Kobra Kai: Push / Sit On Your Face [ INNAR041 ]

Kobra Kai are a dynamic presence on stage, with live drums and keyboards mapped via MIDI to a eclectic range sound-banks of their own making, switching up genres from jungle to breakbeat and grime from one tune to the next. Hutch + Rehan, the production duo at the core of the band, have previously released some powerful drum&bass tracks on Inna Riddim; this release, though, brings the vibe of the full band to the studio. Over a slouchy boom-bap, strangled sawtooth bassline and psychotic synth stabs, all three vocalists trade verses on ‘Push’: the rowdiness of D-Tech’s quick-fire raw imagery met by Spex’s in-your-face street rap, edging – in the words of Slice’s infectious chorus – ‘closer to madness’. Spex is the solo vocalist on the flip, ‘Sit On Your Face’, her sassy asides and acerbic observations gliding between song and rap, over a warm bassline and bouncy, reggae-inflected beat.