Dubstep

Review: For the latest volume in FatKidOnFire's vinyl series, boss man Will Benton has handed over the reins to Foundation Audio founder Chad Smit AKA Chad Dubz, a producer who can usually be relied on the deliver the sub-heavy goods. He begins by joining forces with Biome on '455', a laidback but weighty slab of punishing dubstep creepiness, before uniting with Eddy Seven on a fine fusion of bassline style warped bass and crunchy post-dubstep beats ('Strictly'). He goes solo on 'Nilaari', an aggressive and angry slab of dancefloor dubstep peppered with 8-bit electronics, before DJ Madd delivers a sparse, stripped-back and insanely sub-heavy re-wire of '455'.

Review: While his Six Sunsets partnership with Drumterror has become a staple feature of the UK bass music scene over the last five years, Luke Chipperfield-Outing has not released that many solo singles as Ekula. For that reason, this rare outing on Encrypted Audio is a significant release. Title track 'It Goes' is particularly potent, with Chipperfield-Outing peppering a weighty, post-dubstep rhythm with cut-up male vocal samples, UK garage style synth stabs and pleasingly glassy-eyed musical flourishes. The producer's UKG influences are also evident on 'Club Banger', a fittingly titled number that smothers a hardcore style breakbeat in female vocal samples, pulverising sub-bass and speed garage-inspired organ stabs. This hardcore revival vibe continues on the EP's closing cut: a rave-igniting revision of 'It Goes' from UK bass stalwart Benny Ill.

Review: Roel Funcken is back with another genre-bending, mind melting sonic workout that makes for a perfect soundtrack for your transition from the real world and into an alternate reality. It's a record set in a faraway future, with the title translating as "are you a tourist guide?" in Turkish hinting at that concept further. It's a powerful headspace to be in, with warped bass and pixelated keys racing down on broken beats that lurch forwards into the unknown. This interplanetary exploration comes with a fantastic cover filled with colour and patterns that capture the essence of the music perfectly.

Review: At one point it felt like we were waiting years between KOAN Sound releases but since their delicious debut album Polychrome in December 2018 they've been incredibly busy with substantial show-stopper EPs like 'Intervals Above' and this summer's curveball 'Silk Wave'. Loaded with some of their most brazen, mind-bending pieces so far; 'Grounded' is like Steve Spacek wearing 2089 hi-tops, 'Silk Wave' is a wonderfully mushroomy mangled web of glitches and stretches, 'Taken Under' is a deep sea odyssey that gradually unravels the closer we get to the surface while 'Cosmic Tuba' is a straight-up swaggering hot mess. Brassy as you like.

Review: Following a ninja white label earlier this year, KRSLD's new Retribution Records imprint kicks off in earnest with this almighty slug of a tune. Thick sludgy and full of shadows, the graveyard creeping instrumental is powerful enough to grab you by the short and curlies alone, but it's Flowdan who brings the sugar with sprays of his stern spoken word occasionally going staccato bang on the beats like a rifle. No one does it like Flowdan.

Review: Two Rangers made a big debut on Next Level Dubstep and now make their first outing on the legendary Deep Mehdi label. They bring with them an interesting mix of reference points, from heavy, swaggering bass music to cavernous metropolitan dub via a world of sci-fi sonics and computer game electronics. The title track exemplifies all that perfectly, while 'Leng Pon Sirius' pulls back a little and goes deeper into a future world of eerie sounds. 'Dusty Plasma' is a real stepper with low end wobble and 'The Marble' closes in dark fashion with twinkling hi ends and inky lows.

Review: More frequently spotted on one of his other labels - Naan - White Peach impresario Zha celebrates the label's 50th release his first solo EP on the label since 'Southampton Lengman' way back in 2015. Taking off where wonky, left-sided instrumentals like 'Floating' and 'The Tale Of She' left us, once again we're taking to pastures previously unexplored... 'Snails' is all detuned twangs and curmudgeonly bass burps while 'Daisy' is pure hip-hop in its dusty jazz tone and timbre. Meanwhile on the B, 'Shattered' captures the repetitiveness and discipline of a kata while 'Tunnels' digs us deep, deep, deep underground with one of the gruntiest basslines Zha's cooked up so far. Juicy.