Bestsellers This Week

Review: If you judge a producer by their ability to successfully apply a winning formula to a variety of styles, Alix Perez is a master. While drum and bass remains his forte, there's enough on Chroma Chords, his second album, to suggest that he's growing as a producer. This EP discards with the synth-laden head nodders featured on the full album, though the four tracks here do still demonstrate the versatile nature of Chroma Chords. Thus the grimy hip hop of the Metropolis featuring "Blue Print" shares space with the soulful stepping action of "Playing Games" whilst the the excellent vintage Timbaaland does halfstep of "Shadows" (featuring breakout Eglo talent Strange U") joins up with the vicious "Burnout".

Review: Bang! There'd been hushed tones of this opus for well over a year, and at a whopping 29 tracks, it's been well worth the wait. Showcasing their widest repertoire, within the first trio of tracks we're already treated to Latino swing breaks, new jungle jiggery and dramatic dubstep. This wide-eared vibe embracement runs throughout consistently; "Hey Mr DJ" rattles a few electro-hop cages, "Countdown" is quintessential booty-bass heaven complete with delectable UK hip-hop rhymage, while "You Can Be My Night" shoots us up to planet D&B on a floaty carpet of rave heritage. A solid calling card to every party in town, it's time to get bouncing...

Review: It's hard to believe it's been four years since the first immaculate selection of Aquatic Lab Sessions. Sitting prettily on top of the many bass music releases out right now, from start to finish this is a labour of love that covers a vast range of diverse sounds. From the halftime D&B stylings of Bardeya's deep dreamy "Gordon" to Core's hauntingly dark "Eagle Scream" and Perverse's crisp, minimal "Hamba", it's a true depiction of Aquatic Lab's hard work and dedication to the genre in all its forms. Shredexx - "Transporta" is a particular gem, shining bright from murky depths with brooding attitude usually reserved for the good old days of dark dubstep. A perfect example of the versatility of bass end productions in 2013. Don't sleep.

Review: If you don't understand why Dubmatix has been named 'Canada's dread at the controls' by none other than Don Letts, just look at the list of vocalists on board this project... Eek A Mouse, Horace Andy, Tenor Fly, U-Roy and Cornell Campbell. Did someone just say 'legends'? Naturally, the beats back up the headline name-dropping. Stretching from the rugged dubsteppery of "Black Market War Dub" to the more classical, dub positivity of tracks like "Free Up" and "She's In Love", this is a comprehensive picture of dub's many shades AND a great calling card for Canada's 'dread at the controls'.

Review: Helsinki's Desto has been releasing tunes for coming up to 10 years, but we've never had a long player from him...until now that is. "Emptier Streets" features 12 tracks that mine an evocative slow motion field. Highlights include the gentle, synth swathed "Dislocated", the Salem-esque dark trap of the title track, the beatless and cinematic "Drainpipe" and the sublime closer "Healing".

Review: Entitled simply Grime 2.0, this mammoth release sees grime originators sit next to a new breed of artists, all compiled by Big Dada label boss Will Ashon and journalist Joe Muggs. Documenting grime's continued development over the past ten years, its track selections also demonstrate that it's still a vibrant and flourishing genre. Some 35 tracks deep, the compilation sees Ashon and Muggs securing exclusive, previously unheard material, with notable grime figureheads such as Youngstar, Wiley and MRK1 contributing alongside current stars in Royal T and Preditah as well as an international cast of emergent new talent, with Local Action artist and Grimetapes documenter Slackk featuring too. Essential!

Review: This one is a bit of a whopper. With 43 unmixed tracks to choose from and two bonus DJ mixes from curator Jay Cunning, there's plenty for fans of 140 BPM plus bass music to sink their teeth into. The tracklist reads like a who's who of the breaks, jungle and breakbeat garage scene, with stalwarts Ellis Dee, I.D, High Rankin and DJ Twista joined by a welter of lesser-known artists (601, Aries, Gella) for an all-out assault on the senses. From hardcore revivalism and early jungle roughness to bhangra-flecked beats and electro-breaks madness, Bass Selection Volume 1 has it all - if you're looking for speaker-shaking heaviness, you really can't go wrong.

Review: While the cover artwork may make Benton look like a moody former member of an R&B boy band, the music contained on Reflections is as robustly underground as you'd expect. Moving from Burial-ish paranoid atmospherics to deep dubstep-soul via a series of sparse, moody and emotion-rich soundscapes, it portrays the London-based producer as a man for whom the simple pleasures of form and function are just not enough. Along the way, there are growling, murky floorfillers (check the hissing "Herman's Hideout" and "Defect Mind"), dubwise steppers ("20/20 VIP") and occasional blasts of piano-laden beauty (the intricate "We're Both Lost").

Review: Over the years, Modeselektor have forged a reputation as fearless innovators, neatly sidestepping genres and frequently confounding critics. It's been some four years since their last full-length, and Monkeytown flits effortlessly between skittish 140 BPM bass music, clandestine electronica, sludgy hip-hop and even warehouse-flavoured tropical rhythms (see "German Clap"). There are some real standouts, including a dreamy, slo-mo pop outing with PVT, two collaborations with Thom Yorke and a droning Anti-Pop Consortium hook-up. Must-check.

Review: Unique techno munchers The Outside Agency really are one of a kind. Mutating, morphing and mangling sounds from dubstep and drum & bass with nail-like hardcore glee, the unpredictable duo show a refreshing darkness on here on their third album. Stretching from the Squarepusher-eats-three-distortion-peddles breakbeats of "The Fabric Of Life" to the gabba-like headbuts of "Cautionary Tale" via the brave breakneck powerstomps of "End Boss", it's consistent, fun and at points damn scary.

Review: When 123MRK's Noname EP dropped in 2011 creating waves all around the dubstep and bass music scene. Moulding the sound of his generation into a style all his own, the Frenchman suddenly found himself held aloft as an innovator as well as simply a producer of sounds. This remixed release of his seminal EP was a lofty undertaking and the finished item features remixes from some of the future dubstep scene's brightest young stars alongside long-time innovators. From Liar's metalic, lo-fi flavours to Troy Gunner's understated clicks and swirls; ViLLAGE's heart-pounding house remodelling to Heblank's old-school twist, even the likes of Pixelord and ReSketch play their garage-influenced hands to create an all-new modern-day canvas of what exactly bass music is right at this moment. It can never be truly defined, but this is a pretty good encyclopedia.