By: Evan Townsend

Simplify Recordings has been making quite a name for itself of late. With the release of Sugarpill and Ben Samples’ latest albums just last month, the bar was set high for the rest of the innovative label’s roster. But last Friday, newcomer ChrisB. lived up to Simplify’s eminent rep. 

What’s Your Fantasy doesn’t haphazardly throw down high-octane beats. In fact, it could hardly be called a fast-paced album at all. That’s not to say ChrisB. doesn’t keep the bass coming, but he gently pours it out, smooth and thick—think perfectly syruped waffles versus BP oil spill.

The aptly named title track is slow and sensual. If ChrisB.’s answer to the title is anything like the song itself, then his fantasies are dark, strange, and beautiful.

“In The Name Of” and “New Beginnings” (which features veteran dubstep producer Gladkill) mediate the slow and upbeat ends of this album’s spectrum. ChrisB. lays on rich, heavy melodies in these two spacy and hypnotic tracks.

By far, the most distinctive track on the album, the meaty and melodic “On The Grind” is also the most danceable. The track’s intensely hip-hop feel is pushed by vocal samples from David Banners “Ain’t Got Nothing.”

Fantasy fits in the canon of Simplify-brand dubstep to date, but its greatest success is creating a hole. ChrisB.’s debut has cleared a space for himself and his sound, but this four track EP is not enough to satisfy. This album established ChrisB. as one of the best new faces in the business, but now he has another name to live up to—his own.