Dubstep Recommendations July 2013

Review: The grand finale of Mala's critically acclaimed Mala In Cuba LP, "Noche Suenos" (which roughly translates to Night Dreams) receives a much needed extension from Mala himself and the man Simbad. With plenty of focus and attention paid to the joyous bottom end and tricked out reverb effects on Danny Suarez's vocal, it's a perfectly weighted homage to traditional dub science. Faultless.

Review: Carrying on a partnership that started when dubstep veteran Pinch reworked pieces of dub legend Adrian Sherwood's Survival & Resistance into an EP last year, Bring Me Weed sees the duo team up once more on a more equal footing. The title track is almost exactly as you'd expect, pairing Sherwood's delicate touch with subtly dark touches of wobble and low end from Pinch. On the flip is the considerably more beat driven "Weed Psychosis Mix", pairing churning bass textures with paranoid vocals and deeply trippy sound effects. This collaboration is as good as you'd expect and comes highly recommended...

Review: Steppas head honcho Alpha joins forces with prolific toaster Lutan Fyah for a rootical exercise in traditional dub. With a bumping bassline and sugar-sweet vocals, it's a fantastic transitional track that's guaranteed to enjoy plenty of exposure this festival season. For added club-focussed welly (and some lovely cymbal splashes) head for DJ Madd's remix.

Review: Long Live The Jazz is the ambitious new set from Butterz associate Swindle, nominally the London producer's third album and most high profile to boot, finding a welcome home on Deep Medi Musik. Since his emergence in 2009, Swindle's stood out in grime and dubstep circles thanks to a propensity to pepper his productions with the influences of his childhood heroes, such as George Clinton and Roy Ayers. Following releases on Planet Mu, Rwina and Butterz, Swindles ascension to Mala's label with last year's Do The Jazz 12" set the tone for what to expect on this LP. "Do The Jazz" closes the album and remains as fun as was upon 12" release last year, whilst the equally deranged trad dubstep of recent cut "Forest Funk" also features amongst this highly enjoyable 13 track set.

Review: Now on its fourth or fifth re-press, this is one of the most distinctive records in Mala's early career and has subsequently been blessed with one of the most distinctive productions in James Blake's career with his much sought after Harmonimix. The harrowed processed vocal soul and tick-tock riddim of "Changes" remains as timeless and heart-stopping as it was in 2007 while "Forgive" remains as deep, driving and full of attention to rhythmic details. A genuine classic, unless you've got a spare couple of hundred for one of the original presses, this is a very wise time to invest.

Review: Peng Sound return to Clash Of The Titans, their debut release from Young Echo member Ishan Sound and sound system veteran Ras Addis with this pair of remixes from two more Bristol figures in Kahn and Hodge. In original form, "Clash Of The Titans" was a superlative dancehall tee-off between riddim and vocalist, yet Kahn and Outboxxer Hodge are up to the task of reworking the track with their remixes having apparently been rigorously road tested in dubplate form by the respected selectors like Mala, Kowton and Pinch. Kahn is in Bandulu mode a remix that pays reverence to the original's heavy stepping rhythm, whilst Hodge takes elements of Ishan Sound's production and applies them to a 125bpm template, with the results sounding weirdly like Egyptian Lover making UK Funky.

Review: New label Subaltern gets off to a flyer with 1992 plate from Mentha and Murk. This emerging pair of Sicilian artists certainly know their way around the studio conjuring up alluring, immersive atmospheres and powerful anvil-like bass sounds. Remix-wise Ipman steps up, adding a more UK-centric twist to the rhythm by way of punching kicks and a scratchy, nagging arpeggio. Keep your ears tuned into Subaltern... They clearly know what they're doing!

Review: Some three years after he emerged in the misty heights (or depths) of Witch House's short lived notoriety, the amusingly spectral named oOoOO delivers his debut album Without Your Love. Evidently no longer aligned with the Tri Angle aesthetic, this eleven track set comes via the Nihgt Feelings label the San Franciscan producer runs with a "couple of local gravediggers" and expands on the approach shown on his two EPs for Robin Carolan's label. No longer called Witch House, oOoOO is now embraced as the point where post modern R&B song writing meets queasy, spacious musical arrangements, so expect auto tuned vocals floating over ethereal ivory blessed soundscapes and crust laden MPC beats. The stuttering detuned Atlanta hip hop of "The South" and the suite of Burial-esque cuts that follow are standout tracks.

Review: Signal Life boss Desto, aka Helsinki producer Risto Roman makes good on several years of accruing releases on the likes of RAMP, Argon and Oneman's 502 label with his debut LP Emptier Streets. Whilst Desto's music has always been grounded in classic elements of dubstep and grime, he's often used this as a launch pad to veer in his own direction and that's very much apparent on this twelve track long player for the Dutch label Rwina. Heavily stripped back, there are hints of vintage Timbaland throughout and Desto is equally happy to drop popping, rolling rhythms as he is rippling mid range leads. "Glottal Stops" is a considered highlight, sounding like a Pearson Sound instrumental refix of "Drop It Like It's Hot". Much like the work of compatriot and fellow Signal Life founder Teeth, Desto demonstrates that Finland is very much at the forefront of inventive bass music.

Review: The Boka label reaches release no. 43 with some pure bassweight from New Zealand duo Perverse. Their arrival on Boka comes after successful transmissions for Innamind and J:Kenzo's Artikal Music and they feel perfectly at home. Lead cut "Tribute" has been high on the request lines ever since V.I.V.EK. dropped it on his Rinse FM show some eight months ago - no longer a dubplate weapon, it still rolls with the same sort of sparse, tribal menace. On the flip Brett and Alex Perverse team up with Gantz for "Seismic" which is rather appropriate given the sub explosions but it's the attention to the drum detail that will really impress on this slow building production.

Review: Entering what seems like a new phase for Pinch's bastion of forward-thinking dubstep, Tectonic Plates reaches its fourth edition and brings in a raft of fresh producers and new angles on just what the genre might mean in these fractured times. Even the classic standard bearers such as Jakes are bringing curious 4/4 momentum in amidst the sparse, dread filled pressure, while Guido pivots off of the plush musicality of his album to create an utterly broken symphony on "State Of Joy". There are a lot of different ideas floating around the whole compilation, and yet everything holds together with the deep-rooted soundsystem mentality that has always defined Tectonic as a shining example of what dubstep has always meant.

Review: Yet another collection of stunningly cosmic beat work from LA's Shlohmo, "Laid Out" runs the emotional gamut from angular, frenetic screams to soul-massaging vibes and back again. Opening with the yearning, sleepy croons of How To Dress Well on "Don't Say No", we're then wooed by the pitched up garagey twists of "Out Of Hand", spun-out and dazzled by the processed wails on "Later", cuddled softly by the twinkling textures of "Put It" and finally sent to bed with a cup of sweet sonic cocoa on "Without". Deep, dreamy and delectable, the Wedidit boss is on fine form here.

Review: A very hot prospect in the exciting playing field between the darks arts of bass and traditional singer/songwriting, Arcane is building in the firm foundations set by the likes of Fink, Darkstar, Blake and Frameworks. Less cry-baby than Blake, more bass-fuelled than Framework, each of these five cuts trembles with sentimentality while kicking you in the shin with their ace low end capabilities and stark hooks. Highlights include the garagey vox and fractures of "Safety" and the more full-flavoured church like groans on "Departed".

Review: Grenoble net label Fullfridge Music makes the step up into the physical realm with this little pearl of a 12" from label mainstay Dogboy. For those unfamiliar with the label, Fullfridge push a forward thinking approach to bass music from their base in the French Alps and the From Basement To Attic EP makes for a perfect introduction. Referencing sonic experimentalists such as Burnt Friedmann and Matthew Herbert in his Wishmountain guise, Dogboy's approach to bass music is to take the staples like stepping rhythms, lurching bass lines, pensive melodics and vocal samples and pull them in exciting new directions with each of the productions here actually recorded in the room corresponding to the title.

Review: On the basis of this release, Matt U seems to have found the 'sensual' button in his banger factory! Switching up from his darker vibes, "Something About You" is trembling, tripped out exercise in fractured future garage. With cold chords but a warm, processed vocal, it oozes end-of-night smoochiness. Hungry for the darker vibes? Then flip for De Niro's remix. Driving over the limit with purring bass and thundering halfsteps, it's the perfect remix for Matt U's most distinctive, lightest record to date.