Juno Recommends Dubstep May 2020

Review: Look at what we have here... Two mythical nugs from dubstep's heartiest primordial soup courtesy of Croydon pioneer DMZ's Loefah. "Natural Charge" stutters with those clipped drums leaving stacks of space for those humungous iconic bass drones to bounce around while his remix of D1 drives a heavier plough with pushed drums, technoid bleeps and that gritty warehouse intensity. Both seminal jams from the FWD>> era, both on dub ever since... These have been sought after for many years.

Review: 1985 don Perez gets back on the 140 ruffage and once again it's carnage. Swaggering, moody and unlike anything anyone else is doing, each cut bites with grilled menace. "Ravana" is all about the slow motion chainsaw harmonics, "Lifeline" is just raw subby hench stenchism, "Post-Mortem" stings with much more of a trippier, waspy edge before "Ends" finishes the business with a series of subverted rave and techno elements with Headland. Impeccable as always.

Review: Versa on System; it's a match made in dub heaven. Slower than the usual club-ready output V.I.V.E.K's label has often been known for, these are perfect home listening for the current lockdown era as Versa goes in deep; "Temple Song" is all about the subtle loopy insistencies while "Breakthrough" sinks us even deeper into our chair with its minimal ingredients providing maximum immersion. Finally "Biosphere" ushers in the kicks for a warm and rolling dub techno escapade. Stunning.

Review: Witness the sickness. Kahn & Neek reunite for their first release in over four years on Boofy's Sector 7 and the wait's been more than worth it. Still full of tension, still unbounded, still heavy as elephants, "(Having A Sick Time) In The Mansions Of Bliss" takes the lead and it's classic K&N business with its grime elements and big downpitched string riff. It's backed by three more disarming messages: Both "Random Lab" and "Shimmer" take things down to 130 creating more space between the drum hits and heavy chords before "Venus" bids the last farewell with dense atmospheres, big clouds of harmonics and some unique drum sounds. Let's hope they don't leave it another four years.

Review: Infernal hit the big two-oh and they've recruited Taiko to mark the occasion. Last spotted on the label around 009 by way of a Darkimh co-lab, this is his debut EP for Infernal and it's long overdue. Each cut gets darker and more uncompromising as we creep and writhe from the gothic haunted house bass harmonics of "Giant Big Man" to the lighter, ghostly flutters and gurgling bass of "Slingshot Dub" right through to the trippy, warped finale "Pen To Paper". A giant big release.

Review: Yes! It's high time Youngsta featured on his own label and it's happening right here with "Progress". Laying down a creepy graveyard groove laced with all precision balance of funk, space and swampiness, it's the perfect beat for Killa P and Long Range to do their thing. Extolling the virtues of hard hustling, investment and caring for those closest, both P and the Long man go in as hard as the track itself with some wholesome food for thought on life directions. "Progress" yourself today...

Review: Fresh from tidy 2019 EPs on Sector 7 Sounds and System Music, Drone returns to the latter label with his first missive of 2020. There's plenty of highlights stretched across the EP's two slabs of wax, with our favourites including the creepy mix of deep dubstep rhythms and Autechre style melodies that is "20 K", the slow-burn headiness of "Flooded" - where picturesque watery melodies ride a skeletal beat and vibrating sub-bass - and the aggressive late night dancefloor paranoia of "Fear". SP:MC provides a tasty rework of that cut, focusing the action on a crunchier rhythm track and pulverising waves of distorted analogue bass.