Juno Recommends Dubstep Best of 2018

Review: Croatia's Ognjen Zecevic, otherise known as Egoless, has been absolutely smashing over the last three years, with releases for imprints like ZamZam Records and Deep Medi Music instilling his sound at the top of the contemporary bass game. To that point, here he is on Youngsta's Sentry Records, home to producers like dBridge, Caspa and Gramz - so you know the quality is on point. The title tune "Decolonize" is an Eastern riddim, mashing up tough dub-steps with flutes and chimes from the Levant; "Global" keeps that narrative going with some Middle-Eastern melodies blended up and filtered-down into a heady, percussive groove for the ultimate mood-switcher.

Review: It's been a while since Archiver launched his I & I Musik label with the "Pusherman" dub but he's back and it's a serious thing. Gravity weighs off every word Ras Tinny spits. A stern story of greed's vicious pyramid laid over some springy kicks and ebbed textures, it's an alluring attack of both thoughts and senses. Alpha Steppa takes it deeper into the dance with a heavy pressure skank on the flip. Highly recommended.

Review: Recovering from the damage caused by Caspa's "Gutter Riddim" earlier this year, Youngsta's Sentry returns with a rightfully-hyped newcomer Gramz. Following a strong range of flips and self-releases, here we find the UK talent in full vinyl mode with two ridiculously on-point 140 jams. "Dip Dip Potato Chip" is every bit as tasty and filling as it sounds. Trippy, slurring and woozier than a disgraced celeb, this one sucks you right in and doesn't even bother to chew you up; it just swallows you whole. "Illa" takes the freakiness to even more refreshingly vital levels with its pitched ghetto vocals and drill-like snares. As with all previous Sentry releases, this is nothing short of essential.

Review: Up there with Swindle and Joker, dubstep's funkiest OG Silkie returns to Deep Medi with three more sublime grooves. Broken, cheery, just a little cheeky and swooning with switches, each of these cuts rattles and bashes with Silkie's signature west- coast-meets-UKG-in-a-long-dark-Croydon-tunnel melting pot: "Impervious" flips from orchestral epic to dreamy flutters before dropping into 80s horn funk with mischief while "Reevea" is Silkie in classic "Poltergeist" mode. Finally "Egyptian March" is straight out of Indiana Jones. A jittering snake charmer that has you going from nought to rolling under stone doors and grabbing your hat in 10 seconds. Silkie you absolute don.

Review: Debut release from Greg Ault and Joel Cresser-Brown aka Halcyonic & G Roots (Transient Audio/Suspect Packages) on London dub champions Lion Charge, featuring the MC talents of Tenor Steppa. Bass driven dub reggae with deep roots on A side cut "Holy Dub". The flip welcomes Belgian Digid back to the label, with his heavyweight Steppa's remix featuring the same Jah vibes as heard on countless releases for the likes of Moonshine, Dubbing Sun and Archetype in recent times. Proper sound system music.

Review: Premium US bounce: Boston bassmith AXH lands on Joe Nice's Gourmet Beats with an impeccable fatty man jam. Lolloping with a warm springy dubwise bassline, classic vocal samples and a washed-out skank it's a timeless vibe that will remain in boxes for many many seasons to come. Looking for a touch more rough? Flip for Abstrakt Sonance's wretchedly ragged version. Essential.

Review: Returning to Melbourne based Modern Hypnosis is local DJ Adam Dickson aka Pugilist with some frantic and hyper aware bass assaults - Aussie style! This follows up some terrific releases in recent times on Navy Cuts, Artikal Music and Green King Cuts. On the A side, we have the entrancing polyrhythmic workout of "Cha" which is geared for some deep meditation on the dancefloor, guaranteed. On the flip is the modern jungle deconstruction of "Syncopate" which builds the tension and suspense with its intricate riddims and rolling bassline.

Review: Hand stamped, vinyl-only, Lion Charge roar again. This time it's all about Boston's AXH who ploughs through the noise with a rumbling classically-tuned dub piece with kicks heavy enough to crush your house. Flip for a barbed version excursion from Alter Echo & E3 Moonrise where the lines between dubstep and dub techno are so thin they vanish before your ears. Don't sleep on this one.

Review: The latest weighty four-tracker from Seven's Uprise Audio imprint comes from Indiji, an artist who has previously released a handful of digital-only singles. This first appearance on wax is a typically atmospheric and low-slung affair. On the A-side you'll find the tumbling sub-bass, mid-tempo beats and dreamy pads of "Original Pressing", where metallic hits and dub delays help create a thoroughly mind-bending mood. Flip for the more obviously reggae-influenced "Dubwise 07", all intergalactic electronics, ricocheting riffs and soulful vocal samples rising above a booming, deep dubstep groove, and the more atmospheric "Release", which boasts stabbing sub-bass motifs and an extended, utterly blazed intro.

Review: Epoch returns! And he's packing some of his rarest steez since "Soundboy Abduction". All air raid sirens, trippy widescreen basses and a scientific spoken word all comprise to form a brutal wall of sound slo-mo drama on "V1" while "Roacher" bubbles with a technoid sense of playfulness and unpredictability. Finally "Rib Cage" takes the surreal sensations to even higher levels with a melting intro, nagging hi-end percussion and the strangest harmonic strings ever to grace an Innamind release. Truly singular.

Review: Taking a savage bite out of 2018 before January is even out, Artikal don J:Kenzo strides forth with two show-stopping cuts. "Shark Eye" has all the killer instinct coded deep into sprung drums and restrained but ominous bass growls. "Asutoraru" on the flip drives with more of an upbeat feel thanks to its rolling percussion, staccato riff and pneumatic, soul-flattening kicks. We're going to need a bigger sub.

Review: Don't be fooled by the title; this ain't no sampler from Skeppy's fantastic debut album Enjoy This Trip, these are two fresh new tracks that remind us the Exit artist depths and versatility. His first 140 jams in a while, "Paper House" shudders under the weight of DRS's crystaline poetry while "Nebula" shoots us to the edge of the sub bass cosmos on a rocket made of spacious, skippy beats and shows us no way of returning home. It's the trip that keeps on giving...

Review: Sometime Tempa regular turned enthusiastic label-hopper AXH pops up on Boka for the very first time. As usal, there's much to set the pulse racing and get the guts trembling. He sets the tone with opener "Tokyo", where percussion hits and exotic Japanese samples fizz above a ragged sub-bass assault, before wrapping ear-pleasing far eastern melodies around a punchy dubstep groove on "Devilman". Over on the flipside, "Gamera" is another sub roller powered by ten-ton sub-bass, while "Indokashira" is as sweet and melodious as they come, thanks in no small part to the presence of a particularly bluesy vocal sample amongst the typically rolling rhythm.

Review: Kromestar's upped his activities lately; the emotional dust of his orchestral "Against All Evil" EP hasn't even started to settle and here he is with two more iced out steppers that he's been teasing us on dub for the last year. "Savage" is as savage does... A quintessential Kromestar joint that could have rattled scoops at any year in the last 15. "Righteous" is a deeper spacious jam laced with sweeping stretched textures and a clockwork rhythm that does nothing short of hypnotise. Classic Krome.

Review: Since making his debut under the Headland alias a couple of years back, New Zealander Gene Wariner has showcased his brand of deep bass-weight vibes on such labels as Innamind, Well Rounded Dubs and, most recently, ZamZam. Here he adds another label to his already impressive discography via a tasty two-tracker on System Music. Opener "Young Blood" begins with scene-setting spoken word samples and the introduction of a twinkling synthesizer melody, before the Kiwi producer slams in crispy dubstep beats and a warm, weighty bassline. While impressive, it's flipside "Witness" - a properly smoky, dub-wise exploration rich in pulsing, razor-sharp analogue electronics, speaker-busting bass and clandestine aural textures - that hits home hardest.

Review: Bristol bass fusionist Peverelist looks back a decade to the heady hurly burly of 140 music in 2008 and his intrinsic role within its development. "Bluez" remains as timeless and breezy as it ever did. Lightly touched and clearly inspired by the Goodlooking chapters of jungle, it's now been remastered to stand up against today's productions. Meanwhile on the B we have the long lost dub "Und_92". A much dubbier technoid piece that, in hindsight, was a key stepping stone en route to his respected position in techno today. Ageless.

Review: Since delivering his first 12" four years ago, Theo Bennett AKA Sepia has become once of the most celebrated producers on the deep dubstep underground, delivering singles for Gourmet Beats and Infernal Sounds - amongst others - that push the style's accepted boundaries. His first Wheel and Deal outing ticks similar boxes. He begins by encasing crunchy beats and heavy sub-bass in chiming music box melodies on "Last Chance Saloon", before doffing a cap to grime on the intoxicating, near tropical heaviness of "Kira". Turn to side B for inspired Koma collaboration "Embalment" - a stuttering, shuffling treat rich in atmospheric chords and ear-pleasing melodies - and the more dub-wise pressure of closer "Frequency".