Tuff Culture – Circles

Despite something of a revival of late, the TIWWD inbox isn't troubled by as much UKG as I might like… so to get a whole album of the stuff that's as good as this, is something of a rare treat.

There are ten tracks here, that between them take in most shades of garage music the UK has ever produced. I Wanna Hold You is a jerky, twitchy 2-step number with cut-up vox inna Todd Edwards stylee, It's Me & You is a bassier affair with ragga vocal flourishes, Need You Around is smoother, more commercial 2-step, Walking In Ecstasy works a classic vocal over big, bassline house-ish backing, there are more bassline-y vibes on the R&B-vocalled Temptation (featuring Miss Rhodes), Like A Star takes us back to the SG glory days (complete with a few cheeky, very familiar samples) and Enigma Dubz collab Maris flirts with future garage/post-dubstep flavas.

Consistent enough stylistically to feel coherent, yet varied enough not to get same-y, this is a must-check for UKG fiends.

Out: This week

About: This comes on LU10 Records – find 'em on Soundcloud and Facebook.

P-Note – Cosmic EP

Three tracks of deep and moody post-dubstep here from LU10 Records.

Ronin opens proceedings, alternating between sparse, twitchy, toppy rhythms and a jagged, wobbling sub-bassline. The other two tracks are credited to P-Note & Aftee: Drama goes down a slower, dub techno-informed route and is the pick of the EP for me, while finally Souljam takes us into more cinematic, bordering-on-ambient pastures, making you suspect P-Note might have one or two System 7 or Tangerine Dream records in his/her collection…

Three quite varied cuts, then, but those in search of cutting-edge sonic explorations won't be disappointed.

Out: Today!

About: LU10 don't give a lot about themselves away but you can find 'em on Facebook or at their own blog.

Seraph – The Rush EP

Not sure whether you'd want to call this 'future garage' or 'post-dubstep' or what, but you get the general idea!

Just the two tracks on offer. The Rush itself is big, sparse and steppy, its frenetic, twitchy rhythms overlaid with warm orchestral strings and echoing female vocals. The Climax, meanwhile, leans more towards the dubstep side of things, with wobbling bass and snips of rap vox but not, I should stress, in a stoopid gnarly electro kiddy kinda way.

All told: forward-thinking stuff that you should really check for yourself…

Out: This week

About: This comes on LU10 Records, who you can find at their own blog or on Facebook.

Total mega-armaggedon FREE DUBSTEP death overload!

Well well well… for those of you that like dubstep, here's something of a treat. LU10 Records have clearly been at the Christmas sherry a bit early and, suddenly full of festive cheer, they've decided to give you some tuneage for free. A free track? No. A free album? No.

A free whole whopping bloody great 70 tracks? That'll be the one.

Yeah, you read that right… that's 70, as in one more than something a bit rude, tracks of speaker-bothering, gut-churning, in-your-face gnarly dubstep and grime… with a few poppier UK funky cuts and some deeper gems to be found in there as well. And a bit of electro. And some bassline. Oh, and a half-hour mix from Hybrid Theory & Saila as well, so make that 71.

The phrase 'rude not to' doesn't really cover it. So here you go, then…

More Freebies Link http://www.4shared.com/file/VaZsr6Bv/Freebies.html by LU10 Records

Crump - Broken Thoughts EP

Don't seem to have had any dubstep on here for a while… people keep sending me lots of silly kiddly gnarly chavstep bizniss. But here's an altogether deeper and more satisfying dubstep/future garage EP to wrap your ears around.

Opener 5am sounds to me like how dubstep might have sounded like if it had been invented by Warp Records circa 1991, as resonating bass chords and glitchy, D&B-influenced percussion do battle with bleeps, analogue synth sounds and tons and tons of reverb. Broken Thoughts is a more melodic affair with a highly distorted, resung vocal refrain from Simonelli's garage classic Do You Feel Me? (released as NY's finest, and which in turn sampled it from Zhana's Sanctuary Of Love) over frantic snares and technoid rave-y bass. And then finally I Don't Want You is a big, dramatic stomper with almost Ibiza-eque pop/electro touches.

The first two have the edge for me, I think, but overall this is an EP that proves there's still plenty of fruitful exploration yet to be undertaken in this particular part of the electronic music spectrum.

Out: This week

About: London-based LU10, sister label to Four40 and Lepento, can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.