Dubstep Recommendations Best Of 2012

Review: Mala's album project comes to light with a healthy amount of expectation. The DMZ / Deep Medi Musik main man has always carried a reverence amongst the dubstep scene for his unfussy approach, staying true to the sound he helped forge in the nascent days of the genre while avoiding over-exposure or buckling to hype and trend where so many of his peers succumbed to change. As such this project sees the man well outside of his comfort zone as he tackles a specific album project whilst sticking his head more clearly overground to work with Gilles Peterson on an adventure in Cuba working with local musicians. This is most definitely Mala's music, and the spiritual, tribal nature of his productions to date only gets enhanced by the influx of Cuban folk sounds. This is no simple case of ripping samples and dropping them for token effect though; the percussive patterns and licks of piano, guitar, horns and voice are completely interwoven into the South London pressure as if they were always meant to be. It's testament to the pure approach Mala takes in the studio that he manages to balance these unlikely bedfellows to such fluid effect. Undoubtedly there will be naysayers who will argue that in doing an album of this nature Mala is diluting his purist vision for dubstep, but in truth the approach and end results he has managed to conjure up bring a revitalising, fresh angle to the genre, which is what it needs in abundance. There's maybe a lack of the "shock of the new" factor as Cubano music is not exactly a stranger to UK dance music forms, and Mala isn't exactly switching his own stance too drastically, but ultimately that doesn't matter. The whole album is direct and immensely satisfying to listen to, capturing the alluring spirit of South American folk tradition and empowering it with the transcendental nature of dubstep in its finest form.

Review: Last seen back in 2009 sporting Quantic & Nostalgia 77 jams across a dinky 7", the elusive Tru Thoughts Black Gold series returns with a third offering detailing what the label has up their sleeve in the coming months. Judging by the three tracks here, the South Coast imprint is getting ready to unleash some rowdiness not least the tantalising prospect of Sleeping' Giantz. Formed of three legends of UK music in Zed Bias, Fallacy and Rodney P, "Badungdeng" is tuff, sub heavy bruk anthem and bodes well for their forthcoming album. Alongside this, The Colonel teams up with veteran spitter MC DRS for the soundbwoy grime flex of "Can I Get Some". Intriguingly Preston's finest Cottam spreads his wares across the expanses of the B Side with the disjointed Martian alien futurism of "Hit The Wall (Frustration)". Those expecting slo mo deepness will be surprised at a track more akin to the music you'd find on a Mathematics release, and to our ears it's quite effing brilliant!

Review: Made up of on field recordings taken by 2562 on a 2010 trip to Jordan, Air Jordan is based on a similar concept to his 2011 album Fever, which was made up of samples exclusively from disco records. But while that record reflected its source material in its more overt dancefloor focus, Air Jordan reflects the dry heat of the Jordanian landscape in a dusty cloud of broken beats and cracked textures. "Solitary Sheepbell" creates a hazy mirage out of its pitched bell samples, whilst the arid, hesitant rhythms of "Desert Lament" mingle with the kind of bustling atmospherics that place you at the centre of a busy marketplace, a theme carried through in the booming industrial beats of "Jerash Hekwerken". It ends on "Nocturnal Drummers", a suspenseful fusion of dehydrated percussive samples which caps off the producer's most concise work to date. Highly recommended.

Review: Ever committed to their position on the wild frontier of glossy party sounds, the first Numbers release of 2012 reveals a brand new production duo from London who go by the name of Kodiak. Kicking off on a jagged UK Funky rhythm, "Spreo Superbus" piles on the drama from the first bars as whipcrack snare delays and rushy synth pitch bends lead to the first of many drops. The production is immaculate, packing scores of detail into the framework, from ranging synths to a multitude of vocal snippets, off beat bass stabs and clattering yet precise percussion. Tempering those rambunctious attributes, Actress snakes in with his Uraeus remix and pares things down instantly with a low slung beat, spacious chords and vaporous hisses. It's not until the twilight of the track that a nasty bassline comes crawling in to ruffle the feathers of its sonic compatriots. Girl Unit isn't pulling any punches with his reworking, riding a smoother beat but keeping the delirious synth energy of the original intact before slamming down into an electro-fied freak-out full of edgy ripples of melody. While the remixes do well to give credit to the source, it's the original that really shines on this release for sheer flair and studio prowess, not to mention a deadly knack for creating hype out of pure digital freakery.

Review: For an artist with such beguiling ways, Shackleton has been pleasingly prolific with his output of late. Giving a chance to those who didn't jump on the album box set which sold out instantly, this EP picks up the music he has made led from the influence of a drawbar organ. The organ takes centre stage on "Seven Present Tenses", while "Touched" comes on like classic brooding Shack, all subby tones and rattling percussion. "(For The) Love Of Weeping" has an interesting electro slant in its beat, only to be offset by dulcet gamelan tones. It's as starkly original an EP as you would expect from the maverick mastermind.

Review: The third part of Shackleton's triumvirate of EPs opens with "Wish You Better", a fluttering composition whose bassline and dystopian pads are initially reminiscent of early Detroit techno - in the hands of anyone else it would be a mess, but this is Shackleton we're talking about. "It Is Not Easy" opens with a plucked and percussive melodic intro that sees Shackleton channeling Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" before launching into a dark but restrained bass assault. "There Is A Place For Us" is a fitting end to the trilogy as an extended drone opening is offered balance with a suitably melancholic outro, rich in Eastern strings.

Review: The Livity Sound output has been going strong and 2012 was they year that truly solidified its rank among the top contenders. What's more is that it gave Bristol's Peverelist a chance to properly carve his own sound and demonstrate is tough, techno-dub stance to us all. "Salt Water" has an incredibly deep and meandering beat structure, travelling without care among those freaky, spaced-out chimes - a true Bristol vibe there! On the flipside, "Erosions" takes the same beatdown vibe but places is it in a tougher structure, recalling the sparse and aqueous environments of the best dub techno plates...only much faster!

Review: While much of The Drawbar Organ is as fiercely experimental as you'd expect from a man like Shackleton, this second EP in the series will perhaps find favour with those more enamoured with his more driving productions. "Test Tubes" is one such track - nearly 10 minutes of rotor blade bass and ascending melodies which recall the darker qualities of Pinch collaboration "Rooms Within A Room" and his "Deadman" offering, whilst "Katyusha" maintains the tempo with a slightly more Eastern slant to its melody. Even the two minute "Dipping" which is sandwiched between the two tracks has a sense of urgency holding together its swarm of raw tones.

Review: Fresh from opening proceedings on the newly relaunched R&S offshoot Apollo, Manchester based producer Synkro adds another notable entry to his growing discography, collaborating with ASC across two sublime electronic arrangements. They may have the Atlantic Ocean between them, but Synkro and his more celebrated collaborator share clear production ideals and this is hopefully the beginning of an intriguing working relationship. Swift yet delicate rhythms and tectonic deep bass form the backdrop to "Borderline" with ASC and Synkro slowly revealing an expansive atmosphere that positively tingles with delight. In contrast, "Sacred Moments" sees the duo in more pensive form, filling every iota of space between the half step thump that drives the track with downwards spirals of glowering yet restrained textures.

Review: Weighing in with some monolithic dubstep styles on Mala's ever excellent Deep Medi Musik imprint, Japanese producer par excellence Goth Trad proves that there can be some give in big room ravey dubstep, and though the track may primarily lurch around aggravated mid-range synth grind, the moments of calm creep in with control that comes from a diverse and adaptable producer. On the flip "Cosmos" takes the deeper approach, using inter-locking percussion and devastating sub bass for a classic exercise in proper dubstep. Whichever kind of set you're plumping for, this release is definitely for the purists.

Review: Having already hinted at it on his album Under The Ice, this is his first full sub-low exploration of the murky world of dubstep; and each of the four tracks on offer are true, hypnotic treats. All to be filed under the more rhythmical, loopy, techno-inspired dubstep sub category; "BCN" struts with fancy footwork and deep chilling synths, "Acid Step" slithers with a slinky, stripped back formula that'll work well for warm ups and transitions, "Need A Job" takes dubstep by way of Detroit while "Together In Dust" finishes the set with a truly trippy signature.

Review: Having previously impressed with a single for Dublin's All City last year, Tessela's effort for Peverelist's Punch Drunk is simply one of the heaviest things you'll hear this year. The primary feeling given off by "Channel" as it whips into life is one of chunkiness. The synths slam like weighty percussion, while the box-jam beats snap and crack with an MPC kind of funk that it's hard to achieve through simple quantizing. The sound space that Tessela occupies is certainly a brave one, as it neglects to pander to notions of mixability and consistency, darting around in impulsive flurries of snare rushes, madcap sampling and slowly mutating melodic phrases. On "D Jane" the lead-in holds back on a relatively steady groove (albeit populated by a delirium of samples), only to jerk into the main section on a completely different swing so as to pull your ass in the opposite direction.

Review: Given its loose nature, the prospect of reworkings of Shangaan music from Actress, whose material is often as wild and tumbling as it comes, was always going to be something far out, and he hasn't disappointed us. His A-Side is pure Drexciyan funk bliss, as disembodied vocals are smeared in broken chords, R2-D2 bleeps and radio static beamed in from a distant nebula, cracked and warped but somehow with a solid pulse at its core. The B-Side meanwhile is even crazier, keeping the furious tempo of the original music but distilling it down to its base elements, leaving a marimba tone that is blunt and vehemently lo-fi, but somehow coming across with the same haunted atmosphere as its counterpart. Highly recommended.

Review: Last time round on his DMZ release Coki wielded an iconic Max Romeo sample amidst the signature Digital Mystikz foundation worrying flex, and this one sided 12" will be equally familiar to anyone that's shared a dancehall with Coki recently. "Duppy Soursop" is one of the producer's most treasured dubplates from the last 12 months, melding near inaudible snippets of dancehall crooner Gyptian amidst an explosive stew of kung-fu woodblock chops and Martian laser beams.