Shackleton at Theory + Practice

The music of London-based Shackleton is a dark, dense and altogether disconcerting affair, like paranoia rendered in sound. The famed dubstep producer and co-head of the Skull Disco label has displayed a predilection for crafting long, hypnotic patterns of conga-heavy percussion punctuated by gut-punching bass drops and dubbed-out, echoing trails of munged-up vocal snatches. The result is an enticingly evil brew of polyethnic sound rendered into world music from the dopest, dankest dystopia this side of Philip K. Dick. Shackleton’s tracks on rightly revered Skull Disco releases such as the various “Soundboy” EPs (Soundboy’s Bones Get Buried in the Dirt EP, Soundboy’s Suicide Note EP, etc.) have marked him as a talented producer who doesn’t fit neatly into any convenient genre box (unless dark, scary and thoroughly awesome is a genre). Word is his live sets more than meet the standard of his recorded work; judge for yourself when he comes to Theory + Practice (738 Santa Fe Drive) this Thursday, March 4.