp beats and truly thunderous bass, 'Can't Sleep' is both a powerful modern anthem and a tender song of heartbreak. To accompany the original track, Berlin-based sound designer and Ninja Tunes' hottest signing Emika has provided not a remix, but a reinterpretation and response. 'Make You Sleep' inverts the mood and aesthetic of the original, creating instead a low-slung anti-love song, full of quiet menace and veiled eroticism -- all delicately poised over Emika's sultry late-night beats."

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Can't Sleep
Label:	BLACK BOX (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	BLACKBOX 011CD

In less than 3 years, Kryptic Minds have carved a deep channel into the dubstep scene, mining its traditions of spatial minimalism, edgy atmospheres and sub-bass intensity to deadly effect. The culmination of this work is Can't Sleep. Bleak yet uplifting, it is the soundtrack to visions of a sterile land, devoid of people -- only ghosts remain to recount the histories of their passing. The passive, prolonged tension implied by the title permeates the entire album; with taut beats and edgy synths -- the sonic equivalents of clenched jaws and coiled springs. Further, the solitude of insomnia is encapsulated in the long reverbs and epic soundstages that Kryptic Minds have painstakingly created, evoking dark, empty spaces and absolute solitude, yet there are moments of release to be found. Fearsome dancefloor weapon "The Fifth" unleashes a wild technoid bassline, barely restrained by powerful drums. Guest vocalist Alys Blaze soars over the urgent backing of the title track, and the bittersweet coda of "Fade To Nothing" warms like winter sunshine. Other tracks point to a future beyond dubstep -- hints of Portishead's melancholy can be found on "Alone," traces of Detroit machine-funk run through opener "Brief Passing," and shreds of '90s junglism litter "A Glimpse Of Hope." As an album, Can't Sleep succeeds simply not as a classic of the genre, but as a future electronic classic in its own right.

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Can't Sleep
Label:	BLACK BOX (UK)
Format:	3x12"
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	BLACKBOX 012LP

3x12" version, featuring 6 of the 13 tracks from the CD. In less than 3 years, Kryptic Minds have carved a deep channel into the dubstep scene, mining its traditions of spatial minimalism, edgy atmospheres and sub-bass intensity to deadly effect. The culmination of this work is their new longplayer, Can't Sleep. Bleak yet uplifting, it is the soundtrack to visions of a sterile land, devoid of people -- only ghosts remain to recount the histories of their passing. The passive, prolonged tension implied by the title permeates the entire album; with taut beats and edgy synths the sonic equivalents of clenched jaws and coiled springs. Further, the solitude of insomnia is encapsulated in the long reverbs and epic soundstages that Kryptic Minds have painstakingly created, evoking dark, empty spaces and absolute solitude, yet there are moments of release to be found. Fearsome dancefloor weapon "The Fifth" unleashes a wild technoid bassline, barely restrained by powerful drums.

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Arcane/Can't Sleep
Label:	BLACK BOX (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	BLACKBOX 016EP

Taken from the Kryptic Minds' sophomore dubstep LP, the Youngsta collaboration "Arcane" has been a favorite of many. Based around a rolling 808 groove and laced with the Detroit vibes and techy flourishes that are the trademark Kryptic sound, "Arcane" takes the listener on a late-night ride through darkened subways and deserted moonlit streets. Scuba reworks "Can't Sleep," converting the powerful groove into a pacy 4/4 format around which he arranges a relentless mid-range growl and delayed vocal refrains.

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Life Continuum/Wondering Why
Label:	OSIRIS MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	OSMUK 007EP

"Kryptic Minds' first release since their highly anticipated One Of Us album on Loefah's Swamp81 label. Kryptic Minds show they have many strings to their bow in the shape of this killer 2 track 12" on their own Osiris Music UK imprint. 'Life Continuum' shows the guys going in deep with hard synth manipulation, warm pads and haunting choir which glides in and out effortlessly through the mix. Best listened to in a dark room, with a massive sound system, for people who like to feel the bass rattling they're chest! 'Y_Wondering Why' is the yang of the flip, with a different feel altogether, in what only can be described as beautiful! With a skippy half time beat, and the sense of emotion from the off. As soon as the needle hits the edge of the record you know you are in for an emotional six minute journey. With a ghost like female vocal that glides through the track like a hot knife through butter. One for the head phones but also rocks the dance. DJ support: Youngsta, Loefah, Mala, Headhunter, N - Type, Pinch, Distance. Mary Anne Hobbs."

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	Time Flies
Label:	OSIRIS MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	OSMUK 013EP

"The most sought after Kryptic Minds track finally released on vinyl. This is the tune that has become an underground anthem on Rinse FM and clubs around the globe. Alys Be's hypnotic vocal, the haunting guitar riff and spacious sound design that conspire together give it a other world cinematic quality. Plug into this immersive, transporting song and you'll be inspired. For the bass heads, the flip is a dub. A deep and heavy, dancefloor-shaking stepper. DJ support from Distance Laurent Garnier, Youngsta, N Type."

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	One Of Us
Label:	SWAMP81 (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	SWAMP 001CD

"Back in May of 2009, Blackdown posted an in-depth interview with Kryptic Minds and Loefah, breaking down how Loefah started his Swamp81 label. They spoke at length about the parallels between DnB and dubstep, especially from a label-sound point. 'What I want to push with Swamp 81 is the gap that isn't really being represented anymore. The roller, the halfstep... spacious.' What Loefah heard in those first few Kryptic Minds beats is edgy, rolling, stripped back spacious dubstep that was spectacularly well made and also had its own identity -- emotive, organic in places, very junglist in spirit -- unlike the vast number of producers who tried to clone his sound in 2006, and failed. The first fruits of the partnership are Kryptic Mind's One of Us, a deadly 12" that encapsulates producers who understand the difference between edgy and too angry; that restraint often has more impact than chaotic release. This deft understanding of the tensions and contradictions buried within dubstep, and how you use them is played out yet further on their new album, 'I'm thinking Wax Doctor, Doc Scott, Goldie-- that kind of thing. It's that transitional phase between Reinforced and Headz that is in my heart,' explains Loefah. 'That's what I'd like to do with Swamp. And I don't want it to be labelled as 'the halfstep label.' I want it to have that kind of tunnel vision Metalheadz had in 1996, that kind of 'we're going this way. I'm not watching what you're doing, I'm not watching what you're doing-- I'm going straight ahead.' In that spirit, Kryptic Minds' One of Us zooms in on edgy 140bpm halfstep, forcing the listener into a headspace where perfectly placed details come into vivid focus, like the hyper-real intensity of night adrenalin. Everything is tautly coiled, as if priming the listener for a flight-or-fight reflex. The tension is barely unleashed throughout the album. 'To me the album -- and this may be really gushy,' enthuses Loefah, 'it's like a night out. Leaving the house or wherever you are, going through the night and the last track is morning. The sun's come up and it's time for bed.'"

Artist:	KRYPTIC MINDS
Title:	768
Label:	TECTONIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	TEC 032EP

With many a drum and bass producer jumping on the dubstep bandwagon only to get it embarrassingly wrong, it's refreshing to see darkside jungle pioneers Kryptic Minds side-stepping such issues, delivering only the finest quality rolling Metalheadz-vibe, dark-side, subbed-out 'steppers with an innovative twist of their own. Kryptic Minds have tailored a sound that makes it to the very the heart of half-step itself. Includes a Kryptic Minds remix of Pinch & Moving Ninja's track "False."

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