Back catalogue: Techno (Alles)

Review: One of the leading dub related labels to emerge in recent years, Avantroots project of taking dub as a genre to its furthest and freshest perspectives, while still showing the utmost respect for the history and the figures inside it, continues with this eye-opening contribution, 'Linval Thompson Meets Avantroots'. Featuring tracks from the likes of Deepchord, Pulshar, Deepnaut, and Braulio Lam, this latest project (as the name suggests) was led by the dub legend himself, Linval Thompson, who's list of credits and those he's influenced is pages and pages in length. 'World Crisis' is Thompson's key message, running like a refrain, re-emerging throughout the EP and finding new shapes with each artist's fresh approach. Deepchord's iteration, unsurprisingly, is the deepest of the collection, encircling and hypnotic it orbits Thompson's echoed vocals to perfection. Pulshar's take offers greater lyrical clarity, keeping the surrounding production minimal and delectably slow-paced, giving room for each element to breathe. Deepnaut's version is brighter, bubbling with the plucked samples of spaced-out electric guitar and expanding synth pads. Braulio Lam's offering, the final track on the release, is a more experimental, broken groover - chopping and shifting the vocals in a collage effect, refracting Thompson's message in order for it to be seen in a new light. A fantastic release to sink into - fully immersive and richly detailed.

Review: Reality Hacked Part 2 collects three more heavyweight remixes of key tracks from Lost Souls Of Saturn’s most recent album Reality. Among such jewels are the serene vocal lilts and trembling percs of UNKLE’s ‘Click’ remix, on which Lvv Gvn soars across the track in awestruck wonderment, and the playful wibbles and stark rhythms of Hessle Audio’s Pangaea on his version of the same. This second 12” in the Reality Hacked series rounds off on a heavy-set dubby take on ‘Scram City’ by Echologist.