- Spacious, earth-shaking dub with four-on-the-floor kick drums.
- How did it take ten years for Beneath to end up on Livity Sound? Both artist and label have been at the forefront of UK club music (though Beneath has been a little quiet lately), and both have dub running through their veins. Dub is indeed the main theme on Numbers Talk, even with the opening track and its stiff, almost housey four-to-the-floor rhythm. But "Fourth Time" is all about the bass, the earth-shaking subs that you feel more than hear. It's extremely sparse, and that allows every element to hit even harder. The other four-to-the-floor track, "High Five," is even more influenced by dub, with rattling, dubbed-out chords shooting across the soundscape as the kick steamrolls through it all. Both "High Five" and "Fourth Time" build slowly, taking on new elements with each passing minute until they're efficient, lumbering machines.
On the other side, we get the broken beat we're used to from Beneath. "Tough One" is the EP's monster, with a zig-zagging bassline that tunnels a path underneath the sturdy drums, as melodic elements sputter out in coughs and gasps, as if they were being squeezed through a sieve. It's Numbers Talk's most physically intense track, but don't overlook "Legs Eleven," with its swinging drums and rolling hand percussion. My favourite part is the brushed hi-hat, barely there but glinting like a gleam of exposed chrome hidden in the machinery. It's a barebones, striking sound on an EP full of them, a record that quakes with fearsome low-end and lets you luxuriate in the little things all at the same time.
Tracklist01. Fourth Time
02. High Five
03. Legs Eleven
04. Tough One