Back catalogue: Deep Dubstep

Review: Three releases deep, each one an absolute peach: Youngsta's Sentry label has been total fire so far. Kicking off with dBridge, then Nomine, now the label take us to New Zealand for its third outing as Akcept takes the controls and proceeds to drive on both sides of the road; "Dreader Than Dread" is an epic bounce back 10 years with its brazenly funk horns and rolling chubby bass groove while "Howl" is a lot more spaced out, starker, late night jam with a fatty sub line that should come with a health warning. Stay alert.

Review: Amit's AMAR imprint continues its consistent run of fresh 140 form with New Zealand dub-wiser Akcept. Easing us in with crisp keys, we're soon introduced to his spacious sense of groove and lean instrumentation as "Peace Pipe" lurks and lingers before a lavish horn sample hits midway. "The Streets" takes us further down Akcept's melodic rabbit hole as Clinton Sly spits and sermons over a more colourful version of the riddim. "Insight" takes the prize for heaviest dancefloor cut with a bouncing sub line that tramples with abandon beneath a flow of dubby FX and textures. Playful but ultimately deep and dark, these guys aren't mucking around.

Review: Halftime warrior Amit returns with more skank-packed slo-mo drum & bass. "Spring Cuttah" is Amit at his warmest, sunniest and Tubbiest; weighty plodding kicks and soulful sighing sax, it's a true nodder of a jam. Remix-wise Bristolian Headhunter Addison Groove mashes up last year's heavily supported halftime cut "Operator" with even more amen angularities. Essential.

Review: Finally... Someone's written a track about your mum: "Operator" is a sweet, sassy slice of modern jungle with wounding slo-mo kicks decorated with pretty splashes of amens and trimmed with delicious sub bass. "Fatty Batty" meanwhile, which is definitely not written about your mum, is a ridiculously funky contemporary bass jam with thundering kicks, cheeky horns and a groove so chunky you could feed a family of four for a year... And still have leftovers.

Review: Described in typically effusive terms as "lethal" by Mary Ann Hobbes, bass don AMIT returns with a second transmission on his AMAR imprint. Those of you who indulged in last summer's inaugural release on the label will need little extra incentive to indulge here, but curious parties new to the label read on. AMIT's knack for productions that are both delicate and dark is in full effect on lead track, where vocals from Rani offer a sense of fragility that's gradually consumed by the sheer bass weight of the production. "Mr Clark" meanwhile is a deliciously evil concoction of brutal percussion, rebellious bass and haunting echoed vocals from Nomine. Rani appears once more on the dubwise "Your Native God" whilst "Daaku" finds AMIT discarding with collaborations for a dark tribal skanker!

Review: Where to place Weevil Neighbourhood? Is this dub techno? Perhaps. Dubstep? Maybe. Drum and bass? Sometimes. Experimental? Yes: in the truest sense of the word. It draws from all these aforementioned styles and more, resulting in the formation of a reclusive German label breaking the framework of many electronic music genres wide open. The title-track from Anthone's second EP for the label is where the dub techno suggestion comes from thanks to its caustic chord sequences, only there's flashes of dubstep beat designs and loose drum and bass textures similar to what can be heard on Felix K's Flowers Of Destruction. On the flip, "Lungs" is instrumental and live feeling. In parts it sounds like a band playing, while in others you can here the work of samplers looping, and when combined, it offers an industrial soundscape that's like merging some of the darker rock and metal stylings from Sex Tags No Amfibia with Regis' Sandra Electronics project, only reduced to the point of almost being ambient.

Review: Kenzo's Artikal rounds up another commanding year with decorated damagers across the 140-160 bass spectrum with a traditional 140 release courtesy of FKOF alumni Argo. "Nooo" is a creeped out stroll through a misty midnight wood, sounds echoing around you, prickling your skin and playing your mind. "Glowz" will turn you inside out as it tears your attention between the stretched and rolled subverted trappy percussion and its soul-smouldering subs. Finally "Stigma" is the actual soundtrack to the moments aliens come down and kidnap you in around 35 years time. Bon voyage.

Review: Near mythical version of a Plastikman classic from a man who'll remain unnamed, "Ask Yourself" enjoys a rare repress and you'd be wise not to sleep on it. Retaining all the alien isolation and spooked out allure of the original but with rolling drums and a sub powerful enough to heat the whole of Croydon, this remains a matchless piece of remix craft. No questions asked.

Review: MAJOR heat abounds on this. Mysterious act ATOS have delivered a smouldering slab of fractured, future soul. Sitting on its own island somewhere between Massive Attack, Submotion Orchestra and Burial, it's utterly beautiful. Naturally Skream's remix hits every spot. With shuddering half steps and a re-imagined vocal arrangement, it's like a whole new tune. Commodo, meanwhile, opts for strange jazzed out percussion and a dampened trippiness on the vocal. Three unique versions; each one of them stunning. Don't miss this.

Review: Sometime Tempa regular turned enthusiastic label-hopper AXH pops up on Boka for the very first time. As usal, there's much to set the pulse racing and get the guts trembling. He sets the tone with opener "Tokyo", where percussion hits and exotic Japanese samples fizz above a ragged sub-bass assault, before wrapping ear-pleasing far eastern melodies around a punchy dubstep groove on "Devilman". Over on the flipside, "Gamera" is another sub roller powered by ten-ton sub-bass, while "Indokashira" is as sweet and melodious as they come, thanks in no small part to the presence of a particularly bluesy vocal sample amongst the typically rolling rhythm.

Review: Hand stamped, vinyl-only, Lion Charge roar again. This time it's all about Boston's AXH who ploughs through the noise with a rumbling classically-tuned dub piece with kicks heavy enough to crush your house. Flip for a barbed version excursion from Alter Echo & E3 Moonrise where the lines between dubstep and dub techno are so thin they vanish before your ears. Don't sleep on this one.

Review: San Diego's vinyl-only bass purveyors Banana Stand Sound return with one of their most all-encompassing EPs to date. Full spectrum services on offer: OH91 sets the tone with a smouldering sub sesh on "Meditation", Nights & Aerotonin fire up the grime hole with the aggy, cutty "Jazz Licks" and TryTryDieDown lets loose on a sharply edited juke-style jam "Boo". Denver's Crix Saiz finishes with a deep throaty one-fingered salute. Genuinely unique.

Review: LA not-so-confidential: Tetrad has been developing a strong reputation for slick sub aesthetics for a little while now, appearing on labels such as Sublimate and Sure State. Now bringing his emerging friend and sonic kindred spirit Ahkur along for the ride, the result is the smoke-stacked, toxic bass croaker that's "Ashes Fall", a powerful piece of darkness designed for 3am and later. "Crumble" sees Tetrad back on the solo flex with a sweet sub that sits behind everything anonymously until it starts to flop out behind the kicks in a dizzying, almost physical way. Authentic.