Juno Recommends Dubstep May 2018

Review: Recovering from the damage caused by Caspa's "Gutter Riddim" earlier this year, Youngsta's Sentry returns with a rightfully-hyped newcomer Gramz. Following a strong range of flips and self-releases, here we find the UK talent in full vinyl mode with two ridiculously on-point 140 jams. "Dip Dip Potato Chip" is every bit as tasty and filling as it sounds. Trippy, slurring and woozier than a disgraced celeb, this one sucks you right in and doesn't even bother to chew you up; it just swallows you whole. "Illa" takes the freakiness to even more refreshingly vital levels with its pitched ghetto vocals and drill-like snares. As with all previous Sentry releases, this is nothing short of essential.

Review: Serious 140 stinkers from Siskiyou as he makes his debut on Chestplate. Three tracks deep; each one muckier than the last, we kick off with "Mirrors", a grunting slo-mo sludge-fest laced with shimmering elements. It's followed by "Bxxed", an even eerier slice of creepy deep dub with an electrified bassline that clocks well over the prescribed 1.21 gigawatts needed for time travel. Finally we hit "Swerve", a tripped-out damager with kicks so woozy you won't be able to drive for at least 12 hours after playing it. More of this please Siskiyou.

Review: Bristol bass stalwart and "purple" genre creator Joker is celebrating ten years of his Kapsize label with a trio of tasty new 12s. This two-tracker is the first of the trio to land. On side A you'll find "Anamorphic", a soft-burn concoction whose meaty, hot-stepping bottom-end pressure comes wrapped in darting, Daft Punk style synthesizer motifs, dreamy chords and - most surprisingly of all - some cheeky electric guitar. Even more surprising, perhaps, is flipside "Forever", a hugely atmospheric ambient number built around the kind of textured sounds more often found in the experimental dub techno work of Deepchord man Rod Modell.

Review: Chestplate and Artikal = Chestikal. If that doesn't already grab your attention then the fact that it's Distance and J:Kenzo on two massive collabos and the tunes are every bit as smoking, spacious and sick as you'd like them to be most certainly will. "The Offering" is a pure swaggering jam with rasping, distorted basslines striking through anything and everything in their wake. "Dhyana" offers sublime contrast with a much deeper, smokier blend of mystical atmospheres, roomy drums and an eerie eastern call that will have your skin up in so many goosebumps you might just grow feathers. Big up your chestikals.

Review: Torturing us for two years, London's Six Sunsets finally unleash the highly-anticipated VIP of "Fever Skank". Still bubbling and popping like some type of weirdo underwater swamp monster, the VIP brings more power to that switch mid-way. Flip for an outrageous take on ADP's "Horsemouth" by Montreal's Fill Spectre. Charging up the drums a trippy robotic funk and conjuring tense edge throughout, this is guaranteed to frazzle a few minds. Only 200 of these have been pressed so don't sleep.

Review: Epoch returns! And he's packing some of his rarest steez since "Soundboy Abduction". All air raid sirens, trippy widescreen basses and a scientific spoken word all comprise to form a brutal wall of sound slo-mo drama on "V1" while "Roacher" bubbles with a technoid sense of playfulness and unpredictability. Finally "Rib Cage" takes the surreal sensations to even higher levels with a melting intro, nagging hi-end percussion and the strangest harmonic strings ever to grace an Innamind release. Truly singular.

Review: Crucial by name, crucial by nature. Bossman Sleeper reminds us who woke he truly is with four more singular spells. "Le Goonz" is a fine balance of string-twanged mysticism and orchestral drama, "Greens" is your full five-a-day for the rest of your life thanks to its wholesome trippy cascades and grunting humanised rhythm elements, "Smoke & Mirrors" is a classic graveyard prowling business while "U Take L's" takes us right back down into the distorted slurry where nothing but kicks and distorted bass run the game. Wake up.

Review: Glume, Flo and Sepia all on one hefty slab of wax. You already know how this is going to go down. Gloopy, swampy with just the right amount of swagger, "Thug" lives up to its name with weight and class. Flip for the midrange bounce as he teams up with Slovenian brethren Flo on the bounced-packed "Skatepark". Need a little more dubspace? Jump straight on Sepia's lesson in restraint. Thug life.

Review: Los Angelenos Subtle Mind have been making not so subtle waves in the US bass scene for quite some time. Needless to say, Austin and Paul's debut release on Subaltern Records brings in a different style to the imprint with a flavorful and melodic yet weighty selection on the Ambitions EP. The title track features the rhyming of Ill Chill and truly rolls deep - this is proper west coast vibes with the sunroof down and spliff in hand! On the flip, be prepared for a massive bassline on "Gelato" complete with wonky synths and trap style hi-hats. Finally, things take a slightly more moody turn on "Standard Strain" (feat Saule) probably due to the addition of that snarling sub bass frequency, but mellowed out by those sampled vocal textures atop - a nice touch.