Manasyt: Filthdonor
Terminal Dusk

Emotional Joystick / Line 47: Meet Uptown
Terminal Dusk

Komonazmuk: For Real / Love
Terminal Dusk

Three solid new releases from Terminal Dusk definitely reward the listener's attention.

Manasyt's (Bulgaria-born Petar Tassev, who moved to Detroit and is now back in Europe, “somewhere” according to the Terminal Dusk site) brain-addling mini-album Filthdonor is definitely one hardcore electro ravers will want to gnaw on. Kommando 6 and Touchin' Bass vet Tassev gets his claws dirty with nine hardcore samplings of filthy industrial electro created during 2005-06.

Tassev sets the mood with limb-severing beats, buzz-saw bass, and synth swarms in “Everyone Missing” and then weighs in with goosestepping acid-electro (“First Mission to Oberon”) and maggot-infested madness (“Dentist Artillery”). Side A simmers to a close with the dark “Information Retrieval” before again chopping heads on side two: hammering beats slap the listener awake in “Sick Logic,” a subterranean bass line growls throughout “Year of the Devil,” and a whiplash pulse gooses the gurgling robotics of “1984.” New pals Snakes & Duck spray artillery fire over fiery acid-stomp in “Izon VIP,” a volcanic remix of Manasyt's “Izon Industries.” Admirably intent on wasting no one's time, Tassev wrestles nine cuts into a mere half-hour total.

Drawing from the classic dub of dub pioneers like Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, Emotional Joystick (Thomas Wincek) and Line 47 (Scott Weber) split five cuts over two vinyl sides. Emotional Joystick subtly pulls the listener into “Neverending Dub” with rippling waves of piano and melodica that blur into a jaunty backbeat groove while the melodica sings its lonely song ever-so-gently overhead. The considerably looser “Babylon” (a live take by Emotional Joystick plus other musicians) exudes a jazzy and spontaneous character—not a bad thing necessarily—but the tune ends up sounding less focused after the taut opener.

Fault's ‘Sound From Light' dubstep treatment of Line 47's “Creations,” on the other hand, sounds downright beautiful, especially when its clattering rimshots elastically echo and its bass throb and melodica turn eerie. Captivating too, Line 47's original pushes dub's trademark reverb to its zenith; the loping groove is deliciously stoked by detonating snare cracks and a ghostly saxophone. “Serpent Dub” cools down the pace a wee bit, just enough to let the melodica's gentle melody call out amidst the skanking rhythms. Superb stuff all around though side two's especially fabulous.

Komonazmuk (UK artist and Ice Minus Recordings associate Keiren Lomax) issues two blazing dubstep epics on his 45RPM 12-inch. A side “For Real” slowly swells into a prototypically dystopic throwdown prodded by wobbly bass, echoing voices, and bulldozing beats with a mid-song breakdown that lets strings surge into position before the drum crunch reasserts its dominance. An ascending female vocal hook echoes across a creeping pulse in the other side's “Love” while the cut's lethal vibe is intensified by marauding bass lines and dark string stabs. Put simply, ten glorious minutes of high-octane dubstep heaviosity.

June 2007