Bleep

This one needs no introduction really, but for those who don't know Horsepower Productions are rightly considered as pioneers of bass music having cut their teeth in the early 2000's with a string of seminal recordings mixing Detroit techno and Basic Channel dub with a jungle swing/sensibility for pioneering dubstep label Tempa. Gorgon Sound, an early 12" by the group was described by Martin Blackdown as like 'Basic Channel garage.' Here they return with the first new album in six years, the super sub-heavy bass weight of Crooks, Crime & Corruption. The ten tracks on show blend a taste for club styles with an ear for sounds that are reaching further than the rest.

Opener Legends sets the tone in fine style, hushed vocals get pitched down while uttering the true to life status legends over a rolling breakbeat mixed with a back-in-the-day subs rising FWD atmosphere. GBU produced in collab with Version's Orson (a regular promoter of the more early 00's bass club night Version in Berlin) diverts its attention towards the deep house racks of the record shop while Justify continues this path while keeping the vibe in a full frontal montion. Bak 2 NY does as its name says with a New York house sound and a signature Benny Ill swing on the drumz. Kuriosity and Boardwalk Emperor 2 tread similar paths with swirling vocal samples laid over peak time tech-house vibes destined to be deployed by those in the know in the coming weekends.

The LP's absolute banger though has to be Change, sounding somewhere between a lost and battered DMZ dubplate and with a rude boyz sino-grime undercurrent. Ruf Justice also picks up that original dubstep sound and flips it on its head proving that the industrial urban decay of the mid 00's dubstep (gorgon) sound can still do the damage when in the right hands. While Good Ole Dayz (L.P. Version) shows the other side to this sound with a broken beat wobbler. Reeling out the darkside mechanics Criminally Insane closes up the occasion with an absolutely slammin' amen break junglist tearout. Horsepower prove they are the true dons of all street sounds and trades with Crooks, Crime & Corruption, an album already set to be a future-classic deluxe.