Bleep

Burial - Untrue

When Burial released the single South London Boroughs back in 2005 it marked a shift in music. His reinterpretation of UK dance music, from the tripping gait of garage to the ambiguity of bass line, into bittersweet anthems all made by a producer whose identity remained defiantly in shadow, have been unquestionably influential. His first self-titled album for Hyperdub brought him further plaudits, the spectral underbelly of rave resurrected, its glimmering rhythms and heart-thumping bass built to make bodies move but also to touch the soul.

The follow up Untrue is possibly even finer. Shimmering with the hauntological ghosts of a London after hours, the gloomy, rain splashed corners of post-rave twilight. Punctured by pitched up, fractured voices lifting the mood to a bruised euphoria, woodblock two-step keeps the rhythmic pulse burning while glistening ambient interludes ache the heart. ‘Untrue’ is an album that deserves every accolade, and in years to come it will still rightly be lauded as one of the greatest records of all time... simply flawless.

Nomine - Inside Nomine

Making good on a promising run of murky, spaced-out singles for Tempa, Nomine turns in this effective, pared-down debut. As the opening vocal samples and dubbed-up instrumental of Blind Man demonstrates, the essential elements of dubstep are at the fore here. Lomine plays with a palette of deep bass throbs, blissed-out melodies and ethereal atmospherics to create a dubstep-rooted LP that effortlessly transcends the genre tag. Learning from forefathers like Mala and even some of the Hyperdub camp, Inside Nomine is – as the title suggests – a complete body of work, exploring and presenting this producer’s sonic standpoint.

Commodo - Dyrge

After a relatively quiet couple of years since the release of his first LP in 2016, Commodo returns to Black Acre (The Maghreban, Romare) to show everyone how it’s done. The four tracks of Dyrge prove that Commodo has few peers when it comes to assimilating a wide range of sounds into dubstep and vice versa. The title track and ‘Leeroy’ show a little influence of trap and Road Rap in a manner similar to some other recent drops out of Bristol. ‘Bitch & Moan’ is a cool confluence of dubstep, hip-hop and a sort of post-punk/free jazz sound reminiscent of some of Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition.