Dubstep Recommendations June 2016

Review: New Zealand duo Truth have been irregular contributors to the Deep Medi cause since their debut on Mala's label back in 2009. In this time, Andre Fernandez and Tristan Roake have spread the Truth gospel for dubstep heads with further releases on Firepower, Tempa, Boka and more. War Of The Minds sees Truth back on Deep Medi for the duo's first 12" of 2016 replete with some eye-catching cover art from m7grafiks. From the opening sub heave and lolloping rollage of "Jade Helm" you can tell Fernandez and Roake made these cuts with Deep Medi in mind, honing in successfully on a very specific mood. The brute force bass of "With Us" and the Werd2Jag guesting title cut are the pick here.

Review: Blacklist hit release number five and it's the label bossman doing what he does best: taking us down dark paths on twisted, subverted adventures we didn't even know existed. "Space Horror" bundles us into the boot of a rusty old rocket and speeds down the backstreets of Omicron Persei 8 where the drums slouch along the slimy alleys and bassline groan and fall out of dark corners. "Walk On Lava" sees us being chucked out of the spaceship from a great height into the eye of a volcano. With blistering kicks and a tense acid line, will we make it out on time or will our geese get cooked? There's only way to find out...

Review: 300 reasons to be cheerful... Spooky's returned with another pranged out grime bouncer. Taking an evocative King Leonidas sample and using it as a trigger point for iced out sci-fi synths, 808 beats and squelchy robot bass, it's another stone-cold Spooky slapdown. Asa & Sorrow switch up on the remix, adding a more of a gun-slinging chug to the drums while retaining the gutsy 'no retreat, no surrender' vibe of the original. Biblical.

Review: Boxed baron and all-round Slackker Paul Lynch builds on last year's EP Backwards Light for R&S with another sextet of instrumental grime distillations... Tech-influenced, spatially aware and a fine balance of dreamland synths and paranoid, cold dynamics; his signatures should be known to anyone with a passing fancy in future beat music and they're strong then ever right here: The freezer strings of "Swan Filters", the crushed off-beat riff and deep cave echoes of "Skeleton Crew", the tsunami waves of "Pigeons", the estranged synth boogie of "Hundred Flute", the shuffled take on classic electro that is "Replenish" and the final introverted eastern adieu "Returning Geese" all add up to an EP that genuinely stands out in the current sea of creativity instrumental grime is enjoying right now.

Review:  His first proper body of work since his Mainframe album last year, Joker returns with four more reasons why he's in a league of his own: while "No Face" tickles our cheeks with velvet purple glove, "Only You" switches for a purple boxing glove and knocks us plain out with its big strings and romantic melodic twists. "Planet D" is straight out of the score from movie of Joker's life in 30 years time once he's colonised five planets with his universal funky language. Finally "21" reminds us of Joker's gully roots with a swaggering halftime vibe that flexes mentasm-muscles so hard three gyms have closed down in the time it's taken you to read this review. Classical badman.

Review: Bouncing dub business from Malleus once again. A buy-on-sight for fans of Artikal and Piezo, there's a serious funk to the groove here as Malleus places our full emphasis on the low-end before showering us with psychotic FX and twisted designs from on high. Remix-wise Japan's Part2 Style updates the flow with a high energy two-step and mild jungle connotations. "No Harm" done!

Review: Uprising Sounds returns to Indica with a powerful original and even heavier version. "Militant Dub" leads heavily on the main synth line that's almost oriental in its allure and mysticism. As the title suggests, the rhythm is persistent and just on the right side of rigid to maintain the essential funk. "Dub The Bass" is a much deeper exploration of the low end as the warping bass is allowed to turn itself inside out as the track progresses. Standard Indica procedure: only 500 have been pressed.

Review: When it comes to deep dubby halftime, few labels are as reliable, forward-thinking or exciting as Amit's Amar. Here we find the label boss giving Scrilla the keys to last summer's hummer "Fatty Batty". Adding more melodic layers and cool double-ups on the kicks, Danny's turned in the perfect remix that pays respect to the original while taking it further into pastures unknown. Flip for "Lighter", a straight up dubwise joint with a kick so steady, reliable and dependable it could give you a reference for a mortgage. Serious.