David Bowie was big on drum and bass. That’s no big revelation, considering that the mid-’90s UK underground sound was all over his 1997 album Earthling.
Is It Any Wonder? is the title of a forthcoming Bowie collection of previously unreleased music, “Nuts” being the fifth of six tracks for the special streaming EP via Parlophone. It was produced by Bowie with Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati during the same 1996 sessions as Earthling.
Anchored by a persistent UK jungle rhythm and droning synthesizers, Bowie peppers the fast-paced instrumental with random vocals that fade in and out. At one point his voice is a menacing whisper; at another, he’s happily whistling a melody. The track rumbles with echoes of Tricky and Underworld, and could easily be dropped into a drum and bass DJ set today. Listen below.
The EP’s final track is expected out next Friday, along with an “added surprise,” according to a press statement.
