2562 – Unbalance [Tectonic]

Dave Huismans’ debut album under the 2562 name Aerial won me over completely, the techno-infused dubstep sound really stood out. Tracks like ‘Kameleon’, ‘Channel Two’ and ‘Techno Dread’ to name but a few light up dance floors with a full on propulsive sound. Aerial to some was a little cold and greyscale, you could see where those where coming from but that was part of the charm for me. But since them the ever-prolific producer has been working on his other project A Made Up Sound, with plenty of 12”s and a whole album sneaked out at the end of last year called Shortcuts under the name he explored his sound and created something altogether more fluid plus he strayed into different tempo’s and got a warmer sound going. This seems to be an important move that’s rubbed off onto his 2562 project, as his second album Unbalance takes on a lot of these qualities.

An unnamed intro melts into a deep bumping techno groove that is ‘Flashback’, 2562 uses the techno/house pallet of sounds and twists them into bass addled variants that can sound so intense on a big club soundsystem. If you want techno with a bigger kick and a low end to die for you get it here, but its more than that there are subtle melodies and loops all over this record along with off-kilter rhythms to get you bumping on the dace floor. If you heard the Shortcuts project you know that 2562 can bring a more organic edge to his work than that on show on Aerial but where Shortcuts was really just a bag of sketches with plenty of ideas and snapshots of grooves and beats and Aerial was a huge almost compilation of well tested floor shaking 12”s morphed into an album, which worked damn well if you ask me… Well Unbalance kind of bridges the two by taking some ideas worked out in Shortcuts, the flowing off-kilter rhythms and techno pallet and marrying it to the fully formed dance tracks of Aerial to make pretty much the perfect combination of both.

‘Lost’ and ‘Dinosaur’ take subtle loops and paint quite beautiful pictures with them. ‘Lost’ drops soulful vocal samples and the mesmerising string loops on ‘Dinosaur’ make for one of the many highlights, when they play off the serious sub bass, broken techno drum patterns and playful bleeps you get a really joyous track.

The title track ‘Unbalance’ melts out of some field recordings and crackles into some subtle droning loops that create an uneasy atmosphere which builds before its cut through with some deep dubbed out keys and bass pressure before a lilting drum pattern gets the head nodding. He takes some deep house or techno sounds and moves them through dubstep into new territories with each track. There are other producers doing similar things but with very different results, Untold’s recent experiments marry eski grime beats with these techno/house sounds and makes an insane combination as does Ramadanman often resulting in a minimal stripped back sound. But 2562 has a sound of his own here.

The acid bubbles of ‘Superflight’, ‘Flashback’ and the closing track ‘Escape Velocity’ sound like a combination of A Made Up Sound’s Clone Basement Series 12” and the new sweeping human sounding version of 2562, the latter being an almost retro sounding Detroit number with a futurist vibe about it and a highlight for sure. I keep wanting to put this in with techno but in reality next to a lot of the genre this is just to intense, fast and bass riddled its all the best bits of techno but wrapped up with the added bonuses of dubstep.

The mournful synth tones of ‘Yes/No’ even sound more joyful and humane compared to the debut’s glassy eyed stare. This track is like the dark side of the kind of euphoric ‘Love in Outer Space’, which was a single not so long ago and features smeared glowing synth lines that flow into strange melodies. But ‘Yes/No’ does it in a subtle almost sad way and the latter makes you want to throw your hands in the air and shake one to the electro pulse.

Disjointed subtle clicks and rumbles kick off ‘Who Are You Fooling?’ with some droning soulful organ tones and sidestepping spaced out broken grooves, the track really builds tension. ‘Like A Dream’ also comes on like a twisting building tension fuelled broken acid track. ‘Narita’ is on a similar tip to ‘Yes/No’ but with a bumping bass groove and dub ascents along with a subtle yet driving bongo workout.

2562 is as consistent as ever but then Tectonic don’t do it any other way, Unbalance is a fantastic singular vision that can be enjoyed at home as a swirling broken techno infused dubstep record or in the dance with its relentless bass pressure and skipping rhythms. The deep dub techno sound is one that really made me fall for dubstep and dig deeper and this is probably the most fully formed dub-tech infused full length yet come in close with his debut Aerial and Martyn’s fantastic Great Lengths from earlier in the year. Plus with Shackleton just releasing three EPs at once for Perlon and Peverelist soon to release his full-length collection on us things are looking mighty healthy. Unbalance hits the spot and always gets a reload.

http://www.myspace.com/2562dub

http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

Exodus & Room 237 Presents: Jamie Vex'd / 2562 / Youngsta & SP:MC / Neil Landstrumm / Clark @ West Indian Centre, Leeds. 25th September 2009

It’s been a little while since I went to the West Indian Centre to soak up the sounds coming out of the almighty Iration Steppas Soundsystem, I mean everyone has been away for the summer ripping up Croatia and all sorts so I guess I can be forgiven… But this line-up has brought me out of the woodwork and walking into the main room to hear Digital Mystikz Anti War Dub just proves it was the right decision.

Saying that though the place was a little empty during Computer Controlled DJs set, which was really surprising as I’ve only ever been to the West Indian Centre when its been packed to the rafters. They played a well nice selection of all things good and bassy though from DMZ beasts to grime bangers, there was even a bit of funky in the form of Bok Bok’s recent outings in that sound, this didn’t bring on loads of dancing and movement as I expected though, I guess Leeds is more of a dubstep town right now as that always gets everyone moving be it lad or lass. The addition to the main room of a projector and a dude in the corner freaking about with pictures and film was pretty cool though.

Unfortunately Sigha whose productions I really love was in the second room at exactly the same time as Jamie Vex’d who I kind of wanted to see on the huge soundsystem so I only caught a few moments of his set but the bits I saw where well nice and its wet my appetite for more. I was also really surprised to see Jamie Vex’d playing so early but the place soon packed out and he built one hell of a set, he crossed so much gowned and so effortlessly. Everything from his own productions like the quality Twitch remix and other Planet Mu bits, all the way to Terror Danjah grime instrumentals such as Sidechain and the Swindle remix of Zumpi Hunter, or Grievous Angels well nice 2-step re-rub of Napath’s Sounclash VIP. I almost bust a gut when he dropped the Zomby dubplate Murcury’s Rainbow…



Which popped up on youtube a while back (see above) and maybe a Blackdown Rinse FM show but that’s about it and there is no word yet of a release, in fact it’s the most Zomby I’ve heard on a night out. I had reservations about some of the One Foot Ahead Of The Other EP on Ramp working on the dance floor but when its powered through Iration Steppas I guess you don’t have to worry about that, everything sounds so alive and HUGE. This was followed swiftly by Untold’s amazing Stop What You’re Doing, which I’ve been aching to hear out for ages now, and it really does sound different the no beats, pulse bass freakout really hits the spot for me the tension the lack of beats bring is just something else, then coupled with the Zomby dubplate which is of a similar vibe all be it more psychedelic just slayed it. Things get a bit more blurry as the bass rumbles and the red stripe flows but this is still the first set of the night from one of the big guns… plates from The Bug were a plenty, to the delight of my sister who loves to shout Bug lyrics at me, but only while not shouting the lyrics to Next Hype of course… which also popped up in the mix accapella style over some unknown bass heavy shakers. Skream, Piddy Py and Distance even got a look in, who insanly got mixed with a does of R&B in the form of Timberland yet it worked far to well and made me wonder why he hasn’t reached for sub bass himself… along with the smeared wonk of Tiago with his swirling Bable Fish a track that has been on my radar for a while but I never expected it to sound so fucking good out this loud, the bass pulse that kicks in half way through is something else. This really was a far-reaching set mixed quick and on point on laptop and controllers, I almost felt sorry for 2562 following it as a lot of BIG tracks had been played and I don’t mean obvious bangers just MASSIVE sounding twisting turning genre escaping monsters.

After a break for air entering the main room again to see 2562 playing to a spindly crowd was a real disappointment, its like we had entered a whole new club. He was playing his own brand of rolling dubbed out techno that really contrasted the sweeping flailing twitched out, smeared synth wonk and far reaching magpie set of Jamie Vex’d. When you got deep into it though and put the small crowed out of your mind the beats where so bumping and infectious that it was hard not to move, almost everything I heard sounded like 2562’s productions but I spotted some new Untold in there too. The room filled more over time but it was still a bit disheartening to see it like that when he’s one of the leading lights of the scene, making some of the coolest, skippyest rolling dubstep meets techno around. But then after Jamie Vex’d it was easy to see why people needed a break and even the big boys on Warp and Planet Mu didn’t pack out the crowds like I thought they would. Landstrumm played a mad set that sounded like an OCD kid who had learnt to make all of dance music’s past on toys, so you got electro addled grimey, dancehall, rave, techno hybrids of all styles and tempos at the drop of a hat. You never knew what was going to happen but he locked into things long enough to keep you moving and tease you before twisting into the unknown again. I also checked out quite a bit of Youngsta at this point who was rocking it with SP:MC, I’ve never felt so hypnotised by a dubstep DJ before it was none stop deeper than deep half stepping dubplates that would have sounded like chillout music anywhere but the bassy backroom of the West Indian Centre on the Sweat Potato Soundsystem… or you know others like it. A hell of a lot of it sounded like Kryptic Minds with the odd bit of Skream’s dark side thrown in, everything worked so well and really wet my appetite for DMZ next week in the same venue.

From then on tiredness set in and after a very brief brush with Clark and unfortunately missing Distance altogether we left into the night on a fucking long drive home to the county with the bass resonating loud in our ears.

2562 – Love In Outer Space/Third Wave [Tectonic]

Dave Huismans is back with another slice of 2562; this one almost sneaked out with little notice after the fantastic Tectonic Plates Vol.2 12”s and compilation, but it wont stay unchecked for long this is quality. Two tracks of pure fire are held on this disc.

Love In Outer Space is defiantly THE one, fusing his love of techno sounds and super skippy grooves to create a monster. You can hear elements of Detroit and old Acid records in the bleeping tweaking synth lines, but at the same time it doesn’t really sound like anything else out there right now. The skippy swung beat programming is something else, taking tight and punchy electro drums and twisting them out into strange new shapes. It’s the synths that give it the Outer Space feel the title suggests, first to appear is a pulsing, ascending-descending arpeggio before the soulful spaceage pads build tension and shift from mellow to discordant and pitch shifting new sound as the track rolls, almost like the neon smear Kode 9 has been deploying of late but not quite its got more of a Deep Space 9 feel rather than a Kode 9 feel. This has to be one of the best 2562 tracks around right now.

Third Wave is a deeper less twised affair with a 4x4 pulse that shows off Dave’s techno leanings in full effect. It may almost be techno but its still got that funk and swing with the added percussion bringing some flavour. Deep atmospheric synth lines keep things rolling as dubby tweaks and pulses finish the track off, its got this hypnotic feel for a real eyes down shuffle. It’s a subtle little dub techno number that could add a nifty four to the floor action and energy to your sets that’s for sure.

Yet more quality from 2562 and Tectonic they’re flying the flag for deep and techy sounds in dubstep and always pointing the way to new and interesting takes on their sound.

http://www.myspace.com/2562dub

Dubstep Allstars: Vol.06 Mixed By Appleblim

This is one hell of a mix and I have been listening to a lot of dubstep mixes recently, its had some tough opposition to go up against, from the likes of Kode 9 Vs. FlyLo and Martyn. This album is a up there with the best of them though and a perfect show case for the cutting edge of the dubstep sound right now. Appleblim is a sublime selector of the finest dubplates new and old, he makes this instalment of Tempa’s Dubstep Allstars shine.

I’m familiar with some of these tunes already and they fit so well in this mix. Artists such as 2562, Martyn and Ramadanman have all been mentioned on this blog before, on Vol.6 they continue to bring the sweet noise with them.

Preverelist catches my eyes and ears with his deep dubby sounds with a slow crunching echo to them. Appleblim even proves himself to be more than just an amazing record selector and mixer by colaberating on the Apple Pips release Circling with Preverelist. The two opening tracks then melt away into the soul tinged Get Up by Pinch that is now maybe a Dubstep classic with its 2-step rhythm and vocal funky house leanings.

The next two tunes are 2562’s Moog Dub and Martyn’s Suburbia these tracks are just pretty much perfect to my ears anyway. Both of them perfectly sum up this new tech driven dub sound. They also start to bring the mix into its element by upping the anti a little, each track builds and builds the flow of the mix its pretty special. 2562’s album seems to be selling well if the Boomkat top sellers chart is anything to go by and this Martyn track must be well hot too as I can’t find it on 12” at all.

Jus Wan reminds me of a break beat tech house mash up with of course a heavy does of dub. Its also another fine release from Apple Pips, this new imprint has got lots going for it right now. The filtered twinkle of the synths make this track a real treat and add that deep Basic Channel duby techno sound to the mix. Which is handy as the master of that kind of mash up is up next in the blender: 2562 and his sub bass monster Movern. This has an almost four to the floor kick to it and it really ups the tempo a notch, and veers into full on techno territory more so that any other tune so far. The bongos and bass keep it routed in the dubstep though with its funky swing.

TRG & Selector Dub U bring some nice clicky percussion into the proceedings and a stop start flavour to the beat loop that makes the building synth really come out and move you. Perverelist is next up and its his third track on Vol.06 so Appleblim obviously thinks highly of him. This time it’s a more upbeat and techier number as appose to the more dub influenced slow beginners. Ace tune too, the break down sounds like a heart beat that stops as the bass and synth take over again.

Now past the halfway stage, and Skream makes an appearance with an exclusive on a dubplate. The mix really picks up with this one, you can really hear the techno influence shining through in the beats and pace, well more the feeling than the tempo as dubstep is quite a bit quicker than techno. RSD has a old skool drum’n’bass feel to it like super sharp shooter by Zinc or something like that but updated for the techy dubstep crowd.

Mungo’s Hi-Fi and their track Babylon is kind of like the midsection breakdown tune. With its ace dubby intro of reggae sample giving way to an irresistible growling dirty baseline. The name and sound of this tune gives me images of long lost dub sound systems and open-air parties with BBQ’s and beers.

Komonazmuk brings the techno four to the floor dubstepping right back into it with two slices featuring him in a row. The first Bad Apple on his own and the second the excellently titled Cheeky Herbert with Gatekeeper. At first I though Komonazmuk was a Japanese name but then I read it again and it sounds like a pun in Yorkshire. Any way these two tracks are absolute bangers and propel this mix further to its peak. Dubstep some how manages to be fast yet sound slow all at once, because of its dub style that adds a spacyness to the 140 odd BPM tempos. Cheeky Herbert is maybe one of my favourite tracks its so dirty and has some wicked funky samlples.

TRG smack out a trio of tracks now two being remixes by two of the scenes bright lights the first being Ramadanman and the second being Martyn. First up is an original TRG joint though. Its more deep dub fueled stepping this time its pretty quick and sure to get the floor moving. Ramadanman pulls out a cracking mix of Put You Down that has a tight electro sounding drum that skips and pierces your ear as the bass messages you from deep down. Martyn’s mix of Broken Heart is just ace another contender for track of the compilation. A looped sample of warm sounding synth drops into a ravey motif that is just brilliant.

The final track is by Gelom Featuring Marita it’s the dubplate version of Reminissin’ it has a 2-step feel to it and a thumping four to the floor beat. Some nice vocals to end the mix on a high and with a smiley tone to boot. Then it’s all over leaving you gagging for more and a rewind.

Appleblims mix for Tempa’s Dubstep Allstars is a real treat for your ears. One of the very best DJ mix albums I have heard since Villalobos’s beast on the Fabric series. The flow is exceptional the tune selection spot on every tune leads perfectly to the next and makes the journey a real treat. I can’t wait to keep listing to this stuff, keep it up Appleblim.

I’m not sure how to follow that now so I’m off to go and watch Marth Marenghi’s Darkplace...

The Dubstep-Techno hybrid: DubTek, Tech-Step, Dub-No, Who knows?

Along with the Wonky revolution in dubstep that is being championed by the likes of Fly Lo, Rustie and Samiyam there seems to be another side bubbeling away that take influence from techno, tech house and minimal. I’m going to call it Tech-Step maybe, any way the purveyors of this sound seem to be people like 2562, Ramadanman, Martyn and maybe the main figure head Appleblim. Of course Kode 9 has his feet in pretty much all camps at once with his supurb Hyperdub label. But I will no doubt do a post dedicated to him some other time.

On with the Tech-Step AKA DubTek! I guess I first became aware of this sound when hearing Ricardo Villalobos dropping dubstep in his minimal mixes and that opening my eyes to the possibilities; Ramadanman’s Blimey was dropped recently as the opening track in one of his sets. Also the Villalobos mix of Shackletons Blood On Your Hands is phenomenal and well worth its wait in the dubstep/minimal hall of fame, if that existed. In the mean time this sound has been bubbling under and brewing some brilliant sounds. Villalobos has been making more tunes that slide nicely between the two genres since as well.

Appleblim’s Dubstep Allstars Vol.6 may well be the definitive document of Tech-Step-Dub-No to date, I will talk about that one another time though, as I haven’t heard it very much yet, to do it justice. I have however heard an amazing mix he did on Sub FM, which I will put a link up to at the end of the post. It opened my ears fully to this dubstep movement and got me pretty excited. He effortlessly mixed between minimal sounds and dubstep tunes you often couldn’t decide what was which it was brilliant. Appleblim owns Apple Pips and co-owns Skull Disco too with Shackleton.

Martyn has been making some noise and stiring some genre spanning all of his own. He is a Dutch producer and DJ who owns 3024 Records and releases on Apple Pips as well. Martyn’s sound is techey and stepy hence the name I guess, he is similar in some ways to 2562, yet not as deep and dubby. He is a jack of all genres; he has shown this by not only playing awesome tech infused dubstep sets but by also warming up fabric with a four to the floor techno set. Examples of these brilliant mixes bellow.

2562 has made an amazing album called Ariel that I reviewed right here on this very blog not long ago. So I wont go into to much detail right now, but its techno style dub beats echo great sounds from Detroit to London.

Explore the sounds bellow and enjoy your Tech-Step (Well that name seems to be taken, so any takers on DubTek?) journey as much as I have done and will continue to do…

Appleblim’s Sub FM mix

Track list:

01. Ghislain Poirier - They Wanna Know [Tax Records]
02. Keith Worthy - Deep for Days [Sistrum Recordings]
03. Radio Slave - K-Maze [REKIDS]
04. Intrusion - Intrusion (CV313 Reduction) [echospace [detroit]]
05. Ricardo Villalobos - Electonic Water (San Proper's 'It Ate My Quarter' Mix) [Perlon]
06. Shed - Warped Mind [Ostgut Tonträger]
07. CH-Signal Laboratories (8003 Lucerne) - Hypnotica Scale [Sandwell District]
08. Peverelist - Clunk Click Every Trip [Unreleased]
09. Footsie - Pissed [White]
10. Geiom feat. Marita - Reminissin (Kode9 Remix) [Forthcoming Berkane Sol]
11. Jus Wan - Action Potential [Unreleased]
12. Martyn - General 73 [Unreleased]
13. Pangaea - You & I [Unreleased]
14. Spherix - Look Back [Unreleased]
15. Headhunter - Physics Impulse [Unreleased]
16. Burial - Pirates [Hyperdub]
17. Jus Wan - Affletic [Unreleased]
18. DLX - ??? (Breakage Remix) [Unreleased]
19. Unknown - Untitled [Unreleased]
20. Digital Mystikz - Misty Winter [Soul Jazz]
21. Ramadanman - Bidding War [Unreleased]
22. Sharmaji - Qalandar [Unreleased]
23. Martyn - Vancouver [Forthcoming 3024]
24. Appleblim & Geiom - Shreds [Unreleased]
25. Joe - Grimelight [Unreleased]
26. DJ Madd - In The Lounge [Unreleased]
27. Ramadanman - Untitled [Unreleased]
28. Instra:mental - Futurist [Unreleased]
29. Komonazmuk - Light [Terminal DUsk]
30. Unknown - At Dub [Unreleased]
31. Peverelist - Gather [Unreleased]
32. Burial - Exit Wounds [Hyperdub]
33. Distance - Fallen [Boka]
34. Cyrus - Banshi [Unreleased]
35. Gemmy - Back 2 Da Future [Unreleased]
36. Joker - 80s [Forthcoming Kapsize]
37. RSD - Prophecy [White]
38. Joker - Snake Eater [Unreleased]
39. Mala - Da Wrath (Souljahz VIP Mix) [DMZ]
40. Unknown - Murderah [Unreleased]


Martyn’s Rinse FM mix

Track list:

1. martyn - natural selection (3024)

2. slaughter mob - no snare (?)

3. skream - trapped in a dark bubble (?)

4. martyn - suburbia (applepips)

5. geiom - reminissin' kode9 remix (berkane sol)

6. trg - broken heart martyns dcm mix (hessle audio)

7. horsepower productions - hand of death (tempa)

8. benny - jahroel (?)

9. pantha du prince - florac juswan remix (tube)

10. martyn - vancouver (3024)

11. shut up and dance - epileptic martyns no strobe mix (suadrecs)


Martyn’s Fabric techno mix

Track list:

01. Omar-S - Untitled (FXHE)

02. Recloose - Soul Clap 2000 (Planet E)

03. Tikiman - Spend Some Time (Burial Mix)

04. Ripperton - On Falling (92 edit) (?)

05. Robert Owens - Bring Down the Talls (Trax)

06. Sonja Moonear - 99 Erikas (Karat)

07. Westpark Unit - Blaxrotation Suite mix (Farside records)

08. The Timewriter - Never Stop (Plastic City)

09. Roy Davis Jr. - My Soul is Electric (Large)

10. Ripperton - Tainted Words (Connaisseur)

11. Marc Schneider - Sniper Heat (Wasnotwas)

12. Theo Parrish – Can’t Take It

13. Agnes - Hi Murda (Perspectiv)

14. Ame - Basic Track (Innervisions)

15. Andomat 3000 & Jan - Entr'acte Music (Cadenza)

16. Andy Stott - Fear of Heights (Modern Love)

17. Common Factor - Get Down 3 (Playhouse)

18. DJ Minx - A Walk in the Park (Villalobos and Cassy remix) (Minus)

19. Frivolous - Sooo Savvy (Scape)

20. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Mederico (Oslo)

21. Jobim's Causin - Comerte (Cargo Edition)

22. Loco Dice - A Chico a Rhytmico (Cadenza)

23. Atjazz - For Real (Version mix) (Innervisions)

24. Cobblestone Jazz - India in Me (Wagon Repair)

25. Dennis Ferrer - Son of Raw (Loco Dice remix) (Objektivity)

26. Junior Boys - Like a Child (Carl Craig mix)

27. Kenneth Graham - Love Dialed In (Visage Recordings)

28. John Shananigans - Charles on the Dancefloor (Cynosure)

29. Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer pt 2 (Playhouse)

30. Maurizio - Domina edit (M)

31. Deadbeat - Abu Graib Reconfiguration (Scape)

32. Mike Shannon - Ghost Writer Blues (Cynosure)

33. Mark August - Old Joy (Connaisseur)

34. Sid le Rock - Naked (DJ Koze mix) (Cereal/Killer)

35. Matthew Dear - But for You (Ghostly)

36. St. Germain - Rose Rouge (Rhadoo edit)

37. October - Homo Sapiens (Caravan)

38. Pole - Duesseldorf (Mike Huckaby’s SYNTH remix) (scape)

39. Substance & Vainqueur - Surface (Scion Versions)

40. Beat Pharmacy & Tikiman - Hot Spot Splash (Deep Space Media)

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.