Review:
Within the dubstep scene, Taiko has earned his rank as one of the modern front runners of the genre, consistently delivering innovative creations and enthralling compositions wherever he lays his hand. This EP via the guys at Subaltern sees four stunning tracks put forward, starting with the super swingy shuffling drums of 'Wings'. Following this we step into darker territory as 'Trenches' runs wild with sharp drumwork, urgent string themes and catchy synth lines in a call and respond fashion. It then gets even darker as 'The Raid' brings out more chilling string motifs before we finish up with the horn-like lead patterns of 'Mana Pool'.
Review:
As one of the real success stories off the last few years, Sepia makes a real statement on his latest EP, courtesy of the legendary UK dubstep imprint: Wheel & Deal UK. With four tracks on display, Sepia shows the full range of his expansive production arsenal, beginning with the soft, emotive chord textures of the title track 'Last Chance Saloon'. Next up we have a more dance floor ready design in 'Kira' which works super catchy breathy melodies together with highly syncopated drum maneuvers and lethal lowered sub bass movements. Following this we roll into a lethal collaboration with Koma by the name of 'Embalment', which works hypnotic chime like arpeggiations together with triplet drum creations whilst the final track strips everything back to pure bass and drum orientated bliss. Excellent work from one of our favourite dubstep designers.
Review:
In a crowded dubstep and grime scene, there really is something that stands out about the consistency of Zha's White Peach imprint, who have struck gold again here with an expertly crafted four track masterclass from Hebbe. We begin with the soothing aquatic melodies and hypnotic sub pressure of the title track '3 Tabs' before landing on the darkened structure and haunting overtones of 'Appropriation'. Next we step into the super wingy excitement of 'IPA' which is driven by grizzly lead bass textures, before finishing up the EP with the nostalgic lfo movements and dubwise drum creations of 'Post Modern Dub'.
Review:
The team at Circle Vision have set out and made a serious statement with this one, as their 'Various Visions' series returns for It's second helping with four fresh originals from four of the coldest in the dubstep scene right about now. We begin with D-Operation Drop who lands a heavyweight punch in 'Fried Chicken' before man of the minute: Zygos appears with a percussive heavy piledriver in 'BAtte noir'. Next up, Hebbe arrives on the scene with a haunted episode of bitcrushed leads and floating subs on 'Sixes & Sevens', before Mrshi sees the EP out in style with his triplet-driven scorcher 'Biter'.
Review:
The Encrypted Audio camp have always held an extremely high standard a label project. This is a trend with most certainly continues in style as they bring in Manchester's dub specialist Hypho for a sumptuous four track bonanza. First we look at 'Guillotine' which brings aquatic rhythms together with 8 bit sound design for a exciting outing. Following this, 'Blazed' and 'Narrow' provide more of the same flavours with engulfing subs running riot amidst powerful drumlines. Finally, the unpredictable bass movements and shuffled chops of 'Rotten Milk' finish up the project with a bang, rounding off an impressive body of work.
Review:
A:Grade continues to live up to his name with this stunning five-piece suite. It launches with a cowboy-laced stepper session that's laced with a whole range of strange staccato hooks and counter hooks, "Rusty Swing" also lives up to its name as A:Grade takes a squeaky tone and creatively wraps up a whole jam around it, "Claggy" takes us to the far east via the karzy while "Blockchain" gives the bitcoin bros a run for their money with its bullishness and relentlessness. For his finale salute A:Grade gives us "Psionic", a springy stepper coated with trippy sci-fi textures and enough techno tendencies to power a small village. Handle with caution.
Review:
Johnny Foreplay, Apparition and Nostalgia's collective force continues to thrust through 2018; following seismic sessions on Duploc and Dunk N Dirty Dubz comes this precision three piece on Chestplate. Taking us on a perfect trip through the most exciting corners of modern dubstep, the US trio kick off with a powerful rubber ball bass instant reload shockout that is "Hopeless" before getting all weirded out and theatrically dystopian on "Loft Dub" before being bid adieu by "Morgawr" a twinkling rolling wonder that perches high up on the wave scale. Hopeful.
Review:
After a bag of tribal dubstep delights? Look no further as Krytikal touches down on the impressive Plantpower imprint for a three track shackout, packed to the brim with vibrancy and character. We begin with the title track 'The Technique', which is a certified roller, pulling it's energy from colourful LFO rolls and groovy percussive leads. Next up with shimmy our way into 'Hunted', which continues the tribal rhythmics, this time surrounding by powerful subroutines and expressive spacey stabs. Finally we finish up on 'Jumanji Riddim'. This one is a certified wheeler, focussing smooth stepper energy across funky drum combos and eastern woodwind melodies
Review:
Since smashing her way onto the 140 scene a couple of years back, Eva808 has been kicking up a storm with her unique production style, and this EP courtesy of Innamind Recordings is the perfect example of why. We kick off with 'Pink Uzi Gang', one of 140's most prized gems of recent times, laced with bubbling subs and aquatic percussion. Next up, 'Shakti'. This one takes eastern samples and sends them to a whole new dimension, with some incredibly clean snare processing in partnership with rolling hats luscious sub bass textures. And incredible release from an incredible producer!
Review:
Newcomer De-Tu debuts on White Peach with some absurdly off-kilter dubstep, on the same tip as Mala's best entries for his own Deep Medi Musik. The title tune, "Koshi", is an Eastern-tinged samurai affair with a looming dread bass emanating from the underbelly of its groove, leading beautifully into the vocally-led beats of "Sippin'", a pseudo-hip-hop tune driven by a darkly lit hardcore vibe. "Slap" ends on a more placid note, dissipating the beats and low frequencies into an itchy, mechanical bass rhythm.
Review:
For this one we step deeper into the realms of sublow dubstep as Lory Kong branches out to the Hatched imprint for a two-tracks shack out, showcasing his heavyweight stylings perfectly. We start off with the sumptuous sub bass processing and minimalistic drum placements of '100 Grit', a masterpiece in underground dubstep production. On the flip we are treated to the amphibious roller that is 'Supression', which is driven by its swampy bass tones and bird-like stabs, bringing a really unique type of energy to the mix.
Review:
As one of dubstep's most respected and praised labels, it's always exciting to see a brand new Wheel & Deal project land in our new releases section. It appears that N Type's legendary imprint has pulled out the sauce yet again as Khonsu steps up for a mammoth self titled four tracker. We begin with the shuffling bass tones of 'It's The Little Things' before moving into the more dubstyle compositional structure of 'Blue Acid', laced with smooth sub melodies and lively chord progressions. Next up, 'Vault 5', a swampy warbler, packed with dirty energy and potent drum designs, followed by the dark rootsy tones of 'Ruthless Dub' to round off a fantastic project.
Review:
The Artikal Music imprint has been providing us with heavyweight belters for quite some time now, so when we saw they were teaming up with Akcept for a two tracks vibe out we couldn't be happier. The title track 'Might Of The Trinity' is a subtly spooky roller, packed to the rafters with mind boggling sub work and unpredictable snare delays, topped with eerie ride cymbals and marching drum rhythms. On the flip, 'Night Crawler' is a more mellowed out exploration of space and texture, with dubbed chord structures shimmering left to right above smooth drum movements and perfectly crafted bass tones.
Review:
Well, it appears that Uprise Audio have gone and done it again with the second part of Seven's extraordinary 'Rebellium' project. From the off we are blessed with explosive steppers flavour as the sharp, horn-like synthesizers and lethal bass oscillations of 'Happy Feet' kick us off. Next up Spec joins the party as the pair collaborate on the glitchy roller 'Scatter' before Seven moves back into some intense solo production work on the haunted sounds of 'Reactor'. Finally the EP is rounded up by 'Swamp Trap', an unpredictable spacy half time pressure bomb, packed with neurotic bass textures and smooth drum designs.
Review:
Will Benton's label, FatKidOnFire, has a seriously heavy rep for delivering only the most forward thinking productions by the edgiest producers. Each release only has a catalogue number and that's the way it should be - no clutter, just underground sounds. Chokez is the latest to grace the FKOF ranks, turning in this uber meditative four track single. He was discovered by accident when Kaiju uncovered a bootleg of their own tune by this cheeky Londoner... Highlights include the sub-heavy ancient orient vibes of "Ras Samurai VIP" and EP highlight, the deep and dubby headnodder, "Madda".
Review:
In regards to dubstep and grime, there are few that have made as much of an instant impact as Opus, who has run wild over the last 2 years creating some incredible material. Here we see him team up with Crucial Recordings for an absolute monster of an EP. The title track 'Sharpie' is a mucky roller, filled with constantly widening bass textures and haunting atmospheric fills, fit to turn any dance into a zoo. The B-side also boasts to absolute heaters, with the shimmering bass tones of 'Peel' and constantly shuffling percussive breezes of 'Newspeak' holding some extreme weight.
Review:
After a string of high profile appearances, AXH sets out with a marvelous new five track spectacular on the legendary Boka imprint. Straight from the title track 'Tokyo' we are introduced to what AXH is all about with it's rolling distorted subs and dubbed out drum work. Next up we move into the dynamic synth movement and breathy drum design of 'Gamera' before landing on 'Inokashira' for some eastern inspired stepper goodness. The eastern theme continues as we move into the shuffled break stabs and hypnotising plucks of 'Devilman'. The EP then rounds off very well indeed with a bonus track entitled 'Harajuku' which brings pulsating sub work and circulating strings to the front row in blazing style.
Review:
Zygos makes his return to releasing with a gem of an EP here as he teams up with Rarefied on his brand new SFG project. At first the evocative eastern inspired melodies and shuffling bass and drum movements of the title track 'SFG' take the lead, before dropping into the more syncopated and darkened arrangements of 'Forward', driven by its hypnotic spacial textures. We then finish up the EP with an outstanding collaboration alongside Soukah entitled 'Late Night Escort', which allows itself to be driven by a pile of dubbed organic percussion and yet more hypnotic texture loops.
Review:
Up there with Swindle and Joker, dubstep's funkiest OG Silkie returns to Deep Medi with three more sublime grooves. Broken, cheery, just a little cheeky and swooning with switches, each of these cuts rattles and bashes with Silkie's signature west- coast-meets-UKG-in-a-long-dark-Croydon-tunnel melting pot: "Impervious" flips from orchestral epic to dreamy flutters before dropping into 80s horn funk with mischief while "Reevea" is Silkie in classic "Poltergeist" mode. Finally "Egyptian March" is straight out of Indiana Jones. A jittering snake charmer that has you going from nought to rolling under stone doors and grabbing your hat in 10 seconds. Silkie you absolute don.
Review:
The ever impressive release roster of Joe Nice's Gourmet Beats imprint continuous to excel, this time bringing together the duo of Prism and Saule for a fantastic three track spread. The title track 'Grow Stronger' begins with funky disco arrangements, before descending into glitchy bitcrushed leads and scattered drum arrangements with a really cool shimmer. Prism steps up solo next for his weighty roller 'The Path' before Saule descends into the dungeon with his sub heavy designs across 'Backwards'. The pair's styles compliment each other heavily throughout, making this an extremely cohesive body of work!
Review:
One of our favourite dubstep imprints returns here as the Dubtribu camp bring forward the earth shattering sounds of Arta for a five track special project. We kick off with the powerhouse distortion of 'Rambo' with its heavyweight electro leads, before rolling into the spookier, more soundscape driven design of 'Check'. Next up, the stuttered electronic bass stabs of 'Cryogenesis' before landing on the robotic war machine known as 'Stompa'. We then finish up the EP with 'Communications Dub', a perfectly swung ride through sub bass and space, driven by its quirky rhythms and subtle percussive movements.
Review:
Brixton representing: system OG Brother Culture continues his rich vein of form as he follows up his recent Mungo Hifi album with another longer on Swiss vibes station Evidence Music. Bubbling with digi dub riddims and instrumentation and lyrical clarity, highlights include the springy funk of the album title "Code Name" and "New Generation" and the much darker, heavier and directly conscious "Chant Dem Down" and "Dreadlocks Thing". Powerful, wise and lean; Brother Culture reminds us who's boss once again.
Review:
Dark, militant dubstep coming sraight out of Renaissance city Florence , and we would say that Ago seems to be at the top of the Dubstep food chain. The producer returns to InnaMind Recordings with a swarm of fully-fledged dread-out fire; the bass weight is very much in place alongside the rest of their heartical bliss. "Why Won't You", the lead tune, literally steps its way through the rhythm with big power drums and echoing FX tricks, while "Flashin'" alludes to the breaks format thanks to some devious percussion work, and "Zero Shift" takes care of the sub bass fix with those huge, meandering slabs of low hertz for those looking for their bass massage. Come and get it!
Review:
Moonshine's manoeuvres in the deep continue to impress with this highly accomplished collaborative remix album. A throwback to their original Steppin' Forward album - released March 2014 - the Jamaican label have given each contributor the parts to a fellow label mate's tune and asked them to get creative. The results are as consistent and progressive as the original. Every track is a highlight but stand-out essentials include the bubblesome digidub of Bukkha's juicy switch on Tuff & Powa's "Outlaw Music", Adam Prescott's sinewy shakedown of RSD's "Know U 2" and the foamy subs and wriggling melodica on Roommate's version of Alpha Steppa's "Shinkansen".
Review:
2017 has been an incredible year for Zha's White Peach imprint, with a plethora of high profile releases hitting stores at regular intervals. The latest in this impeccable line comes from Bristol's own; Bengal Sound. The title track is a work of art, with heavily swung mysterious eastern sounding samples and rolling hi hats taking the lead. We move quickly from that to dubstep fueled artillery with '2 Worlds' which focusses on tremendously heavy sub frequencies and unpredictably skippy drum arrangements. The EP continues with the dubstep theme as we move onto the B-side with 'Silence Soundboy'. This one is pleasingly reminiscent of early DMZ releases, bringing the combination of subs and space out to play. Finally we wrap up with the haunting dub-infused arrangement of 'Pablo'. This one is ghastly, with plenty of percussive and melodic vibrancy lurking just below the swampy surface. This one is definitely another winner from the seemingly unstoppable White Peach brand!
Review:
Croydon's Chris Reed aka Plastician tells us that his usual grime shenanigans are held back for their own release in the near future, following this current release entitled Overdue: an EP named due to the lateness of the release, as well as an ode to his two children who were born beyond full-term pregnancy. All good things are worth waiting for he says, on this ode to his wife and kids for putting up with him, and a result of his love hate relationship with music. Across these seven tracks, his dubstep roots are still audible, with a healthy influx of Wavepool/Terrorhythm influenced numbers to boot - picking up up where his last LP Beg To Differ (2007) left off.
Review:
For this one we see the celebrated Indigo Movement make their return to releasing after a run of extremely well received drops. For this project they bring in the explosive production stylings of Grawinkel who gets to work immediately, sewing stepper flavours and intense sub designs precisely throughout the title track 'Ollie'. On the flip we are given 'Constant', a refined collaboration with Ourman. The pair provide some major heat on this one, which is driven by it's unpredictable stabbing lead bass sounds and subtle breaksy interludes.
Review:
Here is a release we have been anticipating highly, as 3WA steps foot onto the After Dark Music imprint for a monsterous four track dubstep delight. We begin with the title track 'Lusos', which is from the off driven by sharp percussive smashes, padded out by rolling subs below and dubbed out drum work. Following this we have the tripletred delays of 'Swordfish II' which sits atop yet more phenomenal sub design before landing on the classic LFO riots and unpredictable drum arrangements of 'Warhammer'. Finally we finish up with 'Payne', a super syncopated journey into steppers space, driven by its shuffling percussive grooves and outstanding bass layering, rounding off an excellent body of work.
Review:
Not content with absolutely smashing the game with their Deep Dark & Dangerous label this year, Truth return to one of their strongest spiritual homes: Deep Medi Music. Naturally they're packing some serious sentiments: "Lion" is a pounding roller that chugs with an industrial strength toxic bassline and demonic call from Teklife's Taso. "Messages" flips the situation for a much lighter, mystical and spatial exploration with fluttering break echoes and unhurried, yearning chords. Finally we're knocked seasick by the slobbering kicks and boa-like bass of "Ruffneck" which doesn't so much as live to up to its name but sets a new benchmark in dangerous, knife-edge ruffneckism. Powerful frequencies.
Review:
As far as labels go, there aren't many that can boast such a productive year as Zha's 'White Peach' imprint. Throughout the year they have worked tirelessly to provide us with forward thinking dubstep and grime from both established high flyers and blossoming newcomers. They round their year off with this fantastic selection from London's own dubstep don: Mr. K. The title track 'One Skin' is a powerhouse dubby roller, equipped with perfectly timed delays and unpredictable syncopated percussion. We roll straight from that into the monstrous sub-driven march of 'Take Time'. On the B Side we have two more absolute belters by way of the more wonky sounds the sit upon 'Real Time' featuring Le Lion and mega weighty arrangement of 'Inca'. This one screams instant classic.
