future dub/dubstep/bass music/supergroup

Influential dub producer Adrian Sherwood teams up with influential dubstep producer Pinch for a joint (haha) album of heavy, dubby bass music with its reggae and soundsystem influences worn proudly on its sleeve. Lots of guest reggae vocals, but their contributions are woven in as another instrumental element. Reminds me a lot of what got me interested in dubstep when i first heard about it: atmosphere and mood via dub techniques, interest in the common rhythmic ground between reggae and 2-step garage, serious focus on low frequencies, grimy night time music.

RIYL: distance, pinch, shackleton, lee ‘scratch’ perry, mad professor, depth charge

1. beat starts sparse with slow shuffling hand drums, big but not huge, echoed cymbals and other metallic things. gradually builds, drops out for a bit, then becomes steadier and fuller. shadows of that 2-step/garage shuffle, midrange laser bass, sub bass rumble underneath. like classic dark dubstep circa ‘07. false stop just under 1:00 from end. 3:43
2. skipping crunchy slightly echoed percussion, joined by drier snares and really echoed vocal fragments. skipping kicks, echoed explosion sound, track implodes on itself briefly and gets going for real just before 1:00 with slinky 2-step garage swing. dark like night time but not like a bad mood. lots of sampled reggae/soundsystem chatting. dissolves into atmosphere for a bit again in the middle before coming back. 4:18
3. opens with skipping/shuffling 2-step beat, metallic echoes that turn into snaking metalic tones, some midrange bass. the real bassline kicks in just before 1:00, weighty and undulating, kind of growly, but not tooo dirty. echoed vocal fragments in the background. beat drops out into growing echo in the middle, crashes back in a bit more subdued after a few bars. subtle laser sounds throughout. 4:52
4. here’s where the dub/reggae influence comes more to the fore (and not just because of the “maaarijuana” chant throughout). opens with thick bass, echoed ethereal hand drums, and some ringing over all that (maybe ring mod on the bass). clicky sounds like guns being cocked. big drums, but without too much attack. around 1:00 it takes off a bit more, with some grimier high end, slightly more aggressive drum sounds, and shimmering/rippling synth lines over top. beat drops out around 2:00 and echoed pads build up, beat slowly comes back. 3:36
5. future dub slow jam. static, echoed watery piano, bird chirps, cooed female vox in background. loping kick with shuffling cymbal, rhythm gets more pronounced reggae skank around 1:30. lots of beatless atmospheric punctuations. 5:05
6. punchy kick and echoed hand drums. atmospheric pads rise slowly, female reggae vocals. growly midrange synth and heavy but relatively clean bass tones. kicks get echoed/stuttery once the beat takes off. clean, springy, preoccupied but not too downcast. 3:48
7. starts with heavy machine whirs in static, then comes woozy echoed half-step beat with crunchy kicks. menacing vocal samples, cavernous bassline (with occasional very subtle wobble). beat drops out and “your head will become a crazy bulbous punch bag of sound” and other screwy vocals in the last :30. like the dark kung fu sampling stuff from depth charge or shadow/cut chemist (but more disorient[ed|ing]). 2:47
8. booming slow kicks, quick claps, snares in between. big descending synth hovers starting just before 1:00, plus halting echoed chopped piano. some low rhythm guitar later, high chanted vocals. metallic laser synth for a bit later on, beat gets a bit stripped back towards the end. 3:16
9. skipping heavy bass with growly surface, rapid reverbed hand drums, tones from some sort of mallet struck instrument floating above, south-asian tinged string tones and vocal samples. small tentative piano fragments in the home stretch, beat stops and starts at points but stays focused. slow and slinky and relentless. 3:34
10. discrete sub bass pulses do the job of both the kick and the bassline. rolling echoed snares and hand percussion. ethereal male reggae vox reminiscent of horace andy. plaintive/hopeful echoed piano floats in at the end and stands alone for the last few moments with a halting end. 3:53

recommended: 9, 5, 3, 8