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More picks from my bulbous record bag… this sporadic feature seems to have slowed down a bit since I got a new pair of 1210s and I’ve started using ustream for even more sporadic shows. But here is another selection of music I didn’t get around to writing about elsewhere but just couldn’t help mentioning…

Non Person - Presenser / Mi Empress [Channel Zero]
After turning in one of my favourite recent mixes for Sonic Router the Finnish producer drops two twisted hip-hop infused dubstep gems for Clouds Channel Zero label. Mesmerising and dense but with an experimental playfulness these tracks shift and bubble in strange ways, seriously addictive.

Mark Pritchard – Elephant Dub/Heavy As Stone [Deep Medi]
Elephant Dub does exactly as it says on the tin, sounds like an elephant creating it’s own dubplate. Its such a heavy, plodding beast it makes you wonder if the complaints about half-step seem like a distant memory, until you hear a boring half-stepper… The flip channels FlyLo’s ‘Tea Leaf Dancers’ and an epic sense of soul into a deep heads down number.

Shortstuff/Taylor – Regression/Squeege [Wigflex]
Sublime 12” from Wigflex upping the game once more with Shorstuff bringing a flexible slinky ‘what you call it?’ number that echoes uk funky, broken house, grime, Detroit techno and dubstep all in one cohesive dance floor bomb. Taylor rolls out a slice of seriously blissfully melodic techno that feels like early AFX but built for the dance floor, playful, hypnotic with a pinch of melancholy.

SCB – 20_4/3_5 [SCB]
Scuba takes a brake from making techno infused dubstep and makes dubstep infused techno instead, and its way more different to how that statement sounds. He drops one of my favourite albums of the year so far and still has the pace to drop a couple of slow burning deep nuggets of techno bliss.

Desto – Disappearing Reappearing Ink/Broken Memory [Ramp]
Finally you can get hold of these tracks: bleepy computer game soundtrack eski-beat grime meets broken dubstep, again in Finland. Equal parts uplifting and playful as well as intense and heavy. Arpeggios squiggle and bass tones shake your chest plate. Both tracks nail it, more Desto please!

Rossi B & Luca – E10 Riddim/Police Are Come Run ft. Killa P [Planet Mu]
Massive riddim that fuses a funky carnival vibe with a hard hitting grime intensity to great effect, just like Lil Silva takes grimy bass into funky Rossi B & Luca switch it the other way around and absolutely nail it. Killa P turns in a hard as hell vocal version too completing a tough 12” that will be in my bag for some time.

Africa Hitech – Blen/Rmx/The Sound Of Tomorow [Warp]
Mark Pritchard joins forces with Steve Spacek for a brand new project that is looking very promising. Blen is a fuzzy digital dance floor beast that fuses an African house style party vibe with a Harmonic 313-like electronica, while the remix plays up the funky vibe more and turns down the digital aspects, both kill it. The flip flows on a meditative tip with an epic dreamy song.

LV & Untold – Beacon/(Mount Kimbie Remix) [Hemlock]
Big collaboration that I first heard in the mix Untold did for us at Sonic Router way back… A deep and warm dub style workout that clicks and winds with an organic eyes down dance floor experience. Mount Kimbie up the good time vibes and add a smidgen of glitch addled garage along with their addictive melodic sensibilities.

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Here’s another run down of random 12”s from my record bag that I’ve not wrote about else where. For more bass music recommendations you should check out Sonic Router too. Now get your ears round this lot…

BUBBLEZ/Lady Saw and Cecille – Move Down Low/Loser (BUBBLEZ Refix) [Devotional Dubz]
Funky Bashment refix action from Grievous Angel alter-ego BUBBLEZ. Raw energy harnessed for your dancing pleasure. Caned by Kode 9 with its grime meets house on a dark dance floor vibe, these are certified bangers.


Untold – Just For You/Just For You (Roska Remix) [Hotflush 2]
Future Jungelist flavours from Untold, it’s an energy rush of broken beats, Eski bass and space age synths. Roska flips it into a funky banger with ravey vocal snippet: when the bass changes up things kick off. Perfect.


Pangaea – Memories [White Label]
Soul shaking tear jerking future garage with a moving vocal that gets even the most militant headz emotional. It’s maybe the most beautiful dubstep track since Archangel, smooth and melancholy with a driving 2-step beat and catchy bass.


Johnny Clark Vs. Mala/Coki – Sinners/Gobblin [Ringo]
Mala goes deep as Coki goes bonkers. It’s been a long time coming, Sinners is a sublime dub drenched slice of pure mediation and loved up vibes it’s just amazing. Coki switches it completely and takes wobble to the EXTREAM, with a gnarly fucked up Gobblin bass and not much more.


Brackles/Brackles & Shortstuff – LHC/Sutorito Faita [Planet Mu]
Heavy weight duo fix up some future sounds, making bleeped out hybrids of garage/dubstep/funky out of the remnants of the Large Hadron Collider expeiment just before it rips the Earth a new black hole and we’re found floating round the International Space Station, well that’s what it sounds like anyway but with added Street Fighter samples.


Ramadanman – Revenue / Revenue (Untold Remix) [2nd Drop]
Ramadanman does it deep and techy as Untold ups the percussion, glitches it out and makes me want to mix it with Mala’s Left Leg Out. Original is deep and dubby with a subtle tribal groove that’s tight as fuck. Untold twists it into new shapes that only he knows the name of, I’d plump for it being something like a ‘gowreckthebass-ahedron’.


James Blake – Air & Lacktherof/Spring Horse [Hemlock]
‘Maybes’ ahem my favourite new artist since Mount Kimbie, who coincidently he works with providing vocals and suchlike (he’s a badman on the mic). This is some kind of twisted soul with a freaky post-dubstep vibe, it doesn’t sound like anything else and it’s beautiful for it.


DVA ft. Badness / Riko / Flowdan / Killa P – Bullet A Go Fly/Bullet A Go Fly (Dusk & Blackdown Remix) [Keysound]
Hardcore, dark as hell grime that only Keysound have the balls to release it seems… It’s hard to come by and hard as hell, pure violence, rudeboy riddims and a snapshot of what you don’t want to see round the next corner. The remix gives it a dance floor skip.

The Bug – London Zoo

London Zoo is the sound of the dirty under belly of the big smoke, with roots in dancehall, dubstep grime and techno The Bug brings a menacing modern soundscape to the table. This album is relentless and in your face, uncompromising and heavy as hell. Pretty much all the tunes bar one have some collaborative force involved with them the list is pretty impressive: Tippa Irie, Ricky Ranking, Killa P, Flow Dan, Aya, Warrior Queen, Spaceape and Roger Robinson. They bring some raga dancehall vocals to the proceedings. London Zoo is the hot, muggy, sinister atmosphere of our capital city.

Ninja Tunes have dropped a big one with London Zoo, The Bug mixes all the sounds and influences into a brilliant cohesive record. It comes off as some kind of new style dancehall with the deep dubbed out grime attitude of some dubstep. The musical backdrops to the very vocal heavy tracks suit the lyrical content very well indeed. Deep, heavy, claustrophobic and paranoid sounds are laid under tales of city struggles. London is described as a Zoo in the title and The Bug has a beastly primal energy to his music, and reflects the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the modern underbelly of the city. I can easily imagine this being pumped out of pirate radio stations all over London, the tower blocks shaking with the bass and clatter. This is the heavy, ‘I will take no shit’ cousin of Burial’s laid-back UK crackle drenched 2-step vision of the city.

The apocalypse sounds like it’s on the way, and we are in the middle of the war a hot dirty war in the jungle, of the twisted urban landscape, not to mention a dose of paranoia and terrorism. The lyrics deal with this subject on a few occasions. The opening track I’m not to sure about I have heard someone compare it to the Macarena and I know what they mean, it’s a hard ass version for sure but still has that cheesy edge. Skeng with Killa P and Flow Dan is a wicked tune with deep and dirty dancehall dub vibes and a nice 808 bell for good measure. Too Much Pain is a spooky little number with soulful dancehall vocals, an irresistible and dark track. Jah War is another beauty with that ace dancehall zoom zoom sample I love about that kind of music. Fuckaz with Spaceape is some deep dub poetry with a growling bassline. Freak Freak is the only instrumental on London Zoo and it’s a beauty with massive bass and even a little bit of Burial crackle (tm) thrown in for good measure. Warning is a beast with Flow Dan on the mic and huge clattering drums. Poison Dart is one of the best tunes here Warrior Queen brings it to the table in style, the Skream remix can be found bellow too. The final tune brings a little smidgen of light relief, sort of, with a slowed down soulful dancehall dub number. The Bug has made a brilliant album.

The Bug Space

Kode 9 album preview mini mix

The Bug Feat. Warrior Queen – Poison Dart (Skream Remix)

The Bug Feat. Ricky Ranking - Flying