Deep Dubstep

Review: 3WA returns to Foundation Audio with a monsters stepper that will loosen your bowels thanks to its serious low end wobble. The opener is the chief example of that with its stuttering kicks and prickly hits all underpinned by a warm, wubbing undercurrent of lovely bass. 'Old Mount' has another bottomlessly deep low end and lithe, shiny synths bring to mind an urban metropolis late at night and 'Bloody Mess' then cuts loose muffled vocals and slapping hits overlaid with manic melodies straight from an early computer game soundtrack. Closer 'Worms' slows things down to a predatory crawl.

Review: For the latest volume in FatKidOnFire's vinyl series, boss man Will Benton has handed over the reins to Foundation Audio founder Chad Smit AKA Chad Dubz, a producer who can usually be relied on the deliver the sub-heavy goods. He begins by joining forces with Biome on '455', a laidback but weighty slab of punishing dubstep creepiness, before uniting with Eddy Seven on a fine fusion of bassline style warped bass and crunchy post-dubstep beats ('Strictly'). He goes solo on 'Nilaari', an aggressive and angry slab of dancefloor dubstep peppered with 8-bit electronics, before DJ Madd delivers a sparse, stripped-back and insanely sub-heavy re-wire of '455'.

Review: While his Six Sunsets partnership with Drumterror has become a staple feature of the UK bass music scene over the last five years, Luke Chipperfield-Outing has not released that many solo singles as Ekula. For that reason, this rare outing on Encrypted Audio is a significant release. Title track 'It Goes' is particularly potent, with Chipperfield-Outing peppering a weighty, post-dubstep rhythm with cut-up male vocal samples, UK garage style synth stabs and pleasingly glassy-eyed musical flourishes. The producer's UKG influences are also evident on 'Club Banger', a fittingly titled number that smothers a hardcore style breakbeat in female vocal samples, pulverising sub-bass and speed garage-inspired organ stabs. This hardcore revival vibe continues on the EP's closing cut: a rave-igniting revision of 'It Goes' from UK bass stalwart Benny Ill.

Review: Bristol boy Khan remains a leading light on the bass heavy end of the city's electronic spectrum and follows up a thrilling three-way collab with Ishan Sound and Rider Shafique from earlier in the year with a new down and dirty ditty. 'Imhotep' (named after an Egyptian chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser, who was also an architect responsible for the Djoser's step pyramid and high preset of the sun god Ra) is a mysterious tune with real warmth. The skeletal beats and hits make the groove while sustained pads and distant motifs all draw you in deep. Boofy remixes it into something a little more direct but just as deep.

Review: London's Encrypted Audio are back with a new release by Stockholm's Kloudmen, who started sending music to the label back in 2015 - that chief Content described as 'next level'. Getting rinsed by major scene players such as Caspa and Hatcha played a large part in this EP's early potential. By now ENV 0121 would mark their seventh release for the label, where the duo collaborated with Kevin Clark aka REZ, a producer out of St. Louis, Missouri. Featuring the brooding atmosphere of deep dubstep jams such as 'Problem' and the contorted, off-kilter beat action of 'Paracusia', while on the flip Clark goes solo on the darkly dystopian dub of 'Politics'.

Review: Koma is one-fifth of Chonk Mob as well as being a fine solo artist. He was a late arrival to the Encrytped Audio family but more than made up for it with his standout offerings. This time out he offers a bootleg of Bazzi - 'Mine' which has a pained vocal lead and dragging trap beats all finished with some cloudy synths and crisp hits. It's a deep and tender cut then on the flip he serves up 'Alicias Keys'. This one rides a rising chord vamp and jittery but weighty beat with fizzing static, bright synth stabs and glassy melodies all adding light and future soul.

Review: After an eight year hiatus, London-based label No Comply are back. Ever eager to feature new talent, they turn to the talents of saxophonist Jake Marlow. His stellar performance across the two tracks here belies the fact of this being his vinyl debut. The comeback effort exists in the form of 'Cloud Chamber' a deep, dubby and jazzy experience, while evocative and sensual at the same time and venturing into chill territory. Dubstep juggernauts N-Type and Kromestar provide what the label best described themselves as "a high pressure, melodic remix." Limited to 300 copies worldwide, this unique collaboration is not to be slept on.

Review: From pioneering trip-hop and the foundations of underground sounds in the late '80s with Smith & Mighty, to writing some of the most seminal bass tracks of all time under his RSD alias - it's fair to say that Rob Smith is a legend. Bristol-based label Foundation Audio are once again pushing the future sounds of dubstep here, and are proud to present this red hot 10" by the man. On the A side, we have the deep down and dirty dub of 'Old Fish' that's sure to get a reaction or two in the dancehall, followed up on the flip by the echo-laden low end theory of 'Shell Fish'.