Toddla T is an artist known for his jump up electro that takes on a fair degree of dancehall influence. Originally hailing from Sheffield, Toddla started DJing out from an extremely young age (hence the name) and is now found regularly hosting shows on Radio 1 and DJing worldwide. His recent signing to Ninja Tune has given rise to talks of a soon to be released album. In the meantime there’s his first outing on the label – the Sky Surfing EP.
The EP features the original - a collab with Jamaican reggae dancehall artist Wayne Marshall, most probably the result of Toddla’s recent trips to the island, as well as remixes from Benga, Douster, DJ Q and Ross Orton. It’s a well put together package; the original is a characteristic burst of energetic electro and jump up dancehall. Right from the word go your thrown into a riotous mix of acid bass, carnival vocal samples and Marshall’s catchy chorus. It’s undoubtedly infectious, with piano house breakdowns and clap fuelled build ups that are bound to send the club into a frenzy and smash the dancefloor.
Benga provides the dubstep crew with a bass heavy version, featuring harsh claps and the sub wobbles that take the frequencies right down to shake any system, it’s a pretty standard dubstep re-work and doesn’t really go out the way to do anything new. The remix is clearly not Benga’s best work, but it does the job effectively and makes good use of the Wayne Marshall vocal. Bringing the pure UK vibes of garage and bassline DJ Q’s remix bounces along with a rolling beat and lively bass whomps, its straight bassline with no surprises and so kind of fails to stand out on the record as a whole.
The Douster remix is definitely the highlight if the EP, taking on board well crafted percussion and teasing until the big ol’ drop. It’s on a more funky tip with subtle changes and making expert use of the original parts to maintain the carnival flavour, it’s all about the deep building bass, extra sample snippets and the contagious drums. Lastly we get Ross Orton’s take; weaving between electro and breaks the remix feels as though it doesn’t quite know it’s place on the EP. As such it seems a little surplus to requirement, being the last track by this point it feels a little like we’ve heard it done before.
Although the release as a whole is nothing spectacular, expect to hear this riddim in its various versions rinsed for the forth coming months, the Douster remix has already been heard doing the rounds. Sky Surfing is definitely worth a purchase for that version alone, get a hold of a copy if you want to infuse a lickle dancehall vibe into your next set.