Kode9 / Space Ape: Backward
More downbeat dub with anthemic plinking synth hooks. Not as good as Kingstown but fabulous nevertheless. Space Ape reasoning in particularly good form. 9 Samurai you should know — that familiar “Test Dept does Prokofiev” Soviet horn figure with really rather bouncy filtered breaks and a lovely near-square-wave descending bassline. Really, really good and shows again that Kode 9 is taking dubstep back into grime and then onto something else entirely. A record you really will still be listening to in five years time — get on with the LP please Steve, I want to listen to a whole record from you!
Scuba: Harpoon / Dream
Paul Rose delivers a very fine slice of spacey, rich yet discordant tekky halfstep. Got that whole Drexciya ting going on but at half speed. I very much doubt that the rumours of this being the final Scuba are true; I certainly hope not cos this is very cool. Again, when’s the Hotflush CD compo coming?
DJ Distance: One on One
I passed on this first time and probably will again — it’s good but just a bit too banging for no reason. I want a summer of dubstep soul. Call me an old fart.
Virus Syndicate: Ready to Learn
That “ready for love” helium sample turned into a crunchingly grrovy bit of grime-step. Cracking record from just over the Snake Pass. Trim, Jammer, Ears and Fallacy (who?) voice the remix flip, ‘Major List MC’s’, which is more discordant but equally hooky. Great record.