Gisaza – Assassin 12″ EP (PDV Records / DeepEnd!)

Gisaza is a mysterious dubstep outlet presumably originating from Ljubljana, Slovenia. The enigmatic producer refuses to reveal his true identity and solely focuses on his musical expression to articulate with the broader auditorium. Gisaza’s slightly grimy approach to dubstep sound goes beyond the boundaries of the genre itself, mainly because of the comprehensive collection of various elements involved during the producing process. Besides vividly hearable fundamentals of the dubstep sound, you may notice a strong presence of minimal electronica, dub, world music, ethno, hip hop, and grime. However, these ingredients are merged all together in polyphonous harmonies, soaked in a delicate Arabic and Japanese themes.

Assassin EP consists of four numbers such as Assassin, Sandu’s Tale, Gilgamesh, and Kengamesha. Sandu’s Tale is exclusively available on the vinyl edition, while the Kengamesha involves another producer named FLO. Gisaza’s discography counts two more releases such as a debut Vampire EP and a limited collaborative 10″ lathe cut record with FLO, which contains a couple of tracks like Unstable and Monolith. Judging by the titles of his compositions, Gisaza draws inspiration from fictional, non-fictional, mythological, historical characters and sonically illustrates them through engaging thematics, which are vividly hearable throughout the entire EP. Considering the fact that ninja assassins and shadow warriors have nothing in common with Sandu or Gilgamesh, Gisaza still retains thematical consistency during the entire recording.

Musicwise, Gisaza solely relies upon his devotion to fundamentals of old-school dubstep music, enhanced by contemporary production technics. Besides Assassin’s deeply rooted dubstep foundations, you will definitely notice a strong presence of world music themes that certainly lead listeners through this pleasant musical journey. Wobbly basslines are giving more depth to these themes, while the rhythmical sequences are irresistibly resembling some movements characteristic for grime, trip-hop, and hip hop music. Everything is combined to perfection and while this may seem a bit overwhelming considering the involvement of so many elements, the overall ambiance leans more towards the minimal ambiance.

The release itself comes with amazing illustrations, which are following the same aesthetics of the previous records released by DeepEnd! collective. The collective incorporates beautiful modern Japanese illustrations since their beginnings, so it’s always good to stumble upon a thought out concept that follows exact aesthetics. Assassin EP is available on black 12″ vinyl by PDV Records and DeepEnd! collective.