BIODUB Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Luscious, densely layered dub techno here from Germany's Patrick Wurster on a full length release. There's the reverberated downbeat bliss of "Playground Mystery", the impressive homage to Basic Channel on "Unite" (complete with Tikiman soundalike Ray Darwin) and "Ear Traffic Control". "Reduce Resist" and "Turquoise Blue" are the kind of sublime and immersive exercises in deep bass therapy that would impress Rod Modell himself. The title track closes out proceedings with the kind of delightfully smoked out vibes learned from listening to Rhythm & Sound that are often imitated but never matched. Biodub puts in a pretty damn fine effort though, we'll say!

Review: The Espectrum compilation series from AvantRoots has apparently been a year in the making, with the label striving to pull together only the finest exponents in Dub Techno. Volume 1 arrived back in April and set a pretty high bar in terms of quality, but AvantRoots have truly outdone themselves with this second edition. The label say they set out with a very precise idea for Espectrum, looking for tracks that were "carefully built with hypnotic, obscure, dense, and magical sounds with an eternal hook." It's no surprise to see the godlike figure Deepchord present and correct then, with the truly remarkable opening track "LS3/5a". From here, "Mozambique (Babylon mix)" sees Euphorion draw us deeper into the dub, whilst Duplicator's "Souldance" offers a more genteel take on the genre. Biobub rounds it out with the dancefloor cut "Napoli". Here's hoping for many more editions of the Espectrum!