Pinch & Shackleton vinyl

Coming completely out of nowhere, this collaborative album between two of dubstep's most revered producers is not only one of this year's best examples of the genre, but some of the best dubstep to emerge since the demise of Shackleton and Appleblim's Skull Disco label in 2008. In a landscape increasingly dominated by the sounds of genre hopping post-dubstep, this album is a timely reminder of the dark spaces dubstep once inhabited; "Jellybones" for instance utilises eastern percussion manipulated to increasing degrees of mind-warping confusion, whilst "Levitation" weaves furious rhythms around radiophonic weirdness, while closer "Monks On The Rum" is a gripping exercise in tension, contrasting cut-glass percussion with a hesitant bass. But for all the structural complexity of these tracks, for example in "Rooms Within a Room", which weaves a brooding string intro and sampled choir around traditional dubstep atmospheres, the pair have never sounded so focused. Essential.