Dirty Dubstep/Trap/Grime

Review: One of the most consistent harbingers of the broken beat this year, Nomine Sound introduce a brand new project from Asif Kid and Slimzee in the form of E3 Breaks. Exploring the murky 140 waters between breaks, garage, dubstep and jungle, both cuts gel a whole host of soundsystem genres together with their caustic, barbed wire beats; "The Curse" is a moody halftime grumbler with roots in dub but its heart in jungle while "Backroads" is a rampant roller that's not dissimilar to the early Botchit releases around 20 years ago. Sparse, sci fi and slippery.

Review: Destination New Zealand: Nomine's no rules imprint Fox & Hound continues to delve deep into that fertile space between techno and bass music around 120 - 130 BPM and this time he's heading down under. For three devilishly dark, textured and angular compositions. Akcept joins the fray for the lead track, adding a touch of dubby warmth before we're smashed in the features with the Drexcyian decays and screams of "Sun Drips" and taken deep into the dubspace abyss for the finale "Yearning". Ebb, Akcept, Fox & Hound; two artists and one label that are essential for all bass radars right now.

Review: More inspired work form one of dubstep's most influential producers appears again on World Of Wonders - a label devoted almost entirely to the work of Gemmy since 2011. Gemmel Phillips is a producer and DJ from Bristol, UK who has released previously on tastemaker labels such as Punch Drunk, Pinch's Tectonic, Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu, Soul Jazz and Earwax before forming his own imprint in 2011. This new three-track EP here follows on from his Bamboozled EP for the label last year, and shows off Gemmy's keen talent for crafting 'purple wave' influenced bass music. From the wonky grime attitude of "Nah Tek Bk Chat" on the A side, to the booming speaker rattling B side cut "Stop Dat" - this whole release is a killer!

Review: This debut release from Subtle Sound System and their new record label (aptly named Subtle Recordings) is bringing some heavy weight - straight out of Christchurch, New Zealand. Inauguration duties are bestowed upon local legend Gene Warriner aka Headland (Innamind Recordings / ZamZam / Well Rounded Records) from Wellington, who plunders the tombs on the menacing and subterranean deep dubstep of "Quiver". On the flip, be prepared for some serious alien sub-frequencies (guaranteed to cause some serious tremors) on the sci-fi dystopian dubstep of "Deathbed".

Review: Dutch dubsmith Hebbe continues to stride through the year of his life with another exceptional expedition; hot on the heels of his DUPLOC vinyl launch comes this far reaching four piece on the perennial White Peach imprint; "3 Tabs" is a dramatic piece of eastern theatre with big licks and surprises while "Appropriation" continues an eastern theme but on much more pensive, graveyard swagger. Flip for the beautifully wonked out trembles and dirge drones of "IPA" before "Post Modern Dub" closes with a mournful mildly wobbled salute. Far out finesse.

Review: The Dream Eater crew have got the munchies again and it's another all-star feast featuring some of the label's most forward-thinking beat splicers. Teetering on the trippiest peripheries of instrumental grime, highlights include the seasick rolling breaks and disassociated humanised twangs of Kotei's "BUN", BThorough's vital rainbow-razzled pipe blaster "Flutter" and Filthy Gears' monstrous trappist drama slammer "Peace Treaty". Happy nightmares.

Review: Two massive Pinch classics taken on by the mighty Kromestar; need we say more? Pinch's 2010 speaker shredder "The Boxer" gets an absolute fouling with epic distortion on the bass and swaggering drums. It's so heavy it's been on dub for at least two years. Flip for Kromestar's take on Pinch's 2011 Deep Medi murker "Swish" as it's given a bullet proof suit of armour ready for any militant war scenario. Both absolutely destroy the dance.

Review: Creeping through the fumes of his beguiling Beyond Saturn tape on TV Showw earlier this year, Filter Dread plunges deep into the darkest, most unchartered corners of our psyche with eight more broken excursions. As always, we range from the furthest peripheries of the cosmos (where tracks such as sludgy, paranoid wormlike "New Energy" await) to neighbouring-yet-unexplored dance planets where the new languages are spat using rave vernacular in ways we've never heard before ("NRG2") Other trips include the hardcore subversion black hole of "Gravity Step", the 23rd century jungle splinters of "SP 85" and plenty more. Time to take a spiral...