Audiopile Review: Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin has always had eclectic interests. But some of his recent projects have been downright eccentric. We’re thinking mainly of ‘Black’ a Kevin Richard Martin album that deployed dark ambient soundscapes in tribute to (checks notes) Amy Winehouse. And while that album turned out to be among the finest releases in Martin’s long, prolific career, it’s nice to hear him getting back to what he does best, on a new EP called ‘Burials / Mud’. What he does best means bass-heavy beats topped off with appropriately aggro dancehall vocals. Here, those vocals, from Logan and Magugu, are tauntingly no-frills, fitting perfectly with the back-to-basics vibe. If there’s anything eccentric about this release, it’s that it comes via very metal label Relapse, which has been doing a fine job of reissuing some of Martin’s most significant 90s and early-2000s albums. And despite being fundamentally reggae-derived, ‘Burials / Mud’ is heavy enough to not sound out of place on Relapse. Some recent Martin releases have had a hermetic sound, all bass pressure and high-end fizz. This one (like ‘Black’, as it happens) folds in plenty of grimy mid-range rock noise that fans of Martin’s early work will surely appreciate.

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THE BUG recently finished sonically leveling Roadburn Festival with the intense sounds of Machine & now announces the Burials / Mud 12”!

Burials / Mud features new renditions of the Machine LP tracks “Buried (Your Life Is Short)” & “Drop (Machine Sex)” with blistering vocals from LOGAN (on Bury Dem) & the previously digital only release “Deep in a Mud (ft MAGUGU)”. The 12” is rounded out with 2 unique DUB versions of “Bury Dem” & “Deep in a Mud”.

THE BUG comments:
“For me, “Burials / Mud”, is a celebration of verbal grime and sonic filth, where dub meets riff, and beats add brute physicality. It’s a bridge between the mechanized relentlessness of ‘Machine’ and the raw, dubbed out extremity of Bug live shows. Logan and Magugu add fire to the flames, as the original rhythms are intensified, and fully f-cked with.”