When you immerse yourself into skate culture at a young and impressionable age, you’re exposed to a vast spectrum of musical genres early on. Through video soundtracks and even the varying tastes of your comrades, you’re regularly introduced to different styles and sounds that guide you in expanding your palate.
Such is the case with Jordon Alexander. A hardcore kid at heart, the Aussie DJ and producer known as Mall Grab, also took a likening to dance and hip-hop through skateboarding. It led him to explore and tinker around with equipment to construct his own tracks, which quickly found him international success. He’s known for his lo-fi approach to house music, creating dark and fuzzy beats that push the boundaries of the underground scene, much like a band in Turnstile who know no limits within hardcore.
Share A View brings two genre-stretching artists together, yet weighs heavier as a stand-alone Mall Grab release. Turnstile’s recording contributions are nothing new, as they simply lend the vocal tracks from a few crowd-pleasers off of Time & Space for some digital manipulation. It’s more of Mall Grab remix EP, with inspiration and ideation from Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates.
“Generator,” (now “Yes I Need My Generator,”) is transformed into a swanky deep house version of itself. The original is actually groovy to a degree, but here it’s morphed into a track you might hear at a pretentious, late-night lounge. “The Real Thing” remix is really captivating, to be honest. The vocals are auto-tuned and textured with some hints of industrial “synthiness” and bright and cheerful beats. It’s an intriguing balance between Brendan’s emotional screams and the techno-driven sounds that are produced in the track. “I Wanna Be Blind,” (removing “Don’t” from the title,) closes the EP out, replacing Franz Lyon’s pounding bass lines with gyrating bass booms.
What makes Share A View such a cool concept is that Mall Grab doesn’t just take the Turnstile songs and apply his notorious lo-fi techniques to them, but instead allows the influence of Brendan’s creativity to bend the framework of his own expertise. It all goes back to that notion of being open-minded in this culture and welcoming new and alternate views.