Review: Following a crucial tear-up on Hatched earlier this year, Abstrakt Sonance makes his Dank N Dirty debut with one of the most impressive and far-reaching EPs of his life (no pun) We ignite with "Life", a sweaty, stripped-back rolling slice of tribalism before diving deep into a glistening sea of chimes on the wonderful "Sculpture". Deeper into the EP we find "Metal Energy", a track bouncing with a soulful bruk feel while "Love Is Strong" taps deep into the roots with glistening guitars and powerful dulcets from Ghette and we close with the overwhelming warbled bass tones of his Enigma Dubz remix. Ah life!
Review: The strengthened dubstep outpost of Duploc returns to the fray with another packet of heaters here as they bring together ARtroniks and Enigma Dubs for a pair of awesome remix projects. We begin with the eerie sub growls and explosive atmospheric pressure of 'Extinction', here remixed to perfection by the cunning styles of Enigma Dubz. On the flip, ARtroniks gets to work with his haunted overhaul of 'Dirty South', boasting seriously impressive synth work and spacious processing combined with jittery vocal stabs.
Review: Over the years we really have seen nothing short of an excellent display from ENiGMA Dubz, whose sound has grown to include garage, grime and more over the years. This time around he's back in his home territory however as he lands on Dub Sector for three potent stepper originals. We begin with a look into the winding basslines and unpredictable dubby snare delays of 'Steppas' before the title track 'Greedy Gutz' throws out some super nostalgic wobbling synth sounds, reminiscent of early Coki, combined with the acidic melodies that follow. Finally, we dive down a deep and dangerous route as 'Descending' rounds us off with some stunning low end processing and metallic reverbs. It's an incredible return to dubstep for ENiGMA Dubz, who appears to be able to do very little wrong at the moment!
Review: James Vine aka Enigma Dubs lays down a fresh taste and complete recipe for an R&B-infused and lowly swung garage number. Bringing the mainstream appeal of something like Craig David but stripping it back to a deconstructing dub while adding swathes of deep pads, breathy vocals and detuned bounce. Melodies and floating grime influences deliver a slow-motion appeal in "Dancing In The Snow", with "I'm Gone" an urban love ballad for the UKs mean streets and hinterlands.
Review: So Duploc are back at it again to give us yet another tasty dosage of steppers flavour as they invite in the multi-talented production stylings of Enigma Dubz for four tracks of pure heat. We kick off with the haunted overtones and warbling LFO structures of 'The Eyes', leading into the more stripped back, sub-driven compositional structure of 'Lurkin'. Next, 'ET' arrives on the scene with some heavily swung drum manoeuvres and bleeping atmospheric pressure, before we round this one out with a leap into the epic soundscaping and choppy rhythmic presence of 'Left Behind'.
Review: It's a fantastic time to be involved in UKG at the moment, with a tonne of exciting releases dropping week in week out, courtesy of well organized and maintained platforms such as Slime. They here invite Enigma Dubz in for three tracks of forward thinking heat.The 80's style cinematic synth harmonies and stunning vocal additions of Ed Geater come first on the title track 'Moonwalk', before we dip into delicious drips and organic percussion of 'A Night In The Forest', another incredible piece of soundscaping. Finally, 'All On You' makes an appearance with a bag of futuristic UKG flavour, wrapping up a truly incredible body of work.
Review: Ain't no messing around here; Enigma Dubz makes his debut on Hatcha's Hatched with some of his most frazzled and forthright jams. "Haters" don the hater-blockers with classic sheet metal bass rippage and orchestral tension, "In Heaven With You" will tug on your heart strings with its dank, laser-melting bass twists while "The Swarm" lulls you into a false sense of tropical security before a Predator bassline leaps out from the swamp and kills you in your tracks. Finally "Torn" takes a yearning, soulful vocal and wraps it around broken glass bass shards in a dangerously seductive way. Immense.
Review: There's been some releases of late brandishing the title "Back To The Future". However, they've tended to be more literal, 80s-themed productions. Here though, the emphasis for Enigma Dubz is very much on the future part. Deep, luxuriant and carried by smooth 2 step beats, the thinking behind the release is perfectly captured by MC NR who explains "Lets make future garage...a new soundwave for this music, planning". Elsewhere "At Home" conjures up memories of Ayia Napa circa 2001 and "Airglow" is similar to the kind of mood-step that Burial et al have been rockin' lately. Safe.
Review: Midlander James Vine, aka Enigma Dubz, deals in tough, straight up, party-rockin' beats. Now he's back following a recent split EP with Sub Antix with his own solo release and it's a banger. "Fresh" features filthy post dubstep chugging bass and a messy 2-step swing. ""What Must I Do" is all heavy wobble craziness and an infectious hands-in-the-air female vocals. Finally things end on a head-nodding, sinister vibe with the menacing electro-dub of "Without You By My Side".
Review: Grimey vibes abound on Four40 as Enigma, Screama and Trilla rep the 0121 emotions. Enigma's beats are the perfect balance of heavy presence and eerie melody while allowing enough space for Screama and Trilla to trade melodic bars with each other. The remix-list is mind bogglingly good with all flavours catered. From slinky, well-polished two-step (El-B) to haunted house trap (DJ Cable) via savage breakbeat garage (Filthy Vicars), Four40 have curated a very generous package that will suit every shade of bass addict.
Review: If we were to give an award for label of the year based entirely on consistency, it would be hard to see Four40 not running away with it as they finally round off what has been an untouchable year with one last killer compilation. Royal Flush takes the role of compiler on this one, pulling in some scorchers from the likes of Soulecta, ZeroFG, Jack Junior, Tuff Culture, Earthnut and of course Royal Flush himself. There are a couple of tracks here we feel really hold their own amongst a stacked line up, with Pavv's classic sounding '3210' being one of them, alongside 'Guilty Twitches' from Ozwald and the choppy vibes of 'Love Is Coming' from the legendary EL-B.
