Back catalogue: Dubstep

Review: Way back in 2016, Fent Plates offshoot White Peach offered up a killer collection of instrumental versions of some of its most popular made-for-MCs releases - a heady mixture of grime and dubstep workouts that reflect the label's London roots. Eight years on, they've finally got around to dropping a sequel. Featuring 26 killer cuts stretched across two CDs, it boasts a wealth of genuine standouts, from the deep, suspenseful shuffle of 'Bardo' by Cadik, and the delay-heavy, string-laden punchiness of Glume & Phassa's exotic 'Hatchet', to the slow motion, spaced-out weirdness of Koma's 'Arrival', the Japanese-influenced jauntiness of Ourman's 'Windy', and the ghostly, sub-propelled heaviness of 'Red Handed' by Mr K.

Review: London-based label Deep Heads are proud to present the highly anticipated vinyl edition of Deep Heads Dubstep Vol.3, featuring some of the scene's best producers throughout the past decade, and some timeless classics from the imprint's back catalogue. Highlights come from Kromestar with the glassy-eyed and bittersweet bass frequencies of 'Another Day', Biome with the grey area drum and bass experiment of 'Night Flight', Danny Scrilla with the slow motion power version of '#1 Station' and Synpal & Ras Stimulant venturing into dark and murky waters on the meditative riddims of 'Ital Being'.

Review: Brittle bass music from 1985 Music, who present the first edition of Fragment, their new V/A albums series focusing on dubstep, drum & bass and experimental oddities in between. Convoking names both old and new, well-established and less so, this fiendish silicone collection bottles ten headtop hitters onto a single 3xLP gatefold record, channelling a whole uncountable host of aggressive intentions in the process. When it comes to being whacked round the head, we're not talking sugar glass either: with tracks from mainstays Headland, Drone and Visages, all the way up the cullet pile to 1985 label boss Alix Perez with the relatively chic 'Bloomsbury', all tracks herein command the utmost polish, shrillness and pressure, never failing to push us to the edges of our seats.

Review: This double trouble slap of vinyl features two standout tracks from each of the four Duploc Off Limits compilations and they have been pressed at 45 rpm for optimal loudness. Die By The Sword opens with the low-end menace of 'Til Death', Argo layers up old school dial tones with swaggering dub low ends on 'Shakedown' and 11th Hour's 'Move Over' is a dark, heavy dub stepper with grime bars and late night edge. A fitting tribute to DUPLOC's legacy, this drop offers fans a tangible piece of the iconic compilations complete with high-energy grooves defined by precision and clarity.

Review: A vrooming new V/A comp from London's bass music bacchanals 1985 Music, following up a sellout show at the Roundhouse earlier in 2024. Helmed up by pensive liquid purveyor come bass musical all-rounder Alix Perez, the label now compile several star tracks from throughout the year, setting them side-by-side on wax for the first time. Including trax by Perez, Drone, Cesco, Visages, Hijinx and Onhell, the general movement is from sociopathic grimescape though to bear trap tricksiness, shortly tied up in an extended jungle and d&b coda on the B; Paige Julia's 'Indisputable' is as brazenly fearless as Flowdan's opening flows are, though a continual liquefaction occurs therefrom; the best element heard towards the end has to be the erratic bubblegum cutups heard on Visages' 'Dol Guldur'.

Review: Three years since this formidable French troupe turned lead to gold on their debut, Visages' alchemy continues to bubble over with this utterly exceptional sophomore. Spanning the whole rainbow of styles from neo soul to grime to dubstep and a pungent range of dnb strains, this really is a unique and beguiling universe of sounds, themes, brutalist moments and poignant motifs. Complete with lyrical guidance from the likes of Strategy, Verbz, Chimpo, Snowy and others, there's a powerful adventure to be had among these tracks from the furious futurism of the opener 'Transhuman Music' to the woozy jazzy echoes of the closer 'Kintsugi', this is nothing short of outstanding.

Review: Remarkably surreal club reconstructions from Uruguayan ur-producer Lechuga Zafiro. 'Desde los oidos de un sapo' ('From The Ears Of A Toad') is a truly elastic entanglement of designed sound refit for the floor, though we'd not be surprised if a private laboratory set aside for the safe containment and study of sonic bio-anomalies would hope to acquire this one too. Zafiro flexes his hylid hamstrings on this wriggling wet lurch through post-Baile sonics and field recorded club jamborees, emphasising the naturalistically percussive and fretfully textured. Basing his musical identity on field recordings of hard materials - metal, wood, rock, glass - as well as, somehow, animal tissue - from toads, birds, sea lions and pigs (let's hope they were at least taxidermied first) - these seven cochlear leapfrogs make for a highly exploratory sonic escape; Zafiro dares to define the next applicative generation of sound design for the dance.

Notes: Dubstep Volume 1 features the likes of Boka, Hyperdub, Skull Disco, Tempa, Uprise Audio and many more.