Another month has hurtled past, and in the circles we swim in, it was a bit of a leviathan. Although we’re only in February, we’ve already been swamped by a tide of fantastic music. Over the next few months, the water level’s only set to rise – not only a whole slew of great 12″s, but albums lining up from Actress, Scuba, Ikonika, Starkey, Vex’d and maybe, if we’re really lucky, Mount Kimbie. For now though, there’s more than enough to be getting on with. Your guides, once again, to the labyrithine world of bass music are Andrew Ryce and Sam Olson. This month features over twenty reviews and two interviews — don’t forget to check out the second page!
February’s edition of The Month In Dubstep was written by Andrew Ryce [AR] and Sam Olson [SO].
RECORD OF THE MONTH | INTERVIEW: DEEP TEKNOLOGI | INTERVIEW: TERROR DANJAH
T Williams (Deep Teknologi)
T Williams EP
(Local Action | LOC001)
Purchase link forthcoming
Terror Danjah
“Acid” / “Pro Plus (feat. DOK)”
(Hyperdub | HDB031)
Purchase on Boomkat
Terror Danjah’s Gremlinz, a collection of his grime instrumentals from the last six years, came out on Planet Mu last year and completely blew me away. Raw, percussive and mind-bending, he opened his insatiable maw wide enough to swallow every strain of techno, grime, dubstep, garage, drum’n’bass and remade it in his gleeful, cackling image. Now he’s been snapped up by the mighty Hyperdub for a 12″ which continues this incredible hot streak (and if what we hear is true, this is only the beginning of what promises to be a year in which the mogwai don’t stand a chance). “Acid” is equal parts corrosive and hallucinogen: spider-drums skittering into corners, beats lurching like the walking dead, synth squeals peeling paint. There’s even a vocal sample in here, stifled before it has the chance to draw breath. Around two minutes in, it goes all left-turn; the bottom drops out momentarily, big cushioned dub hits opening the track up to embrace a brief moment of four to the floor house music. Then the synth turns rave siren and there’s that gremlin laughing again, because he just fucked you up big-time. On the other side he teams up with DOK, dropping revving synths and purple flourishes, painting the walls of Gully Brook Lane in day-glo graffiti, all occult sigils and arcane glyphs. It’s that Bristol sound with more steel in its soul, vicious flex and ferocious roll, wild eyes and bloody knuckles. Together, these two tracks make for a invigorating, confident 12″ and you’ll hear that gremlin cackle pop up in both, the sound of Terror Danjah up to his arms in the guts of UK bass music. If last year’s 5 compilation let us look back on the trail Hyperdub has blazed through a half decade of electronic music, this latest release shows they’re still intent on rewiring the future. [SO]
Terror Danjah
Bipolar EP
(Butterz | BUTTERZ001)
Purchase link forthcoming
Terror Danjah’s second release in February and the very first release of the brand new, already amazing grime label Butterz is a force to be reckoned with. The Bipolar EP is 13 minutes of wonky-grime-dubstep fusion, the huge six-minute title track especially being a thrilling trip through UK bass music, like a sightseeing tour taken from a jet fighter. Eschewing his once-trademark strings in favour of bent synth pads, it’s a track that dips its toes into the wonkiest of waters, pitch-shifting, note-bending and twirling its main synth into psychedelic oblivion, while menacing bass croaks underneath, occasionally rising up from under the surface to assert its presence before sinking back into the volatile waters. “Airbubble” is a bit on the lighter (and grimier) side, featuring loopy, stuttering percussion and more of those lush synths that feel like rubbing soft pillows against your face. It’s a little different from what you might expect from the most influential grime producer ever, but he’s not going soft — just exploring different avenues, and it’s starting to appear as if there’s no corner of music he doesn’t effortlessly excel at. The EP closes with remix of last year’s “Sidechain” by D.O.K., a lean, blissed-out house reimagining of the track, turning its main riff into a unrelenting, acutely-focused strobe light but keeping a certain edge to it with fuzzy distortion. Approaching a decade into his career, Terror is as unforgiving as ever and shows no signs of slowing down. After pretty much defining the grime genre in the past decade (and certainly setting the standard), who knows what he’ll do for the still-emerging, nascent genres of bass music in this one. [AR]
Check back later this week for an interview with Terror Danjah.
Slugabed
Ultra Heat Treated EP
(Planet Mu | ZIQ263)
Purchase on Boomkat
Greg Feldwick aka Slugabed is just one of many producers to keep your eye on in 2010. Along with this fantastic six-track EP on Planet Mu, he has another EP scheduled to drop soon on Numbers. It’s great to see him accelerate his release schedule – his deranged “Superphreak” edit of Rick James and his Gritsalt 12″ on Ramp have whetted our appetite, and he’s finally delivering in bulk. If we’re going to pigeonhole him, we could only say that Slugabed deals in more of this wot do u call it, another freakish strain thrown up by UK bass music. His sonic palette is intense; all saturated frequencies that crash over you like a wave. He’s clearly having fun with the traditional tempo disparity in dubstep, using slow, off-kilter percussion while he lets an army of synths go nuts beneath. Staticky frequencies wobble uncontrollably beneath the drums, threatening to uproot them at any moment, occasionally interrupted by 8-bit geysers shooting up through the bedrock of fuzzy, nearly impenetrable bass.
The obvious centerpiece of the six-track EP is “Skyfire,” an astounding track that sounds like chaos in the coin arcade, firing off gleeful lazer blasts until the mothership explodes. You’re assaulted by a veritable orchestra of wobbles, bleeps and crunches, violated by distorted and unpredictable drums; it’s a headfuck of a track and its five minutes absolutely fly by. This guy makes Akira Kiteshi sound like he’s holding back. “Quantum Leap” has this massive riff that folds like an accordion, slo-mo bounce that pings Nintendo melodies off the clouds like Mario in his Sisyphean quest for gold coins, but its the thundering drums introduced in the final moments of the track that elevate it to sheer genius.. “Goulash” sounds like a dubstep remix of a Castlevania theme — it’s vaguely gothic 8-bit damage, grounded by bass that’ll send chills down your spine. And “Titans” rolls on an unstoppable march, low-end synths playing the part of the triumphant horn section. It’s chiptune grandeur re-imagined on an epic scale, the beat punching holes through your chest while these massive melody lines unfurl across the battlefield. A hugely impressive EP, and we can only look forward to hearing more. [SO/AR]
Kingdom
“Mind Reader” / “You”
(Fools’ Gold | FGR028)
Purchase on Boomkat
Kingdom’s latest EP reflects the curious position of dubstep in the UK right now; not only does it push aside dubstep’s wobble for more distinctly house traits, but it prominently features New-York-based pop singer Shyvonne. It could easily make a name for itself as a pop track on its own terms. “Mind Reader” is a full-on anthem, then, with rushing rave synths and gloriously splintered vocals darting around the main vocal hook, an unabashedly retro performance that proves an insidious earworm. Todd Edwards, for better or for worse, upstages the original with his 4/4 remix of the title track, fashioning an entirely new melody out of vocal snippets and flattening out the urgency of Kingdom’s jerky rhythms into a smooth and consistent groove. The vocal gymnastics are only furthered on a ridiculous breakdown that might convince you that Edwards could have done well enough with just an acapella track. Bok Bok puts a darker, dubbier spin on the track that begins to slow down and congeal into a sticky mess as it nears its end, and his fellow Night Slug cohort L-Vis 1990 turns the track into a slow-burning funky epic that explodes into glittering confetti halfway through. If you can somehow tear yourself away from “Mind Reader” and its myriad remixes, it’s the b-side “You” that’s the real star here, starting off in medias res with a jumpy, ecstatic beat until it prematurely boils over and the helium-soaked vocal spills over the sides, blanketing everything with its unleaded exuberance.. It’s the trashier, more rave sibling to “Mind Reader,” a track so hyper and frantic that it’s hard to believe it’s still ‘only’ 140bpm. After a thrilling bridge where the vocal is stretched so drastically it threatens to snap, the song obliviously heads right back into full-bore mode for a blissful conclusion. It’s one of those songs that you’ll want to rewind before it’s even finished, every time, just to reproduce that feeling of intense anticipation; really, though, you wouldn’t do so bad rewinding all the way back to the beginning of the EP either. [AR]
Mosca
Square One EP
(Night Slugs | NS001)
Purchase on Boomkat
“Square One” opens with late night hiss and pulse, the percussion all mechanical warehouse clank before a synth line winds through the middle, flashes of colour lighting up the monochrome gleam. Then the groove opens up and becomes organic, this loose-limbed percussive bounce ricocheting off the bass; it feels unstoppable, like it could roll into the night forever. “I feel good tonight,” the vocal sample says, and it’s impossible to feel anything else. The name ‘tropical’ is starting to gain some traction to refer to these new bass mutations, and this track is perfect for bringing the humidity to damp urban streets. It’s a great track, but “Nike” is even better, its ten minute sprawl taking in an evolution from synth-slathered chiptune bounce to cavernous dubbed out house via sleek funky. I still can’t figure out exactly what the vocal sample says (“the real inferno?”), but it slithers through the track, slipping in and out of the shadows. The track evolves effortlessly, every transition feeling natural and right so when you wake up miles from where you started the journey, you don’t notice how far you’ve come. The eight minute “Club Edit” that follows it tightens the bolts in the percussion so it can stomp all over the dancefloor, but those same gauzy, evaporating chords and slurring vocals make it feel like another leg of the same journey.
The rest of the EP is given over to rising UKF stars and Night Slugs crew all lining up to reconfigure “Square One” in their own images. So Roska gives it extra synth squiggle and more steppers’ precision, rattling percussion daubed with floating chords. Greena floats it off into the psychedelic stratosphere, losing the melodic accents beneath a ghostly haze while the beat pistons below it, drenched in dancefloor heat. Top prize, however, goes to Bok Bok, who pops up again with another stellar remix, tweaking the synths into rave accents and letting everything else float adrift amidst massive circling polyrhythms, this percussive vortex that sucks everything down into the dance. Midway through the song, it’s turned down to a simmer, synths flashing like lightning in the middle of those gaseous chords. Then that beat drops again and everything is swept away in the rush. [SO]
Eprom
Never EP
(Surefire Sounds | SFS001)
Purchase on Boomkat
The first release on the brand-new Surefire Sounds imprint comes from U.S. producers extraordinaire Eprom and FaltyDL, and it’s a stunning coup of a debut. Eprom’s original track stutters and undulates, gradually gaining intensity while rapidly descending into a smoky state of paranoia, where the percussion only gets stronger and the walls between you start to close in. The sounds almost never get quieter or roomier, only more claustrophobic, and unnatural vocals waft in through the tiny vents, taunting and laughing as bits of percussion appear and disappear at will, until the track pares itself down to its pure essence and the pressure suddenly lets up. FaltyDL flips the track on its head, retaining the hazy smoke but repurposing everything else, setting it adrift to float on massive schizo bassweight. He turns the percussion into a distorted, crowded maelstrom and brings the vocals down to a more human timbre, giving the odd effect of familiarity amidst all the chaos. It’s a monster remix, with the percussion especially stupefying and snowballing over the track’s duration, impossibly dubby and with so much swing it’s hard to believe it doesn’t just fall over to one side. The track bubbles, never quite erupting, though providing brief moments of release with synth vapours that occasionally rise up from the tar pits of bass. It’s hard to believe this isn’t a single straight out of London — you’d never guess these were American producers, which either means they’re starting to catch up or the scenes are merging. Either way, Surefire Sounds storms out of the gate with this one, and they’ve already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. [AR]
Starkey
Stars EP
The Starkbot is back and he is in love and it sounds fantastic. I wasn’t really prepared for “Stars,” which opens with what sounds like the Twin Peaks theme being peeled back in shimmering layers, the beat like a trapped bird fluttering in a chimney. “He lost himself in an ocean of stars,” guest vocalist Anneka coos, as synths pulse behind her. Notes scatter around her in breathless flurries and then the beat drops and my heart stops momentarily because I never would have thought this dude would do something so goddamn beautiful. That dipping, diving synth melody that comes in two and a bit minutes just aches with love and longing and when her vocal syncs up with it I want the song to go on forever. Instead, it fades back into mysterious haze, receding into the distance and all you want is to hear it again. If you can drag yourself past that track, it’s Slugabed’s turn at bat. As the title puts it, he “did a remix,” poking bloody holes in the track’s surface with his ruptured beats, scattering shattered syllables in all directions. Even he can’t resist letting that melody slip free for a few blissful moments before it sinks again and synths close over it like the ocean waves. Elsewhere, “Starting Gates” shows Starkey can still stomp with the best of them, opening with garage riffs before unleashing this massive siren synth, conjuring some fluorescent Giger monster to stalk among the cornfields, picking off open air ravers one by one. “Millennia” is another surprise, stretching synths into epic smears while cosmic debris floats by underneath. When the beat comes in, dazed and confused, it feels like he’s reimagined wonky into this majestic kosmiche symphony. At track’s end, all that’s left is this oscillating synthline drifting in the depths of space, its edges still lit by the glow of the sun. While the tracks on this 12″ see Starkey exploring some wonderful new directions, “Stars” in particular just ratchets up my anticipation for his forthcoming sophomore album until it’s fever pitch. Based on the evidence we’ve heard so far, this is going to be massive. [SO]
Numan / Sduk
“Skull Crusher” / “Clunge”
(Slit Jockey | SJ003)
Purchase on Boomkat
In a sort of who’s-who of upcoming dubstep producers, Slit Jockey reappears from the aether after a year of silence with this fantastic split between UK prodigies Numan and Sduk (like “stuck”). Numan’s aptly named “Skull Crusher” is a monster of a track with time-stretched horror movie atmosphere and a wonderfully unstable bass melody, taking Skream’s anthemic wobbles and compressing them into a sort of slithery, snaky reptilian creature that unpredictably lashes out and bites, snapping its jaws so violently you can almost feel the saliva splash. Numan drops the beat and wallows in some more ambience before bringing it back in, far nastier, uglier, and more devastating than before. SDUK sharply contrasts Numan’s jagged and unpolished corners by rolling them into a perfectly-formed ball, a slippery beat that initially sounds friendlier than Numan’s until it eventually evolves into something just as mean. “Clunge” takes high-pitched synths and Mannie Fresh-style synth horns and constructs a ferocious monster replete with operatic vocals, fuzzy bass, and a slow-motion jackhammer synth riff. It’s like a rave track played at half speed, until SDUK chops it in half and plays it even faster during the second half the song, a brutal and relentless finish to an absolutely ridiculous single. [AR]
Kuedo
Dream Sequence EP
(Planet Mu | ZIQ262)
Purchase on Boomkat
Way back in the dark days of 2005, British duo Vex’d released the mammoth double album Degenerate, all precision beats and bass hits that went off like depth charges, rupturing concrete and twisting steel. It’s one of the founding (and finest) documents of the early dubstep scene, a monolithic achievement that they never managed to follow up (until the release of their ‘lost’ album coming soon on Mu, but that’s another story). Last year, one half of the duo went solo as Jamie Vex’d, releasing the In System Travel EP which saw him travelling in warmer, hazier directions. This year, he returns under the name of Kuedo (pronounced Q-Dow), perhaps to emphasise the shift in style he’s undergone since the early days of Vex’d. This is very much a continuation of the sound he was exploring on last year’s EP, opening with the airy synths and stuttering beats of “Starfox” before a gnarled synthline unwinds through the middle, spinning off into chiptune bleeps and swooning widescreen melody. “Shutter Light Girl” is a minute-long snippet of woozy synth lament that shimmers among starfield chimes before “Joy Construction” lights up the night sky like a sea of neon galaxies, a glowing ocean of alien advertising seen from a million light years away. It’s reminiscent of both Starkey and Mount Kimbie, the intricately knotted synth floating over detailed, glitching percussion and melodies that seem to be made from little more than breath. The EP closes with “Glow” whose rhythmic stagger wades through quicksand, while choppy melodies hold vocal samples swirling in their depths. As the track fades out into hum and smoke, a marimba line becomes apparent beneath the surface, as if some lines have gotten crossed in sending back this transmission on his interstellar journey. It’s a lovely little touch, and indicative of the level of detail that’s gone into the construction of these four tracks. It’s another wonderful showing from J-Vex’d / Kuedo and we can only hope there are more signals being beamed to us from his voyage through the void. [SO]
Mark Pritchard
“Elephant Dub” / “Heavy As Stone”
(Deep Medi | MEDI025)
Purchase on Boomkat
Mark Pritchard’s latest release, this time under his own name for the legendary Deep Medi, is a mostly understated, meditative release — but don’t assume subtlety or restraint quite yet. “Elephant Dub” lurches elephantine (whoda thunk?), nauseatingly deep sub-bass slowly shifting the ground underneath until it’s a ripping liquid mass and you start to sink, helplessly stuck in the churning subterranean goop. Pritchard provides a little bit of relief when he introduces some glowing synth stabs and eventually lets go of the bass for a while, descending into wonky land for a few brief seconds before it staggers back in, this time jerkier, less focused, and less melodic, as if Pritchard himself lost control of his earth-shaking sonic waves. When the bass drops out for the final time, all that’s left is a plinking, resigned drum beat, the only thing still extant after the bass has toppled everything else. For a pile of smoking rubble, it’s awfully satisfying. On the flip, Pritchard classes things up with the soulful “Heavy As Stone.” Featuring none of the queasy, foreboding bass of the A-side, it’s a fascinating track that finds a comfortable middle ground between older sounds and the currently mutating strands of UK funky house music — gorgeous vocals and jazzy upright bass are juxtaposed with skittering percussion making for a hell of a contrast, before it slowly peters out into a spacy ambient wash. Pritchard’s single has the cool, assured hand of a veteran, but it’s anything but boring or reserved — in fact, it’s one of the most insidious, memorable singles of the year so far. [AR]
RECORD OF THE MONTH | INTERVIEW: DEEP TEKNOLOGI | INTERVIEW: TERROR DANJAH
If you’re a producer or label and have tracks you would like to submit for consideration for the column, e-mail Andrew Ryce.
