Soundspecies was formed by brothers Henry and Olly Keen, who were drawn to creating sounds and melodies at an early age. Fast forward a few years and various journeys through DJ culture, electronic music, Herbie Hancock's back catalogue and a slew of other talented musicians and Soundspecies was born.

In 2003 Henry was introduced to the infamous CDR night, run by Tony Nwachukwu and Gavin Alexander. This gave the group a valuable platform to develop their sound and forged a relationship between the group and CDR/Burnt Progress label.

With six tracks on this EP we are certainly being prepared for the album (SoundSpecies), which is to be released on 16 April.

‘Can We Call It Love’ features the heavy soul of Istanbul’s Ahu (Dolly). This had a slow intro but, once it gets into two minutes, the track gets going and is quite catchy. I particularly liked the vocals on this track.

‘CDR ppl (with foreign beggars)’ is certainly the best track on the EP. It’s got funk, rapping vocals, a good strong beat and verges on the edge of a hip hop track.

‘Bit Crushing Tommy’ is more d’n’b based with some afro Caribbean sounding vocals, this is faster paced and if you remember the Flat Eric tune from 1999 you will surely recognise a little of the synth sounds here.

‘Star Wars’ and ‘Creator Face’ are both quite repetitive but not offensive to the ears and 'Drum Lab' is fast, funky and light.

Soundspecies are quite unique in their sound, which is somewhat refreshing in this genre of music.

7

Helena Rea