Review: New Zealander Akcept is arguably rather representative of his home country's unique approach to bass music, offering up a string of releases for the likes of Modern Hypnosis, Amar and Moonshine that fuse dubstep and UK dub rhythms with audible references to techno and roots music. He's at it again on this superb new single, first combining African percussion, pitched down vocal samples, deep dubstep rhythms, weighty bass and dub effects on A-side club cut "Cambridge Road". He stays closer to experimental dub territory on flipside "Over & Out", where sparse drum hits and metallic dub trails combine with an unashamedly heavy sub-bass motif and Melodica samples to devastating effect.
Review: Blind Prophet & Ishan Sound come together for their first pan-atlantic collaboration here in what is a fine return to the ZamZam label. The pair first met in Portland in 2019 and so it's good to finally have some sounds to get stuck into from their meeting of minds. 'The Labyrinth' kicks off with hefty and stepping drum rhythms that are overlaid by bright synth lines and mystic flutes. The interloping melodies and a menacing bassline finish it in style. On the flip, things get much more dark with 'Minotaur Dub' which is a shadowy world of refracting drums and oodles of reverb and echo. There is a predatory sense to the rhythm that never lets up as fizzing bass pries every deep into the dead of night.
Bukkha & Dubbing Sun & Kol Ee - "War" (Sound Control remix) (4:00)
Kol Ee & Dubbing Sun & Family Tree Sound - "Jah Jah Guide" (Breez remix) (4:39)
Review: War Remix brings together Bukkha, Dubbing Sun, Kol Ee and Family Tree Sound for a deep, bass-heavy reimagining of reggae and dub. The track is built around atmospheric grooves that flex with a blend of electronic textures and organic instrumentation and there's an undeniable urgency in the mix, with each artist adding their own layersiwhether it's the skittering percussion, dubbed-out vocals, or deep sub-bass that keeps everything moving forward. It's a remix that feels grounded in the roots of dub but pushes into new territory, a space where tradition meets innovation. Expect a sound that hits hard on the dancefloor but leaves room for introspection too. This release adds something fresh for fans of experimental reggae and dub, with enough of the old school to keep it connected.
Review: ZAMZAM goes bang bang once again as the dutty dubstep label hits release number 80. Cause keeps it utterly filthy on the a-side with 'Hiss,' a heavyweight nobler with a menacing bassline that's so fat it wiggles as it walks. Crashing hits and sci-fi synth motifs make this a most astral crawler. 'Palms' has whirring synths and a bassline curried oceans below. Freaky vocal sounds are haunting and dark and add tension to the track as it prowls along through an utter wasteland. Atmospheric stuff, to be sure.
Review: This is how it all began! Coco Bryce and Saturate take us back to 2011 with this deliciously wacky 80bpm halftime couplet. 'Honeymoon' takes us on a wonky MIDI mission with stacks of drama and feeling while 'Wonk' is pure off-the-wall bleep art. Never before released on vinyl, both cuts carry a certain sense of late 2000s nostalgia while remaining so unique they still bump hard today. Feel the love!
Review: Dark dubstep allstar Dayzero first came to out attention with 'Allca', where they pitted themselves alongside contemporaries Gantz or Coki in their unique displays of wonk and lo-fi production techniques. 'Pages' and 'Sen' continue this charge; watery, knocky and psychopathic, both tunes sound like a tank trudging through sludge. Militant and gritty.
Review: Since launching in 2014, Portland's ZamZam Sounds imprint has offered up a string of beautifully packaged seven-inch singles from a mixture of big hitters and rising stars from the global bass music scene. Their latest missive comes from Dayzero, a Japanese dubstep producer best known for his outings on Wheel & Deal, Sentry and, most recently, Vomitspit. The two tracks here are weighty, intergalactic and otherworldly, mixing dub style rhythms with the kind of angular, razor-sharp sub-bass motifs more often associated with dancefloor dubstep. Both cuts are quality, though it's rolling A-side "Orbit Dub" - all lolloping dub beats, wobble bass, metallic effects and paranoid aural textures - that really stands out.
Review: ZamZam is proud to present two exclusive tracks from Hungarian/Bristolian producer Peter Simon aka DJ Madd (now residing in Tokyo). Known worldwide for his infectious brand of roots/reggae-heavy dubstep, he has released on crucial bass-centric labels such as Moonshine, Black Box, the legendary WAR series of white labels, and his own Roots & Future imprint. DJ Madd is regularly featured on Rinse FM and BBC Radio, and has been championed by influential DJs from Mary Anne Hobbs to Skream and Breakage. "Lone Soldier Dub" showcases Simon's mastery of space and bass-weight in the service of classic dub principles. A gorgeous synth melody reminiscent of 1970s sci-fi future dreams opens and frames this instant, epic classic. The dynamic interplay of spacious reverbs and ricocheting percussion echoes, isolated skanks and absolutely massive low end are mesmerizingifamiliar in their simplicity and structure, but beguiling and hypnotic in their subtlety and system-pushing sonic clarity. A martial riddim drives "Thru Hell Dub" like a transport through a stricken, vaporized battlefield. Simon's signature gargantuan bass and syncopated, razor-sharp percussion build and release tension while a haunted synth figure accompanies us through the bleak landscape of war. As usual DJ Madd's restraint is as powerful as his control of frequencies and intuitive sense of what makes a great sound system tune. Heavy wares for your next dub dance. Edition of 500 copies in hand-printed sleeves.
Review: Zam Zam Sounds keep up the pressure with their fifth transmission so far this year (and 20th overall) and welcome Berlin-based soldiers Dub War and Infra into the fold with If It's Not The Police. Formerly a duo consisting of Benny Ill and Bill Robin, this 7" is the first release with the latter working solo under the guise and also his first collaboration with Marius Braun aka Infra. As with previous Zam Zam drops, the roots of dub culture are retained with If It's Not The Policea with a vocal cut backed by a dub rendition. Deep studio science and sound design paired with classic dub aesthetics, dubstep bass-weight, and halftime garage swing are very much in effect here and we hope this is the first of many collabs between the pair.
Review: While much of Dubkasm's output tends towards the warmer, cheerier and more soulful end if the digital reggae and digi-dub spectrum, the Bristol duo's ZamZam Sounds debut is a far weightier, hazier and more spaced-out affair, informed more by a blend of floor-focused UK steppers and dub techno. In its original A-side form, 'Mighty Designer' adds fluttering lead lines, echo-laden flutes, feverish aural textures and eyes-closed spoken word vocals to a punchy-but-bouncy beat and a raw, stabbing bassline. The flipside 'Almighty Version' is a more skeletal, dub style affair, with a more metallic-sounding rhythm track ushering in a bolder and more sub-heavy tweak of the bassline, echoing electronics and all manner of trippy, hallucinatory flourishes.
Review: It would be fair to say that Sphearic, the label helmed by occasional Mental Groove artist Jerome Doudet AKA The Dude of Strosphear, is Thailand's foremost outpost of electronic bass music. Admittedly, it's a small field, but it's still something to boast about. Here the "Dude" kick-starts 2018 with a tasty seven-inch featuring two tracks constructed alongside local turntablist DJ To Ru. His on-point scratches are woven in to the fabric of both "Bailan Break", a stuttering and punchy dubstep roller rich in redlined bass and exotic Thai instrumental flourishes, and flipside "Uchu Daikaiju No Ballad". This hot-stepping cut is closer in tone to experimental instrumental hip-hop - check the classic MC vocal samples - but happily retains the weightiness of dubstep and a hint of Far Eastern exotica.
Review: The connection between ZamZam and Feel Free Hi Fi was sparked by Bristolian Neek out in Portland and lead to an immediate bond forged over a shared sound and DIY ethos. Inspired by early digi-era dancehall and UK dub, the duo crafts a sound here that honours tradition while venturing into bold, idiosyncratic territory. It comes on their own Digital Sting label and opens with 'Voyageur' which is a mix of cinematic atmospherics with haunting synths that evoke wild and mythic landscapes. 'Underground' pays tribute to the spirit of DIY underground music and captures the struggle to preserve both nature and the essence of basement gigs in today's shifting cultural landscape.
Luv N Liv (Dub Gabriel None Shall Escape The dub mix)
Luv N Liv (Ming vs Subatomic Sound System remix)
Review: Highly limited and sonically stunning, this special 7" taken from Gabriel's Raggabass Resistance album, neither of these versions have seen the light of day before. And, according to the label, they're not likely to see it after this limited press. Gabriel's own version is authentic dub to the very core: rich organic instrumentation, a huge spacious bass and full emphasis on the groove. Dim Mak's Ming and Lee Perry's own Subatomic Sound System provide the contemporary version; squidgy, squelchy and full of surprises, it's a neat reminder of dubstep's innate funkiness. We're luvin' it!
Review: Finnish film composer Headrooms makes his debut on Dutch beat institution Groove College. Graduating with distinction, both cuts sparkle with dreamy, densely textured soul while slouching on beautifully slo-mo breakbeats. "Pillow Talk" is straight out the Nightmares On Wax playback; all emotional and string-laced. "Silly Chats" looks more towards the smokier trip-hop sound of the early 90s (think Cold Cut or very early Shadow) with the same great laidback effect. An immaculate debut.
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: Their anonymity still impressively intact, no one knows who the London/Berlin partnership behind these left side dubwise slices are, but everyone is loving them. Having showcased aspects of jungle and classic dub on the previous outings, this Record Store Day special explores both hip-hop culture and very early techno flavours... "Track 1" dusts off an old soul gem, strips it back and slows it right down. "Track 2", meanwhile, retains an element of b-boy flavour thanks to the cool scratches, but its bassy body and lo-fi groove screams classic Bleep, Coldcut or Unique 3. Both are genuinely unique.
Review: Sometime Tempa family member J:Kenzo made his first appearance on ZamZam Sounds three years ago, aligning his hazy trademark sound with the label's next-generation dub ethos via the echoing deep dubstep brilliance of 'Kingston Hot' and 'Concrete Jungle'. This belated follow-up is, perhaps surprisingly, far more forthright, with 'Traverse' offering an energetic, low-slung mix of post-steppers dancefloor drums, layered tribal style hand percussion, deep sub-bass, hot-stepping dubstep breaks and trippy, echoing noises. The fun continues on the flip, where the Kent-born producer brilliantly blurs the boundary between two-step, deep dubstep and the squeezable sonics of dub techno.
Review: Leeds bass man Jack Sparrow aka J Sparrow serves strictly limited, carefully designed and screen printed 7" on Zam Zam. He is one of the enduring stalwarts of the UK scene having turned out plenty of killer dubstep and bass gems over the last 15 years plus. He also runs Navy Cut and has landed on Deep Mehdi and Tectonic, adn as this one proves is still knocking it out of the park. These are classically informed tunes, with 'Behold' marrying a ice melody with bulbous bass and deep lyrics. 'Paradise Bird' is another prime slice of 140 bpm weighty minimalism for the best sound systems.
Review: East London MC Jus Rival teams up with Camden's Joe Fire here for a hard-hitting new track 'G.M.S (Gun Man Sound).' Following their previous collaboration on 'Dangerous Settings,' the duo builds on their undeniable chemistry for another explosive release with some serious low-end heft. Produced by grime heavyweight Spooky Bizzle, the brass-laced instrumental provides the perfect backdrop for both MCs to shine and Jus Rival opens with a catchy hook and sharp bars, while Joe Fire takes over with a playful, yet commanding verse. Accompanied by a slick visual directed by Honey JD,tihs one is defined by its dynamic delivery and relentless energy.
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