ALBUM Various - Fullbarr Remixed Vol 1

It's great to see Fullbarr Digital getting the notice they deserve these days… it's proof that even the most resolutely underground of labels can 'break through' if they stick to their guns. It's doubly gratifying, of course, because Fullbarr is a label I've championed on here for a couple of years now… which is proof that TIWWD is the place to come if you wanna know what's up!

Anyway, to the album, which sees 10 tracks from the FD back cat to date given all-new mixes from the likes of Huxley, Ed Davenport, Youandewan, Death On The Balcony, James Teej and Danton Eeprom. And if uber-deep house and deep, dubby techno sound like your idea of fun, then suffice to say there's plenty to enjoy here.

Youandewan's Dour Version of Glieser's Kuiper Belt is one highlight, a seriously blunted trek into the inner space informed by the deepest realms of both dubstep and techno; Eeprom's rub of Midnite Radio's Lower Than will please the techno purists, while Henry Gilles' mix of Jan Tenner's Piece Of Cake is one of several very deep house gems.

All this, and they're from Bradford as well – what's not to love?

Out: This week

About: You can find Fullbarr Digital on Soundcloud, on Facebook and at their own blog.

Blu Mar Ten – Love Is The Devil Remixes Pt 2

Here we have a second twelve of remixes of tracks taken from Blu Mar Ten's recent Love Is The Devil long-player*. And what a delightfully varied EP it turns out to be!

The Beginning, as remixed by Joe Syntax, is the one straight-up D&B cut here, a fine 90s-style stepper – hype sheet comparisons to Full Cycle are perfectly justified. Elsewhere though, Blu Mar Ten get taken into other territories entirely.

In the hands of newcomer Sincopate – who won a Kmag competition to get this opportunity – All Or Nothing, originally a fierce-ish D+B roller, becomes a sunny, proggy/Balearic house cut. But as uplifting and drifty as that is, it can't quite compete for me with Blue Skies… or rather the Unquote Remix thereof, which takes what was originally a glitchy, techy slice of minimal D+B and transforms it into a moody, ominous slab of the deepest dubstep that Burial or Youngsta themselves would be proud of.

So basically, three high-quality tracks that individually will appeal to a wide range of DJs, or that collectively should please anyone with a broad mind and a love of well-crafted electronic music. You can't ask for much more than that really – if only all remix EPs were as adventurous and inventive as this!

Out: This week

About: This is out on Blu Mar Ten's own self-titled label via ST Holdings… and it's a strictly limited 12" pressing so get yer skates on! Oh yeah, and you can also find BMT on Facebook and Soundcloud, naturally.

*Though, to be fair, you'd probably worked that out already.

ALBUM VVV - Across The Sea

Bit late on this one, admittedly… but a) I did promise I'd post a review and b) it's too good to ignore.

It's being billed as 'future garage'… so, about that. It's a term I struggle with a bit, even though I've used it myself on occasion, cos much of what I've heard touted as 'future garage' tends to fall into one of two camps. To me it either sounds like 1. UK garage, basically, with nothing particularly 'future' about it however good it may be. Or 2. Strange downtempo, dubby EDM bizniss that might be futuristic, I might even like it, but it doesn't particularly have a lot to do with any form of 'garage' that I know. So I can't find much higher praise for Across The Sea than to say that this genuinely does sound like a fresh, modern take on the UKG blueprint – and for that VVV are to be applauded.

This has already been in Mixmag as 'dubstep album of the month' so a lot of you are probably very aware of it anyway, and as such I won't bang on too much. But cast your mind back to the late 90s/early 00s… there were hints – and by hints, I mostly mean Donna Dee's Spellbound, for my money one of dance music's most under-rated long players of all time – that UKG had the potential to mature into a music that was as suitable for home listening as it was for the dancefloor. Then the whole 'crews' thing happened and the whole scene descended into a fiasco of 'attitude', braggadocio and gunplay. Which was a shame.

Well, with Across The Sea, it's like that potential has at long, long last been realised. Moving seamlessly from heavy bass epics like Stuck Between, Under Control and Retreated, to the twitchy, glitchy two-step of All That We've Been Through or Across The Sea, from energetic hip-shaker Aisle Sea to the dusty, melancholic loops of Someday and Thick, this is an album that needs to be heard in full, several times, before it really starts to sink in.

But when it does, you'll be hooked. VVV good stuff indeed.

Out: Now… I'm not sure how long for, cos the website says December but I was told 23 March?! Anyway, see above.

About: This comes on Scottish label Fortified Audio, here's the usual links: website Facebook Soundcloud.

Oh yeah, and VVV are from Austin, Texas… which isn't as surprising as you might think given that, as I recall, Texas and Poland used to be about the only two places UKG ever made much impression outside the UK. Funny how these things work, innit?

Olie Bass Weight - Triton/The Void

Ha! Just when you were all nice and relaxed from the Proj3kt Dharma single, here comes some heavy, heavy dubstep to filth out your ears.

But not in a bad way. See, while the bottom end on the two tracks here is certainly dark and doomy enough to warrant Olie adopting the name he has, this is no horrible wurgh! wurgh! wurgh! kiddy chav-step gnarl-fest. The two tracks here are deep and dubby enough that even my girlfriend likes it (who is not, it's fair to say, much of a dubstep lass)… yet they've got enough low-end grunt to satisfy the most mangled of bass-face ravers at the same time.

Triton is the deeper of the two, The Void the more twisted and scary, and I think I'd plump for the former if pushed. But both are eminently checkable for sure. Excellent work.

Out: This week

About: This is the latest from Denver-based Section 8. If you'd like to know more, here's an interview with Michael Ramirez, who runs the label.

Various – Haunted House Sampler

Ho ho ho, merry Xmas everybody! And here's wishing you the very happiest of festive greetings for this joyous season of… no hang on, it's not Xmas at all, is it? No it's Hallowe'en, season of scary monsters, supercreeps, ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night. If only someone would put together a handy compilation of dark n' scary dubstep and D&B to suit the occasion… oh look, they have!

The good news, though, is that as compilations of dark n' scary dubstep and D&B with tracks called stuff like Werewolf and Tales From The Darkside go, this isn't actually the horribly gnarly kiddie-chav-horror-fest you might expect. There are one or two comedically gnarly numbers from the 'subtle as a slasher movie' school of thought, certainly. But generally speaking the darkness on the 20 tracks featured here comes as often from dark atmospherics and moody cinematic tension as it does from ridiculous saw-tooth basslines or someone shouting “I'm going to eat your brain.”

I'm guessing most TIWWD readers aren't that into horrorcore, gorestep etc and neither am I, yet there's plenty here I do like. Insatek's excellent deep, technoid dubstep outing Haunter, for one; or the vaguely Doc Scott-ish D&B workout Patterns Of Thought (also from Insatek), or Hue Jah Fink's Every Time, which is essentially yer classic Urban Takeover-style late 90s jump-up.

So… approach with open ears, peeps!

Out: This week

About: This trip to the darkside is brought to you by Section 8 Dub, those Denver-based stalwarts of all things D&B and dubstep-related. Section 8 actually tend towards the darker side of things a lot of the time anyway, which makes the pleasing restraint shown here doubly surprising.

FREE ALBUM! Echoes (The Remixes) - Renegade Media

Well then, here's a treat for a Friday night… a 12-track remix album from Renegade Media, the Toronto label run by rising world dub/reggae star Dubmatix. And it's free.

I won't bang on about it, cos you can hear it for yourself, obviously. Suffice to say if you like your dub vibes – from classic dub to digidub to dubstep – you seriously need this. And given the bargain-tastic price of precisely nothing, it'd be seriously rude not to grab yourself a copy!

Echoes (The Remixes Volume One) by RenegadeMedia

Out: Well, now, obviously. Duh.

About: As Renegade Media has just given me/you a whole album for free, it'd be rather remiss of me not to at least include a link to their website, n'est-ce pas? If you dig the above then there's whole lot more to love from this excellent label so go explore...

Bledbox – The Frogmen EP

Now here's a record that certainly couldn't be accused of being overly 'polite'. But don't be put off by the horror-tastic cover – The Frogmen EP isn't the horrible gore-step noise you might be expecting. Instead, it's dubstep of the kind that's big and bold enough to draw youngsters onto the floor to throw themselves about, yet has enough sonic depth to suit more discerning ears too.

The title track features a literal frog chorus (rhythmic ribbits, if you like), a suitably sub-aquatically bubblin' bassline and moody, glacial synth stabs. Storage Wars is dark and sci-fi-esque, while Ice Age VIP is more the kind of bass-fest that'll appeal to D&B lovers, but with a strong influence from the more esoteric end of techno as well (there's an 808 break in middle that could have come straight off a Drexciya record).

All told, a strong EP, and best of all, it's free to download! Rude not to…

Out: Now

About: To grab a copy of The Frogmen EP for yourself, hit up Dub Force One – the label responsible – on Bandcamp. Oh, and I should also thank the folks at Futuregarageforum.com cos that's where I found this one.

Vibration Lab – Forward Operation EP

Okay, so now we're up to speed let's crack on with this week's releases, and we'll start with this one… cos I've had this for a couple of weeks now and I've been dying to tell you about it! Vibration Lab return with more of their reggae-meets-dubstep vibes: there are six tracks on the EP and not a duff cut in sight.

Heavy, heavy basslines and sampled vox from the likes of Gregory Isaacs (I think, on So Fine) and Yellowman (for sure, on Forward Operation itself) are the basic order of the day, with the balance between the reggae and dubstep elements varying – Smiling Dub is just out and out dubstep really, while Try To Hurt Me is more or less straight-up (dub) reggae. But the quality shines through, throughout. Ital stuff y'know?!

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Mindstep Music, the deep dubstep label run by Rinse FM's DJ Crises, and you can hear it at their website. And here's their Facebook and Soundcloud pages as well.

Zerbaman - Dub Foundation EP

Time for some dubstep action, methinks. Been listening to quite a lot of dubstep lately and I must say, it annoys me when people dismiss it for the wrong reasons.

Some people seem to think it's all about cheesy Nero/Magnetic Man purple pop with the horrible AutoTuned pop vocals. Alternatively, they think it's all about the gnarly tear-out gorestep (AKA 'chavstep' round these parts) side of things. It's like someone thinking that Hed Kandi comps reflect all there is to know about house music! If those people would just dig a little deeper, they'd find quality nuggets like this.

There are three tracks on offer. Cagney VIP is an eight-minute cinematic number sprinkled with pianos - you imagine it'd work best in a DJ set as a tension-builder before a BIG drop. Laura is more ethereal, bordering-on-ambient affair, not a million miles from the dubbier moments on early Orb albums, and then finally, Foundation itself is another moody, midpaced soundscape piece with some fine analogue synths of the kind more normally found on nu-disco records and cheap 80s sci-fi soundtracks.

If you dig Burial, Youngsta or Distance, this is well worth checking.

Out: This week

About: This comes on US/UK label Plush Recordings. You can hit up their website for more info, or find Zerbaman himself on Soundcloud.