Juno Recommends Dubstep April 2019

Review: Fresh from featuring alongside Lapo on Moonshine Recordings, Agostino Isola AKA Ago returns to the Innamind Recordings label he's long called home. It would be fair to say he's in fine form, too, serving up a double-EP of melodious, atmospheric cuts that pepper the deepest of dubstep riddims with a variety of smoky samples, blissful lead lines and becalmed chords. For dancefloor play, the highlight is undoubtedly "So I Smoke", where echoing female vocal snippets bounce above dub bass and punchy drums, though "Deer (Dub)" - a rumbling club revision of included ambient cut "Deer" - is similarly impressive. Highlights elsewhere across the EP include the trip-hop style stoned beats of "Dragon Love" and the wind chimes-sporting bliss of "Above".

Review: Fresh Sector 7, Bristol's Drone makes his debut on V.I.V.E.K's System Sound with two smoking slabs of bass weight. "Amphibious" funks up the radar for a bleep excursion through the swampiest of textures with only a trippy riser and noir spoken word. Flip for "Lucid Dreams" where things take a creepier undertone thanks to the cavernous space, waterdrops, roomy switchy kicks, pranged out reverse manoeuvres and a sub as thick as marmite. Immense.

Review: We're not sure who Leftlow is/are but anything with the System stamp of approval passes all necessary filters. Especially when the lead track whisks you straight back to 2006 with the squelchiest hook this side of "Cluedub"'s dub dungeon and a sub grumpier than thunder. "Boa" is a little more contemporary in its minimal Rotterdam style. Strange, stripped back and sprung with a peculiar bounce that's as addictive as it is trippy, with its soft, subtle kick it's a genuinely unique piece of 140 craft. For good measure Skeptical swings by for a knock out remix of "Cluedub" where even more flabby low end gets baked in the mix. Don't get left out.

Review: Toronto's Distinct Motive returns to Truth's triple D stable with four more outright stinkers. Opener "Radar" has been huge for those lucky enough to have it on dub; all infectious and bleepy but not overly so while "Itchy Fingers" grizzles and grunts with a loose but savage groove. Deeper (and darker) into the EP we hit the 2007 feels of "Loose Pimp" while "Crazy" closes with a little nod towards to the instrumental grime motifs; all string plucks, glacial feels and smoking 808s. One for the radar.

Review: Get comfortable, light something fragrant and settle in for the night: Von D and Moresounds are back with more dub-wise dancefloor selections. Ragga/dancehall MCs Murray Man and Ganja Tree star on headline attraction "Firm & Strong (Disco Mix)", a hot-stepping, dub-fuelled dancefloor romp that sits somewhere between deep dubstep and the 4/4 stomp of UK steppas. The track's dancefloor dub roots are explored further on "Firm & Dub", whose ricocheting, delay-heavy musical flourishes ride an even tougher variation of the duo's killer groove. "Strong Dub" is, as the title suggests, an even wilder and more high tempo dub style revision that sounds like a mid '90s Iration Steppas jam.

Review: This one has been floating around for a while amongst a select few and they're as eerie, creepy and high in tension as its title suggests. "Bram Stoker" is based around a taut violin string line that raises the pressure and atmosphere as more elements such as the warm kick drums and added symphonic affects weave their way into the mix. On the flip, "Dracula" goes straight for the bite with neck snap beats, junglised subs and a sharp grime jilt to the momentum. Blood-suckingly good.