Dubstep 153 Items

The first Subaltern release of 2022 sees three outstanding producers coming together to deliver a bass-blessing for all connoisseurs of the finer frequencies.

Infernal Sounds bring their digital series to life with this spicy VA compilation, snipping four of the standout tracks from their first four EP's. The VA presents tracks from all over the world, spanning from Japan to the US, back home to Bristol and bouncing to Barcelona. Karnage, 'Spirit Bomb' kicks things off by slicing and dicing you with mid-range blades and tearing you apart with the heavy trap-style low-end ruckus. Switching things up completely on the A2 is Kodama with the wonderful 'Clear Your Head', entangling you in the beautiful melodies and uplifting mainframe, before Chief Kaya spins you all the way back to '06 on 'Ma'at'. The track brings about an essence of the old-school and a premium beat that you need to feel on a soundsystem. Finally, Khanum drops you in with and takes you under with 'Bun Politician', a strong message for the times, and a forceful track at that.

The tracks on this EP have had heavy support from the likes of Truth, N-type, BunZer0, Sicaria Sound, Deep Tempo, Hamdi and many more.

700 Bliss is the forward-thinking duo of DJ Haram and Moor Mother. Their first full length for Hyperdub is an album of noise rap that ties together the raw edges of club music and hip hop with punk energy, jazz, house-party catharsis, percussion-heavy analogue sound design, and cheeky skits, ranging from experimental rap tracks with rolling hi hats and lyrical bravado, to poetry set to noise and sound collage. Moor Mother and DJ Haram started collaborating in 2014 and eventually formed 700 Bliss, a blistering live act in Philly's DIY scene, releasing their 2018 debut, Spa 700 on Halcyon Veil / Don Giovanni Records. Since that time, both artists have grown global followings. Moor Mother is a prolific solo artist and collaborator, writer, and member of Black Quantum Futurism while Haram has been curating and creating radio shows, DJing, and producing (including an EP for Hyperdub in 2019). ‘Nothing To Declare’ is a smart, danceable revelation, a chiseled soundscape of dive bombing bass, piercing bleeps, crunchy distortion, and wavering synth lines. Welcoming in a variety of voices from their extended, cross-genre scene, 700 Bliss also bring along a cast of collaborators, including vocalists Orion Sun, Lawfandah, Ase Manual, and Ali Logout (from the band Special Interest), plus Palestinian producer Muqata'a, and writer M Téllez who delivers a surreal sci fi monologue over a pounding kick drum on ‘More Victories’. ‘Nothing To Declare’ is a deeply layered rewriting of hip hop and electronic music that gives more with each listen. You won't hear another rap album like it in 2022.

Creating a distorted reality, Jacidorex chose to reunite various artists from different horizons with strong personalities bringing all bunches of stuff to the table, creating a dark reality helped with sonorities reaching from trance to UK dubstep.

After more than two decades flexing his muscles on the local underground scene and gaining a legendary cult status on his Tenerife home turf, the island’s most famous postman, as he’s affectionately known by his consorts, Tomás de la Rosa aka Postman breaks radio silence to bulldoze his way through the canyons surrounding his hometown of Santa Cruz into an unknown and unsuspecting world. We present thus, Postman’s first ever album of original bangers, micro chopped two steppers and rage induced breakbeat anthems.

Constructed over the course of global confinement, Seeds of Light marks a return to creative activity from the man who regularly delivers your post (its not just a random artist name). Postman aka Tomás de la Rosa has taken his time, compiling sketches and unfinished songs, rummaging through the deep ends of his hardrive, stitching early production sketches with recent compositions, revising, reediting and rebuilding with a more mature and concise attitude, eventually completing, almost unintentionally, the perfect self referential retrospective album. Far from being just a compilation album, Tomás managed to create an explosive document, suspended in time, in which styles are intertwined regardless of fashions and fads – letting go of the ‘modern’ or ‘up to date’ burden - so common these days in electronic music.

It is not an easy album, like many of his previous work it demands extra attention to experience the full crystallization of his complex sound structures. We find ourselves in front of a truly surgically precise work of art whose result comes as a waterproof war machine, refined and incisive, resonating deep with soul and groove.

Postman develops his sound palette throughout the album from very basic sound snippets into a concrete dance world of synthetic sounds eventually creating a parallel reality where J. Dilla could be living in Chemnitz instead of Detroit and releasing records for a label called Raster-Throw. Glitch sampladelics!

Incursions into Grime are also abundant with nods to the ineffable East Man, reunions with his beloved Funkstörung or many other stimulating revisions of lifelong genres and breaks populate this multidimensional sound space, see soul, dancehall, breakbeat, two step and the UK hardcore continuum.

Special mention to the magnificent fluid artwork by the very talented Catalan visual artist Alba de Corral. A still photo from one of her kinetic AI systems programmed directly in code, which matches perfectly the essence of Postman's brutalist alien sound.

Leeds based UKG Peaky Beats follows up a killer release on Breaks N Pieces and self-released collaborative EP with Highrise with four cuts of ragga-tipped Dub that show a different sonic side to the typically lairy producer. It also comes complete with a remix from aya, the artist behind one of last year's most impressive tapes - I’m Hole.

LOTR-inspired ‘Helms Deep’ is a melodic battlecry; what would have been played when the Rohan army defeated Sauron’s forces had 140bpm dubstep existed within Tolkien’s fantasy world - haunting, meditative and deadly. ‘Shire Steppin’ makes clever use of stripped-back production with oddball samples and reggae-inspo that inspires mental images of hobbits smoking around a fire. What was in Gandalf’s pipe anyway?

‘Turn Up’ maintains the cemented minimal aesthetic, this time with a more tribal approach than ragga; swirling atmospherics soar overhead before screw-face dubs and heavy bass-weight invites the contemplative darkness across the threshold. Heady electronic and tribal traditions continue on ‘Greywind’ with more ragga-tipped goodness best played at 4am through the early morning haze.

Aya’s remix is typically brilliant - remaining at 140bpm, a standout producer of 2021 delivers a devastating, roughly chopped cut of malfunctioning dubstep - a percussive and experimental masterclass through light and dark.

Wraz is back on Deep, Dark, & Dangerous! "Annunaki" shows the incredible progression in Wraz's production skills over the last 2.5 years.

Achtung !! Another weighty missive from the desk of Herr Campbell, otherwise known as Consulate - Perth’s preeminent breakbeat bureaucrat, currently stationed in Melbourne, Australia. Smelling like leather and tasting like metal, the “Assassino” EP features four full-excursion incantations for all the midwinter ravers -- solstice steppers enhanced with dubwise technique and enchanted with ancient foreboding. Careful what you conjure when the needle hits this platter.

Rips joins the ranks on Foamplate's imprint Plantpower.

It's been a few years since Gemmy returned with a release, but he's back in business with a brand new 12 on Infernal Sounds. Entering the imprint on the milestone 30th release, this is a record of pure character and old-school licks that you'd be more than accustomed to if you've listened to the purple-laced producer in previous years. 'Irreversible Culture' kicks things off with a rough and tough low end kick and step, layering that ultimate groove and steppers delight.

One of the all-time great hubs of soundsystem culture and musical free-thinking, it was only a matter of time before Bristol had DNO Records in its grasp. A quadruple threat from the city’s Young Echo collective members, rappers Manonmars and Bogues join forces with revered producers Ishan Sound and Neek on the ‘Burning Paper’ EP, broadening the expansive horizons of DNO further still.

The always impressive Mesck makes his DDD debut with the Terror Management EP. Stepping straight into uncertain future realities, Mesck's beats deliver just the right amount of bite, crunch and distortion, balanced with the heaviest bass weight known to cyber space. Anyone familiar with sets from the DDD crew will already be familiar with these tunes, which we have been itching to sneak out of Mesck's tightly-guarded vault.

2022 may bring much much uncertainty to the world but one thing we know for a fact is that we are introducing our most innovative and intriguing new act in years – the French duo Archil & Leon with their five track debut (appropriately called) “Blooming”.

Having both released in the past independently, Archil & Leon were originally brought together thanks to their teenage band His Majesty and from there, their passion to create music together never has faltered. Leon is a veteran session and live drummer who also produces music for his own dance project Ongaeshi and the dance collective moovance. Archil is an accomplished solo electronic musician and the force behind Archil Lab handmade musical devices. Using elements like springs (Springophone) and wheels (Roulettophone), his instruments are lovingly manufactured in wood and somehow carry the characteristics of modular gear but in the most unconventional way possible.

At a first listen, Archil & Leon’s music comes off as a well oiled live jam but as you dig deeper, it’s clear these tracks have a precision and style that separates them into a category of their own. Their EP “Blooming” is the result of two full years of being locked in their studio, writing and experimenting together. Indeed, an underlying flow of 70’s funk permeates throughout their music, however pigeonholing them into such a stereotype would be a travesty as they have impeccable song writing skills and their self made instruments conjure an experimentalism which is through and through rooted in electronic music. We can only hope that fans of now-classic Jamie Lidell / Super_Collider will appreciate where they are coming from, and you agree their “sound” is brilliantly individual. After all, they created their tracks literally from the ground up.

Watch more about Archil & Leon and their wonderfully outlandish instruments.

`Antidawn' reduces Burial's music to just the vapours. The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world game-space ambience. In the resulting no man's land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases colour the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down. `Antidawn' seems to tell a story of a wintertime city, and something beckoning you to follow it into the night. The result is both comforting and disturbing, producing a quiet and uncanny glow against the cold. Sometimes, as it enters 'a bad place', it takes your breath away. And time just stops.

Reissue on black vinyl. Rarely you come across a record which embodies Dubstep so well that rallies the entire scene behind it. From the brosteppers to the deep heads this record has been getting love from all corners of the earth. We're talking about "Under Control" the latest outing from Germany's next top wobble aka Bukez Finezt. Its eerie intro sets the tone perfectly to interlude this hypnotic stomper. Once the sonic warfare is unleashed it'll transport you to a word of desolation, where aliens run rampant and technology has absorbed everything around them.

"You Don't Belong Here" & "Pace Yourself" are on a equal tip. 2 bigtime subloaded heavyweights that'll remind you that Dubstep is still very much alive and reminds us why we fell in love with this minimalistic bass heavy genre to begin with.

Alter Echo & E3 return for their third chapter on ZamZam with a dark, low-slung steppers featuring the one Rider Shafique of Bristol’s esoteric Young Echo crew. AEE3’s first collaboration with a vocalist, “Heights” provides a rockstone riddim for Rider to step forward with a powerful lyric, a declaration of principles and intention to trod outta Babylon, tearing off mental chains along the way with total focus on the destiny of liberation for those with the will to persevere. Rider’s presence transforms every track he graces into pure message music, as heard in recent months on collaborations with Gorgon Sound, Ishan Sound, Gantz and more.

"Heights" rocks with swirling atmospheres and pointillist detail, powerfully psychedelic dubbing at once organic and metallic, always with fundamental dub principles anchoring and propelling forward, ever forward. The version “The Sound Tonight” strips the vocal out completely, using that space to push the kick, bass and ricocheting snares further forward with extra dub flourishes, mirages, and sample grinding.

Electronica, Post-Dubstep, Rave & deep Techno blended into this mighty EP!

SOON BACK IN STOCK WITH ADJUSTED PRICE LEVEL DUE TO VINYL MANUFACTURING REALITY! - 1973 master work and one of the defining statements of Dub-Reggae! - 17 North Parade proudly presents "Java Java Java Java", credited as one of the first three Dub album released in Jamaica. Dub would influence generations of re-mixers and producers of all kind of popular music. Here's the official re-issue - a must for all Dubheads outernational and a perfect example of music stripped to the bone. The Rough Guide To Reggae writes: " The original Errol Thompson-mixed "Java Java Java Java" is legendary, not only for being one of the frst dub albums ever released, but a one built around a version of Pablo's classic of the same title. Among the other rhythms given fairly basic but effectived dubwise treatments are the Heptones' second cut "Guiding Star", Junior Byles' "King Of Babylon", and the marvellous Randy's treatment of the Soul Vendors' "Swing Easy". The mixing might seem primitive by later standards, but, like all the best early dub sets, it brings out the essential strength of the rhythms employed" (with thanks to Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton).

That new type of british rap … feat. Joe Goddard & Roots Manuva!

A compilation of Grime and Dubstep music that was originally released between 2018 and 2021 from some of the artists on White Peach.

As deep and wonky as it gets, Buffalo bass wizard isded is back with some potent dubstep saucery in the form of Swang EP - the latest release on Truth’s Deep, Dark & Dangerous imprint. One slurp of the producer’s potion will see you hypnotized and intoxicated in equal measure as the four cuts of the most matured and delectable bass seep through your veins. Tribal feels, sub-shattering lows and crisp percussion all coalesce to create the perfect conditions to take the step into the unknown crevices of your own mind. Ready to get swang? We didn’t think so.

One of the hottest talents emerging from the New Zealand underground, Brassic, returns to DDD with a tour de force of a record, Into Chaos EP. Switching from the sublime to the ridiculous, while simultaneously traversing a mental cliff edge under the constant threat of experimental torture - this EP is a no hold bars attack on all your senses. Out on a limited edition six track vinyl and digital EP, come and get lost in the deep caves of Brassic’s warped and psychoactive mind. Ranging from the grunge-influenced broody opener, Antagonist, to the outright naughty system banger, Alienated, through to the string punctuated grime influences of title track Into Chaos and the epic EP closer I Am - this body of work is a true gaze into the mind of a truly visionary creative and at points the producer’s soul. Will you step Into Chaos?

Bukez Finezt is back on MEDi! A1 Ski Mask Activities B1 Treat Me Like Royalty B2 Foreign Signal 10.05.24 12" Vinyl & Digital MEDi126 Mastered: Transition Mastering Artwork: M7 Grafiks

After numerous releases on his Dub Junction label and two lead singles on the subsidiary Superchip label, Simma presents his debut LP: Simma Enters THE Game. Featuring guests Natty Campbell, Danny T, Tenor Youthman, Dandelion, Who Knew, Indra MC & Nina Girassóis.

A compilation of Grime and Dubstep music that was originally released between 2017 and 2018 from some of the artists on White Peach.

There can be no doubt about it, when it comes to making speakers move, Leo Cap is something of a scientist; lurking around the Deep, Dark & Dangerous realms. Following a number of EPs and track features on DDD, ‘Underground Business’ is his debut full-length album. 11 slices of audio genius, the kind of tracks that make you question your very sanity when they drop.

Leo Cap’s style is well represented across this release, and as an album is the perfect showcase of his sound. One which is known for pushing the physical boundaries to which you can exert sound systems and speakers. Literally pushing insane amounts of air when these basslines drop. The album tells the story of Leo Cap the artist, creating beautiful things only to destroy and break them. Not only is the music a parallel for his life, it is also a form of armour, pieces collected from here and there. A protection from a paranoid existence in the dark and murky underground.

This music is his kind of Undergound Business, “it’s really deep, it’s really dark and it’s really fucking dangerous man”. All the demons, all the darkness, and also all the fun. But there are no mistakes, this is how things are meant to be, life is is both dark and light, with music as it’s abstraction.

You can turn on the music and feel these things, this is real, this is Underground Business