The Schwarz: Deep in the Game EP

Let’s recap: The Schwarz, aka Adam Schwarz, is still a fairly new DJ/producer in town with some three years in Baltimore. Meanwhile, the trend in Baltimore club’s been the other way around: get big, cross over, get out (Dave Nada, Blaqstarr, Aaron LaCrate sorta). Anyhow, his resume screamed “crossover” on day one: street rap producer from Saint Louis with pals in the Baltimore noise/future-dance scene. Not long after moving, the Schwarz teamed up with Mark Brown and Cexman for Deep in the Game (the Hippo party) while cranking out new club tracks faster than a normal human brain should be able to. Unruly Records, the venerable club label, asked for an EP, originally planned for last spring sometime.

Not that it’s much of a surprise that a record in Baltimore took its sweet time, but here we are finally with it at the edge of 2012. And it’s precisely what we should’ve expected, with the lead pair of tracks, “Lose Yr Fvkcing Mindz” and “I Don’t Give a Fvck,” being pretty recognizable already. The prior’s a Schwarz signature cut by now: a super-anxious, skeletal heart attack of a club song with a spine of angry-dude vocals supporting heavy, buzzy synths, murder-mystery melodies, and, there it is, a club beat. The latter’s a takeoff of the DJ Class song (“I Don’t Give a Fuck,” naturally) that trades the rather more blunted original for truck-stop ephedrine: harsh, fast, and up, up, up. At the very end of “Fvcking Mindz” the word “miiiiiiaahhhhhiindz” gets strung out in a way that makes you want to pull your hair out and dance harder at the same time. To say either one could be destructive in a club at the right time is an understatement.

But fear not: The EP cools off quickly. “Let’s Get This Paper” still wants to fight but lays off the aggro long enough for an actually sung chorus. Rapper DDm gets a few verses into “Girlz Crazy,” and it might not be a whole lot in proportion to the overall track, but dude’s got enough personality as an MC to soak a whole album in it with a single verse. If it gets hipsters hooked on DDm, who released one of the year’s best local rap albums, that’d be most excellent. You also get four remixes on Deep in the Game, and they’re not afterthoughts. The Scottie B and Jumping Jack remix bends “Lose Yr Fvcking Mindz” into, what, South African house music? Finally, Mark Brown manages to drag an ambient/IDM track out of the manic, ADD Schwarz original “AHHHHHHH!!!” Which could well enough be the name of anything on here.

For more information visit webunruly.blogspot.com.

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