V/A – Dark Matter: Multiverse 2004-2009 [Tectonic]

You may know Multiverse without even knowing it, they’re an umbrella organisation and studio in Bristol that has helped many artists and labels get their music out there. The network of labels alone is pretty special, with: Pinch’s Tectonic that’s been rolling deep at the forefront of dubstep since day one and it’s diverse sister label Earwax, Joker’s Kapsize with its purple hyper-funk, October’s techno offshoot Caravan and Baobinga’s rough house imprint Build all on the roster. As you can imagine a lot of ground is covered on this Dark Matter retrospective.

Storming out of the blocks comes Vex’d with their tough, breaky style. Ravey bass pulses with a ton of energy and dub accents. It’s an early highlight. October shows an early dubstep production off by remixing Circuit Breakers, if you ever caught that Immerse 12” last year where he really goes in with two grimy hard hitting raw slabs of it you’ll know what to expect here. Later on the compilation you’ll catch more of his techno-oriented stuff he’s doing at present… You’ll be in for a treat. Pinch makes his first appearance with a weighty number in collaboration with P Dutty, its full of space, bass and a pent up aggression. Skream turns in a big dubby production with some serious bass weight. But its Joker’s ‘Stuck in the System’ that really grabs you, the grimy favourite twists computer game strings and a dirty south aesthetic into a twisted synth workout, it’s a real peak. He smooths out that style on his collaboration with Ginz on ‘Purple City’ here too, with real sing along synths. A personal favourite of mine ‘Techno Dread’ by 2562 still hits hard, with its relentless bass line and skippy, addictive drum patterns. Bristol legend RSD offers up his sublime remix of Pinch and Yolanda’s ‘Get Up’, the smooth vocals ride his dubbed out basslines perfectly, it’s a track that keeps rolling with a joyful soulful vibe. The first CD ends on the tough broken house of Baobinga & ID which really pops and swings.

The second disc really takes off with Vex’d dropping ‘Pop pop’ a heavy skippy number. Loefah & Skream come together on the fantastic ’28 Grams’, which has a weightlessness to it, the wobbly bassline ricochets off into orbit while a solid slab of sub keeps it tethered to the ground. Cyrus follows that up with the sublime ‘Indian Stomp’ with, as you’d expect Indian samples and killer percussion that rolls and bumps hard, its one of the highlights of the compilation for me. If that wasn’t enough already Pinch comes and drops ‘Qawwali / Brighter Day’ which is just pure bliss. Its got that deep meditative vibe about it that’s so addictive and appealing about early dubstep. The bassline drones and pulses with a weighty pressure that draws you in deep as the drums, pads and melodies get your head nodding. Loefah turns up on his own this time with the spacious and powerful ‘System’. ‘Uranium’ by Moving Ninja shows off similar space but with added atmosphere, they really know how to build it from raw field recordings and synth pads. October is back and in techno mode, tough four to the floor kicks and microscopic samples get cut into bumpy shapes all over the place on the addictive ‘Three Drops’, which drops into as the name suggests a three drop synth loop that really gets things moving, and when it melts into wide screen synths its something else. He pulls off another highlight with ‘Euro Dance Hit’ which comes on like a lost Daniel Bell production fighting its way through a crowded room, its all space and tension. A killer 2562 track from his last album ‘Unbalance’, which is full of colour and presence gets book-ended by two impressive productions from Emptyset to finish off the compilation, the dub techno duo really bring it with the heavy ‘Gate 4’ which sounds like it could flatten a house and the more laid back ‘Demian’ which is so smooth and full of vibes its unreal.

The music speaks for its self really, a diverse bunch. Many of the tracks sound as fresh as when they first dropped. It’s a retrospective you can really get involved with and a good jumping off point for exploring the artists and labels involved. The Multiverse really shows what presence it’s had in the scene with this compilation; it runs deep to the roots of the genre and all its factions as well as showing how important it is to the city it occupies.

http://www.multiverse-music.com/

Pursuit Grooves – Fox Trot Mannerisms [Tectonic]

Tectonic are one of the staples in the dubstep scene a label that has been doing it since day one showcasing some of the deepest and darkest sounds from the raw and rolling to techno inspired gems, a diverse spectrum for sure but until now they hadn’t really released anything that wasn’t dubstep, even the slower dub techno numbers by 2562 or the trippy soul of Flying Lotus fit the loose genre tag dubstep has become be it in tempo or vibe. Well Pursuit Grooves changes that: Vanese Smith The Brooklyn producer/MC/vocalist makes a soulful broken house hybrid that oozes with a hypnotic charm that could fit anywhere between the loose touchstones of Kyle Hall’s Detroit techno or the UK hip-hop hybrid of Floating Points. Fox Trot Mannerisms…

We open with ‘Pressure’, a looping piano number that rolls to a bumpy pulse and ebbs from jazzy and sublime to raw and punchy the whole time. She jumps from rapping to singing with ease, ridding the wonked-out beat with a woozy atmospheric flow. The buzzing bassline of ‘Start Something’ growls and bubbles against some bumpin’ beats before switching groove, like a spaced out jazz variant on grime. Much like Kyle Halls recent Hyperdub release, the track ‘Mr Softee’ feels like dubstep despite not really being it at all. It’s the clattering drums, big base, dubbed out vibe and warm fuzzy synths that do it.

A highlight has to be the deeply hypnotic ‘Shabaps’, which has this airy, hyper-soul feel to it. Drum machines drop cowbells and claves into spaced out vocal samples, before melting into an addictive groove and luscious synth pads. It makes me melt… ‘Whisper’ is pure gold too taking that woozy future soul into a shimmering melancholic avenue of sound, that breaks out of creepy film samples and brain clattering drum frequencies. The sound of hip-hop and house beamed into deep space. The vibe continues with ‘Tweezers’, which has a mellow jacking feel to it. Chopped up samples twisting and looping into hypnotic shapes. The closer, ‘Cosey’ which just keeps those drum grooves rolling and the spaced out synths shimmering like Detroit techno lost in time.

A hypnotic set of tracks that ooze soul and raw energy brought on by the samples and drums, they loop with an intensity and power that offsets the spaced out charm of her synths and vocals brilliantly. Pursuit Grooves brings something really different and pretty addictive to Tectonic with Fox Trot Mannerisms, recommended.



http://www.myspace.com/vjsmith
http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

Distance – Clockwork / Pinch Ft. Rudey Lee – One Blood, One Source (Distance Remix) [Tectonic]

Tectonic have brought the darkness with the last few releases by Cyrus and Kryptic Minds, that’s set to continue with this latest 12” with Distance at the helm. Two slabs of low-end pressure, the first being an original track then on the flip Distance reworks Pinch’s 2007 album cut ‘One Blood, One Source’ in typical style.

‘Clockwork’ is vintage Distance, rocking half stepping drums and bucket loads of darkness. The grizzly bass pulses come on hard but there is still a really deep and spacious edge to this track. It sounds as good as anything on his ‘Repercussions’ album but saying that its maybe just one for the more hardcore Distance fans.

What makes this 12” is the brilliant remix of Pinch’s ‘One Blood, One Source’, which features the vocal talents of Rudey Lee in full effect. Distance turns in a smooth and deep rootsy dub remix, the bass tones should shake up any soundsystem that’s for sure. The hooks from Lee really get in your head along with the bass melodies.

When Distance takes things deep he really shines and this Tectonic plate shows that off, Pinch has an ear for the dark side and his label is really flexing that muscle in style right now.

http://www.myspace.com/djdistancedub

http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

Pinch – Get Up Ft. Yolanda [Tectonic]

It’s pretty safe to say that ‘Get Up’ is pretty much a dubstep classic the vocal version with sometime Massive Attack collaborator Yolanda first featured on Pinch’s debut album Underwater Dancehall but it never reached vinyl to much disappointment to many headz, but good things come to those who wait and two years later we get a vinyl release with the original vocal, dub and a splattering of quality remixes from: RSD, Guido, Jack Sparrow and LV. They all bring their own style to the table too.

The original vocal and dub by Pinch uses smooth rolling bumping drum patterns, pulsing bass and dancehall dub accents to play off the soulful vocals that makes it sound as fresh today as it ever was. The melancholic feel that the vocals about moving on and not giving up, that shift along with the emotive strings comes across like the age-old house diva template updated for the dubstep world and somehow sounds timeless.

The remixes are on point too the highlight of the bunch has to be from Bristol legendry RSD. He brings his own wonderfully deep and warm propulsive soundsystem shaking bass lines, a beat that makes you want to wiggle and piano flourishes. It all comes together perfectly into a good time party starter that should induce a grin on any soundboys face. Guido also brings the class, with a remix that somehow echoes houses hay-day and the new slinky soul infused purple funk of dubstep. The subtle boom-bap drums build a smooth groove before deep house chords take over and play off the vocals to make what sounds like a long lost 90s house hit that’s been left to mutate and maybe melt into something by Dr. Dre in a cupboard somewhere ever since.

Jack Sparrow takes his version deep into dubstep territory with huge bass pulses and a half-stepping beat that still has a bump to it, this is one made for the big dark rooms out there. LV comes from a very different angle with a dub heavy disco version with plenty of rootsy vibes and the slinkiest smooth bass around, as always with LV it grows on you in a subtle fashion.

The ‘Get Up’ package is so solid, full of quality from the outset. Its worth the cash alone for the full vocal and RSD remix, yet you get so much more. Tectonic and Pinch bring the goods yet again.

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX-pSuE4l0Y



http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

Kryptic Minds – 768 / Pinch & Moving Ninja – False Flags (Kryptic Minds Remix) [Tectonic]

Pinch is really brining the darkness with his labels most recent releases and this is no exception, here we get Kryptic Minds making their Tectonic debut after the very well received 12” for Loefah’s Swamp 81 label and the D’n’B producers are really making a name for themselves with their dubstep material along with the likes of Instra:mental and Breakage they have crossed over to create some of the deepest darkest sounds around.

The A-Side comes in the form of ‘768’ a new original track from Kryptic Minds and just like their other dubstep material it has that dark and spacious half stepping bass mediation vibe going on. These guys really know how to make the low end sing and this track really shows that off, you get the full bass spectrum from subterranean rumbles to a little added mid range growl, you know to keep things a bit evil. The string sections really give the track a dark almost emotional pull. If you find ‘One Of Us’ to be addictive then ‘768’ is going to be right up your street.

Kryptic Minds show us their take on Pinch & Moving Ninja’s deeply disturbing False Flag, which first featured on the fantastic Tectonic Plates Vol.2 compilation earlier this year. This remix takes that dark pent up atmosphere and makes it even more cinematic. The low end bubbles and drives the track into the underworld. The percussive elements on show in Kryptic Minds tracks are something else, they really know how to get a sound down and here is no acceptation the drums are warm, phat and woody. It’s a killer re-interpretation of an already killer track.

There is no holding back on this 12” Pinch knows where it’s at with the deep dark end of dubstep and Kryptic Minds prove that crossing over from d’n’b to make dubstep is pretty easy going, when your studio wizards with an ear for space and sound.

Originally written for Sonic Router.

http://www.myspace.com/krypticminds1

http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

12”

More from the semi-regular rumedge through the record bag series, of stuff I didn’t get to review/missed, over at SR as we didn’t get promos or other such excuses. For upfront reviews, interviews mixes and more visit Sonic Router, but for now check out these beauties.

Silkie Feat. Mizz Beats – Purple Love [Deep Medi]
Purple in vibes and colour on a super limited platter, funked up slab of future soul with some of the most swung beats and vibrant bass around.

King Midas Sound – Dub Heavy - Hearts and Ghosts [Hyperdub]
Dark and dubby, ghostly sound system shakers. They will shake your teeth and send you in a trance, doom fuelled taster of forthcoming album.

Hyetal – The Last Time We Spoke/Amour [Formant]
Long awaited platter from Bristol new boy, A-Side pushes a dub techno vibe with digi-siren effects and melodic chords. Amour gets steppy with an ear for melody and a way with bass, deadly.

Emvee – Glitch Dub/Nocturnal [Wireblock]
Broken funky with a soca groove, fuzzy bass and infectious midi soul. Glitch Dub does things dirty and Nocturnal brings the boogie this will make you move.

Pinch & Moving Ninja/Peverelist – False Flag/Junction (Shed Mix) [Tectonic]
Latest Tectonic Plate 12” with main man Pinch on a half stepping dark as hell weighty collaboration as Shed turns Peverelist into a garage infused nugget of techno with a euphoric sadness.

Rossi B & Luca/EL-B– Jah No Dead/Son De Cali [Soul Motive]
Garage legends line up for Soul Motive’s 4th, Rossi B & Luca bring dark dubby 2-step, it sounds huge and so fresh. EL-B takes it breaky with a deep and soulful garage vibe that oozes quality.

All out now

Pinch – Midnight Oil / Joyride (Tectonic) 12"

Pinch drops one of his own now on his excellent Tectonic imprint. His material is always worth having a listen and this is no exception. Pinch makes the deep stuff yet keeps it interesting with a soulful and techy flair that others can only just reach in some cases.

Midnight Oil opens the 12” with a space age swagger and a bass bin rattle. The drums skip and beat you in to submission while they roll along. The spacey aesthetics come in the form of huge sounding synths that sweep around and remind me of 2001 a space odyssey for some reason. The chatting, growling synth sounds echo around until string enter your ear holes and sooth the brain. Midnight Oil is maybe my favourite on the 12” right now, but then its all pure gold. This is mediation bass weight with balls of steel.

The flipside Joyride has a similar kind of feel but this time with an almost primal raw along with space synths, it puts a picture in my mind of the X-Wing’s in Star Wars shooting past. This is laid on a bed of huge punchy drums and bass to shake your ribcage. On a recent Marry Anne Hobbs show I heard her mention that she thinks this is the best thing Pinch has dropped for a while and if that isn’t endorsement enough I don’t know what is.

This 12” drops very soon on Techtonic so look out for it, Pinch is up there with other Bristol masters of the bass such as Peverelist and Appleblim, he can easily hold his own in the scene he helped create. I just hope that he is on with making a follow up to the excellent album Underwater Dancehall. Pinch is the sound of the future, but right here and now so don’t sleep on it.

http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

MRK 1 – Get Out Clause / Infected 12” (Earwax) [EAR007]

This 12” is dropping on Earwax on the 8th September 2008 and sees the return of Manchester’s MRK 1 AKA Mark One of Virus Syndicate.

Get Out Clause is a dirty and raw skanker that will shake up the dance. The grizzly bass osculation will rip through you as the beat skips and pounds around like a beast on the rampage. The whooshing build up sound reminds me of a house track by Hatiras called Space Invader. There is a cheeky little vocal sample that I can’t quite place but it sounds a little like Jay Z. Get Out Clause is an energetic electronic pure dance floor track.

Infected is on the flip and is a slightly subtler affair with some live cymbal samples that add some warmth to the production. The half step groove and deep synths add a dirty grime edge to the track. Every now and again the half-step drums are interrupted by a wicked skipping robo rhythm that induces a little more energy. I am really feeling the dirty grime energy in bass music right now and MRK 1 certainly has that in bucket loads. I much prefer this side of the 12” to the first this seems to be the case with me I always go for the more subtle grooves rather than the full on dance floor bombs.

MRK 1 and Earwax have made a brilliant 12” here that well satisfy many heads…

I mean just check out ho has been letting this rip on the scene: Pinch, Joker, Plastician, RSD.

MRK 1 / Mark One Space

Virus Syndicate Space

Earwax Recordings

Skream – Hedd Banger / Percression 12” (Tectonic)

I first came across the tune Percression on Appleblim’s amazing Dubstep Allstars Vol.06 this year; I’m still caning that CD most weeks. Percression is a deep and bouncy techno infused dub influenced stepper. I can’t get enough of its slightly acid tweaked baseline and funky as hell broken techno beats. It’s a direction I haven’t heard very much of from Skream who kind of made his name as one of the original dubstep superstars with Midnight Request Line and loads of other stuff, which is more on the wobbly dance floor bangers. He brings it deep and dirty for Tectonic on this 12”, both sides are pure filth, it’s sick. Percression hits all the right buttons for me, I can’t get enough of the techno influenced stuff at the moment. The bass plays off the dubbed out echoes of the claps perfectly and will light up the floor. As will the sharp crisp kick drum patterns, they punch like a mule, if they had arms I guess they kick hey…

I will flip it to the Hedd Banger side now, I got excited about the flip there for a moment. I hadn’t heard this one before; it’s more of a slow and low half stepper with a dirty as hell growling bass synth line. A hook with a female vocal saying, ’I’m a suppa fly, a suppa duppa fly’ is wicked. The bass is deep as hell, but then you expect nothing less from Skream and Tectonic. There is an evil and spooky vibe to Hedd Banger with its gruff bass and ghostly tingles. Eerie bongos fade in and out to add a little grove here and there I love that. The snare drum clatter is tight as hell for full on ear shattering dance floor business. Both sides are going to get it done for sure. Well done Skream this 12” is huge and I’m always impressed by Tectonic and their output.

This is in the shops on 11th August 2008.

Skream Space

Tectonic Space

2562 – Aerial

Dubstep is making my ears prick up this year, well I guess Burial gave me a love for it with Untrue at the end of last year, but its coming on leaps and bounds recently. Dubstep is starting to encompass many styles of other genres of music, more so than ever before. This excites me, as I love to mix up the genres when I spin dance music. 2562’s Aerial is a full album of tech-house influenced dubstep with a smidgen of breakbeat in there to for good measure. I have been a long-term convert to breakbeat and tech-house as its what I learnt to DJ with. So hearing this style having a legacy in the dubstep arena makes me smile. I can hear echoes of Adam Freeland’s more dubby numbers here and stuff from techno label Basic Channel too. Some people might not even say its dubstep, but I like that, music that jumps genres and does it well is well worth a listen.

Aerial is superb the bass is so big it really throbs and goes through you. The beats are punchy and the dub elements come draw it all together brilliantly. This is dubstep that has come out of London and gone on holiday to main land Europe in which it gathered a wider pallet of sounds to draw from. The tunes lack a little emotion and are kind of cold but there is plenty of deep emotional stuff from the likes of Pinch and Burial out there. I mention Pinch as he stuck out 2562’s first 12” and is also releasing this album on his Tectonic label. So Aerial is ten tracks of dubstep filtered through Berlin, London, Holland, Detroit and Kingston it’s a worldwide affair this.

The stand out tunes are: well all of them really but I will just choose a few, or maybe all of them...

Redux is a swooshy dub influenced Basic Channel infused tech-step beauty. It’s a slow and brooding number and the synth parts really bring it alive, as does the massive bass. Wonderful stuff.

Morvern has some punchy drums and a faster pace, I love that 2562 brings new sounds to each track and a whole new thing can be heard in front of you. I would spin this one with some techno for sure. Its moody yet quite perky to.

Moog Dub is a beast and maybe my favourite track on here. When the synth cord progression comes in like some proto dub rave line and the bass kicks in this tune is pure magical dance floor perfection.

Channel Two is a skitting 2-step kind of effort. I think this was on one of the two highly acclaimed 12” that Pinch released. You can see why it caused a stir on the dubstep scene its phat.

Techno Dread sounds like its name the wobbly relentless bass and high tempo make it sound like Techno has something to worry about as this is on its way. Again the Basic Channel dub synth lines are here and work a treat.

Basin Dub is a mellow track after the last one. The mellow sounds are cut through with some big sounds mind with a punchy kick and bass.

Greyscale has a heartbeat style kick drum at its core The techno sounds are reinterpreted through dub ears, the 808 click echoes through you as synths sweep around.

Enforcers is a energetic little number with breakbeat drums and a throbbing bass line that is well and truly meant for a dance floor. This might be the closes tune to a breakbeat record on Aerial.

Kameleon is an irresistible 2-step breakbeat digital bongo work out. Really bright and the bongo line will really move the floor. It adds a nice slab of funk to this album. A great track, and maybe one of my favourites for sure.

The Times brings Aerial to a close with sparse drums and a mellower mood to the last track. A real dubby number with echo injected drums and deep bass. Slow dark and dirty, to draw everything to its end.

2562 doesn’t have the same heart as people like Burial and Flying Lotus who have a more organic sound but if you love techno, tech-house and dubstep this album is a real treat. Its addictive I can’t stop putting it on, each track has something to offer. He makes me want to dig out my Detroit techno, Minimal, 2-step and breakbeat records and see what storm I can stir up. 2562’s Aerial is brilliant.

P.S. Last night it hit me that this album sounds alot like Phil Kerian's Pill Hearin' mockier and specificly the track 146 Ways from 2002, which is a techno/electro crossover with some heavey dub elements. The tempo would even fit to dubsteps.