Dubstep Recommendations November 2010

Review: Round two of Monkeytown's already essential series of Modeselektion twelve inches drops with a suitably stellar line up chosen by the German overseers of bass demonics, Modeselektor. 2562 crafts one of his heftier moments on the A Side with "The Wind Up" an ever swirling mass of not techno not dubstep pressure typified by kaleidoscopic vocal filters, reverberant drum programming and soaring, switching industrial tones. Ostgut Ton don Shed maintains the standard on the flip via the dusty askew percussive rattle of "With Bag & Baggage", a track that's imbued with the fizziest of heavily processed synth lines. Rounding things off in fine style is SBTRKT with "The Unspoken" dropping a menacingly arpeggiated bass wiggle over retro broken drum hits and abstract melodic shifts.

Review: Broken Note and Machine Code battle it out for supremacy in this aggressively hostile dubstep riddim. An ominous door creaking sound is followed by a tense absence of sound as we enter first track, "Knuckle Dust". Urbane, grime-ridden vox calling "riddim..." punctuate the crackling dark distortions. Bleeping synthetics and a thunderous bassline lurk in the track ominously - it's got a futuristic Matrix sensibility, combined with the gratuitous violence of Borgore. "Milk Plus", over on the flip, is a nightmare Clockwork Orange-esque machination, with dark sampled vocals, battering beats and inescapable feeling of terror. Brutal.

Review: DVA ft Fatima - Just Vybe (Soule:Power Mix) / Step 2 Funk Hyperdub
12 £3.25 HDB040 04/10 UK 5055300318220
Scratcha DVA is back on Hyperdub for the second time this year. On the lead track here, 'Just Vybe', he's borrowed Fatima from Eglo Records to grace the tune with her distinctive vocals. 'Just Vybe' is a very "pop" moment for Hyperdub. It combines the stuttering funky drums of 'Natty' - DVA's previous release for the label - as it's template, and adds a big synthy melody of the kind Stevie Wonder would be proud of, plus Fatima's rich, melodic and reflective lyrics. The retro musical depth plus Fatima's soulful voice combine in an unexpectedly fresh and unusual way with the abstract house of DVA's tough dancefloor production. 'Step 2 Funk' on the B side is nocturnal and moody, with dark "heads down" kicks and toms and lightning strike snares, with the single word 'funky' repeated throughout to hypnotic effect. It's dreamy widescreen quality opens out as fx and abstract melodies weave in and out and drop off into wormholes.

Review: Crammed drop this vinyl teaser of what to expect from their forthcoming and quite intriguing remix project that sees the likes of Animal Collective, Optimo and Micachu rework tracks from the Congotronics back catalogue. First up Skull Disco don Shackleton remixes "Mukuba Special" from Kasai Allstars, and the distinctive tribal vocals get looped up and reverberated cavernously beneath multi faceted percussion and a droning sense of impending peril. On the flip Congotronics mainstays Konono. No 1 get an abstract future jazz re rub courtesy of Burnt Friedmann which is full of intricate percussive twists and sharp arrangements. It's lovely, but still slightly overawed by the sheer magnitude of Shackleton's effort, which frightens and delights in equal measure.

Review: Volume Six of Tempa Allstars collects contributions from some of the underground music scene's pioneers and leading lights Skream. "Rollin' Kicks" begins the EP with a tapping drumbeat and a Breakage hued sonic palette (circa "Open Up") which is a million miles away from Magnetic Man. D&B-turned-dubstep minimalist Icicle steps up with "Anything". Crisp, acerbic breaks feature heavily, perfectly calculated beats and a futuristic touch. Falty DL adds a funky touch with "Sunday" as chirpy bleeps and bellows of bass underpin the fidgeting rhythms here, with notable sunny, upbeat vibes in the synth work. Benga injects a dose of humour with the ticking percussive lisp and robotic chant of "I Come From London" driving things along into a hypnotic state of sentiency. SBTRKTs "Sleep In Tokyo" is all broken, funked up beats, warm keys and delicately textured rhythms. Alix Perez brings the EP to a close with "Metric". Deep, atmospheric crackling, crisp SFX and rumbling subs roll along with dark menace. A superb finale to one of the finest releases in the Tempa Allstars series so far.

Review: "Seems Like" has been steadily gaining hype since it opened the Fabriclive mix dBridge did with Instra:mental, and now it finally finds a home on the duo's Autonomic imprint. A veritable slice of glacial future popstep business, the vocals from Riya are truly complemented by the production from dBridge. A sub bass throb provides the menace which is offset by the nonchalant key stabs. On the flip Skream takes a break from appearing on T4 to add some bassline drama to the lolloping Eastern crunch of "The Cycle", a track that sits knee deep in the grey zone between dubstep and latterday trip hop.