Reviews
DUBSTEP: FEBRUARY
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- Tunes
COMPILATION OF THE MONTH
Pinch: Fabriclive (Fabric)
This album starts off pretty much as a techno mix. A really deep, well-sequenced one, but it made us worry that Pinch was finally abandoning dubstep. We needn’t have fretted; as it progresses the rhythms swerve around the huge subs, and even though the tempo remains around the 130bpm mark for a while, it’s still true to the original chest-rattling spirit of Bristol’s Subloaded. When it does reach more ‘classic’ dubstep rhythms from Goth-Trad, Distance, Jakes and co, they only hit harder for the amount of variation that has come before. Proof that the resilience and flexibility of the sound are still there, if you look for them.
4/5
Highlights
Henry & Louis ‘Love Like’ (Pinch remix)
Photek & Pinch Acid Reign (Pinch’s Dubplate mix)
Download here
TUNE OF THE MONTH
Skream
Gritty/Phatty Drummer (Deep Medi Muzik)
Trust Mala’s Deep Medi label to bring out Skream’s darkest, strangest talents. About as far from anthemic as you can get, these prove how Ollie Jones’s exploratory skills are still as impressive as his mixdowns. ‘Gritty’ is a steady stepper that racks up the tension with amazing, haunting, high-
frequency subliminals and cold synth stabs; ‘Phatty’ goes deeper still, congas, subs and swooshes creating a feel like a humid tropical night. Leaves us wanting more! 5/5
Download here
Ital Tek
Gonga EP (Planet Mu)
Many producers are trying their hand at 160bpm Chicago juke/footwork beats with varying success. Brighton’s Ital Tek seems to have found a rather good fit with his own intricate, melodic electronica. It loses some of the ‘oomph’ of the Chicagoan stuff, and at times it can sound fiddly, but he’s definitely on to something intriguing.
3/5
Download here
Florence & The Machine
No Light, No Light (Breakage remix) (Island)
We hope Breakage got paid well for this, because this track – with its arty-farty, borderline racist video – is godawful, and Florence’s honking voice standardly painful. Breakage’s production is as sharp as ever, though, and thankfully there’s an instrumental of his rolling, dramatic reworking that’s perfectly playable.
1/5
Download here
Youngman
Who Knows (Digital Soundboy/Polydor)
Youngman is a charismatic and talented performer, but his releases haven’t blown us away yet. This has Skream delivering some ‘In For The Kill’-style dark power, plus Youngman’s moody r’n’b vocal on top. It’s almost there, but to these ears it could do with roughly 100 per cent less autotune. Extraordinarily well put together, still.
2/5
Download here
Swindle
Ignition EP (Swindle Productions)
The lead track here, with Nadia Suleiman and Newham Generals’ MC Footsie, is the most upbeat, celebratory grime anthem you could imagine without tipping over into pop-dance cheese. These two instrumentals, including a collab with our new favourites Stinkahbell, are soulful, inventive and spacious but tough as you like, too. Huge release.
4/5
Download here
Duffstep
Together (Join The Dots)
Wow. We thought Sepalcure had cornered the market in this particular sort of lusher-than-lush maximalist sound, but this beautiful floating groove that builds to some serious emotional intensity matches them easily. A sparse, Basic Channel-ish dub by Youandewan, and Background Sound’s grooving small-hours garagey take just add to the already abundant joy.
4/5
Download here
Gagarin
Third Rail (GEO)
The shadowy dreamscapes of Gagarin’s ‘Biophilia’ album (yes, Björk nicked his title!) make it an essential, and these two reworks take them to new places. His own Maximum Voltage mix is like dancehall lost in a long, dark tunnel, while Bass Clef’s Derail mix turns it into the trippiest UK funky rhythm we’ve ever heard. Weird and wonderful.
4/5
Surge
Leech/ Swaying Mantis (Wheel & Deal)
N-Type’s label is a guarantee of classy production, and newcomers Surge keep that up. But they also bring vocals into the deep, dark dungeon sound of ‘Leech’, to stirringly bleak effect. Actually, though, the instrumental ‘Swaying Mantis’ is better: undulating back and forth as the title suggests, it feels dangerously hypnotic.
3/5
Download here
Eleven Tigers
Stableface (Soul Motive)
From Eleven Tigers’ headphone voyage album ‘Clouds Are Mountains’, this is a great bit of soundtracky loveliness. It’s sharpened up for the dancefloor with a corking garagey mix from Dark Sky and some old-skool space jungle from Macc. But it’s Peverelist’s version we love the most; it picks up the garage feel and delivers the most grooving track he’s done in a while.
4/5
Download here
Zillion
Make Me Happy (Iceni)
Mentored as part of a community project in Norwich, 22-year-old producer Zillion clearly has something of a fresh take on things. This tune is loaded with an old-skool feel from both garage and jungle, with vocal snippets and granite beats, but it somehow sounds like nothing else. It’s rough round the edges ,but that just adds to its charm.
4/5
Various
Shutdown/Emotions/ Jogi/ Mad Mother Dub (New World Audio)
Absolutely rock-solid tracks once again from DJ Squarewave’s new NWA label. Squarewave himself and Trex both manage toughness and depth with ease, and Squarewave’s brother Sukh Knight brings the Bhangra. But it’s Shandy’s insane, juddering ‘Jogi’ that leaps out, a brilliant reminder of just how strange dubstep can still be while hitting hard.
3/5
