Juno Recommends Dubstep: October 2022

Review: J Kenzo's music continues to get remixed by a wide of top talents on this ongoing series from French label Artikal Music. Starting off this one is 'Like A Hawk' (Boylan remix) with its tortured synths and crashing hits all heighten by the vocals delivered with a nasty snarl. Mani Festo then steps up with a remix of 'Deadbull' that is all bleeps and squeaks and broken techno beats while MYTHM slows things down to a predatory crawl with fizzing electronics and earth-shuddering bass. The closer from Unkey is a sparse, unsettling dubstep lurcher for the small hours.

Review: As the artist alias suggests, Widow is a master of the uneasy, the unsettling and the unnerving. Here he makes a splash once more with a sophomore EP on Deep, Dark & Dangerous. Opener 'War' features Logan as well as plenty of bass weight and hits that echo off into the darkness next to the precise bars. 'Deadman Tales' is another eerie late night stroll through a deserted cemetery at Halloween and then it's a Widow remix of 'Startfire Muse - Shadow Bonnie Lullaby' that builds the pressure and releases it in emphatic fashion. The short but sweet 'Rabbit Hole' brings this dark trip to an end.

Review: Sneaker Social Club is one of the UK underground's most low-key and underrated albs if you ask it. It has always and quietly gone about its most excellent business and by now has amassed a very decent back catalogue. Next up to add their spin on the continuum of UK sounds this label deals in is Patrick Brain. He opens on a dubstep tip with 'Flooring It' then explores hustling UK funky drum patterns on 'Cry-Baby' and eerie metropolitan broken beats on 'Nothing No1.' The flip side offers three more twitchy, futurist fusions of trap, bass and dubstep that will get you skanking in no time.

Review: There has now been sufficient distance since the original dubstep movement that the sound seems to be coming back in fashion. And with plenty of top artists out there making music like this there is no reason why we shouldn't all be here for it. Crowley and Schi join forces for this one and open the account with 'Moraal.' It's a stripped back tune with skanking low ends, spares hits and plenty of urban atmosphere. 'Skitta' then drops even more echoing hits over a flashy and flabby bottom end designed to sink you in deep. On the flip, 'Wervel' comes first as a haunting and edgy stepper then and snaking low-end wobbler in the hands of Zygos.

Review: Two certified dubstep donnies collide for 'Ascension', a unique album that explores 140 music from the system roots to the very outer edges. Made remotely during the recent frustrating years, the pair developed a strong creative code and built a body of work that taps into Nomine's 'Blind Man' signature but trembles with that minimal Mondays vibe Youngsta famously pushed. This 12" is a great snapshot of the LP with some of the beguiling features; Breezy Lee brings a Portishead like earnestness on 'Catch Me', there's the disarming violin work and stark bass tones on 'Chasm' and Lelijveld's spelling-binding whispers on 'Hidden' will stop you in your tracks. '528' takes us far east for a final blast of special inspiration. A unique set.

Review: Stalwart labels like Warp Records and Brainfeeder's parent company Ninja Tune are in the mood of reinviting many of their legacy artists to release new music, with fantastic results. In the case of Kuedo, he was active in the post-dubstep and future bass eras, but it wasn't clear as to how his music would stack up in the early 2020s; until now. Adding further cleanliness to an already glossy post-trap production style, 'Infinite Window' is the perfect marrying of Vangelis-bass, 'wave' music, and new age jazz tropes. Like Rustie's 'Glass Swords' for patricians, Kuedo finds himself pensively pondering planetary anxieties via synth-wash dissociation on this new one.

Review: With one half in Canada, the half in the UK, and one foot in D&B and the other in dubstep, Mystic State have cover vast space both physically and creatively. Back on Artikal for the third time, the duo remind us of their skills and low end prowess once again. 'Gallows' kicks off with PAV4N taking the lead mapping out existence and deceit over the wavy 808s. Deepness ensues... Both 'Blinded' and 'Understand' are pulsating, hypnotic pieces of work laced with trippy percussive elements while 'Inner Sanctum' finishes the EP with a mystical flute-flexing twist. Stately.