Box Cutter: Brood b/w Sunshine
On Hotflush of course, Boxcutter shows off his phenomenal high tek skills — Brood is half step hyped up with vast timestretched breaks, and i wouldn’t be out of place in a Si Begg set. That’s a compliment by the way, I like Si Begg, and I like the way that a lot of Dubstep from Vex’d and Mark One outwards reworks the breaks blueprint. It’s not as good as the visceral cthonic impact of DMZ gear but then, what is? B-side Sunshine is, well, dubstep gone jazz funk — and it’s great!
Random Trio: Cyrus EP
Cyrus’ first proper release is an odd bag but it’s a grower. He doesn’t do the wobbly bassline thing (no, don’t tell me you’re bored with it, I don’t believe you), rather he focuses on extremely sparse tunes that lead on bongo hits with sub bass that is very, very subby — scarcely worth playing at home actually cos you simply won’t hear the bass (it’s present on my studio monitors but not on any of the hifi’s I’ve got). here is a bit of a “Cabaret Voltaire B-side” syndrome going on, but when it comes together on tracks like Indian Stomp it rocks — try this track in the mix, you won’t believe where it takes you.
http://www.randomtrio.blogspot.com/
http://www.randomtrioproductions.com/
Dusk and Blackdown: Submerged / Drenched.
On a similar note is Dusk and Blackdown, about whome one could almost say, welcome to the Drexciya of dubstep. We’re talkin widescreen, down-tempo, somewhat abstract dubstep that is occasionally (and wisely) laden with strings. It’s not a brilliant record, but it is very good, and it’s just a taste of what’s coming: the new EP, due in May, is vastly better and Lata in particular is going to catapault them into the stratosphere. Still, I’m glad I’ve got this one – though I quite fancy hearing it on CD. (Any chance, Martin?)
http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com
D1: I Believe b/w Belong / Steamroller
I think this EP is maybe not quite as immediate as some of the D1 stuff out there; Steamroller is probably the most memorable tune here, but that might be just because it’s (to me) the most familiar. Even so, it’s brilliant music.
Loefah Vs Skream: 28g b/w FearlessLook, I’m not even going to review this. Just buy it while you can.