ARTICLES
2006 Top 10s and 20s
2006 Artist Picks

ALBUMS
17 Pictures
Angina P
Ateleia
Benni Hemm Hemm
The Boats
Cappablack
Celer
Dead Letters Dead Words
Deceptikon
Deerhunter
Denzel + Huhn
Displayaz
Dollboy
Drone
Eluvium
Emanuele Errante
The Eternals
Fear Falls Burning
Marcus Fjellström
Fonoda
Funkstörung
Goldfrapp
Gyroscope
Robert Henke
James Holden
The Idealist
Anders Ilar
Landing
LCD Soundsystem
Library Tapes
L Pierre
Lullatone
Tor Lundvall
Mad EP
Mahogany
Melodium
Mem1
Daisuke Miyatani
Mole Harness
Momus
Monoceros
Mormo
Mothboy
Original Hamster
Pierson & Horton
Prince Valium
Radical Face
Retail Sectors / Yaporigami
Rylander & Elggren
Scott Solter Plays PIM
Sideshow
Silicone Soul
Skream
Splinters
Mark Templeton
Thread Pulls
T. Raumschmiere
Tycho
Ultre
Virculum
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
AudioArt 03
Cumulous
Dubstep Allstars Vol. 4
Eriksen / Toft / Utarm
Katapult VA Vol. 3
Let's Lazertag Sometime
Mr Geoffrey & JD Franzke
Skagen / Halvorsen / Toft
Tectonic Plates

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Gabriel Ananda
Robert Bardini
DAT Politics
Dead Letters / R. Sundin
Dogmixer
Benjamin Fehr
Fenin
HL
I Make This Sound
Zoë Irvine
Kyriakides and Moor
Lamont & 2tall
Ljud. & Piloten / Kama Aina
Jacob London
Sam Mcqueen
Miskate
Ryo Miyashita & Hiiragi_
[nara]
New Faces
Of / Greg Davis
Charlemagne Palestine
Phon.o vs Litwinenko
Portable
PostPrior
Samarah
Nicholas Sauser & Ditch
Someone Else
Hannes Teichmann
Tractile
Andy Vaz

IMAGES
F.S. Blumm

Skream: Skream!
Tempa

VA: Dubstep Allstars Vol. 4
Tempa

Tempa continues to assert itself as one of the definitive dubstep imprints with its latest Allstars volume and an hour-long artist release by Croydon prodigy Skream (Oliver Jones). It's probably no coincidence that “Tortured Soul,” the opening cut on Skream's eponymous outing, begins with a string motif markedly like one Bernard Herrmann used in his seminal Psycho soundtrack. That's merely the beginning, however; Jones adds bongos, a few well-timed synth and horn figures, and a lethal snare whipcrack to the song's lurching pulse. Yes, Skream's wobbly dubstep can be menacing—deliciously so—and his album offers repeated proof of his mastery of the form. Adrian Revell's serpentine flute dances hypnotically alongside the woozy sub-bass and snare cracks in “Rutten” while “Midnight Request Line” knits electro arpeggios, razor-sharp handclaps, and a skeletal dub bass into a commanding snake-charming groove. But, to Skream's credit, instead of 14 variations on the theme, he broadens the template with horn-driven dub skank (“Blue Eyez”), ragga (“Check-it” starring Warrior Queen riffing on “My Guy”), grime (the marauding “Tapped” featuring a tough vocal by JME), and even soul-jazz (“Summer Dreams,” primarily a showcase for trumpeter Martin Shaw). And, notably, Skream's sound is not solely lugubrious; a surprising amount of sunlight offsets the darkness. It's not all fantastic—“Auto-Dub” sounds like one-note filler next to the stronger cuts—but such moments are rare. More typical are infectious pieces like the dub-ska workout “Dutch Flowerz” whose singing bird-like melody gets deeply under the skin, proving that Skream's equally adept at tackling genres in addition to dubstep.

Skream appears throughout the double-disc Allstars volume, as do Loefah, Digital Mystikz, DI, Headhunter, Benga, and Kromestar, making it a ripe overview of the scene. The release—two dread-filled, bass-throbbing hours of oft-reduced dubstep—is split between heavyweight DJs Youngsta and Hatcha, with the two deftly splicing 18 and 26 wobbly cuts respectively into ultra-potent mixes. For the most part, the mood is so fraught with tension and rife with impending threat, you'll be darting glances over your shoulder even when listening safely in your living room. Skream's “Dub Period” eases the listener into Youngsta's set nicely with a skeletal pulse bolstered by slamming snares and dive-bombing synth sputter before segueing into Loefah's equally hypnotic “Ruffage”; peak moments include Loefah's venomous mind-number “System” and Headhunter's creeped-out “Descent.” Among the highlights of Hatcha's slightly more uptempo and dubby mix: Skream's “Dutch Flowers,” “Blipstream,” and “Me Love It” (a vocal-less “Check-it”), Benga's jazzy “Broken Step,” and Digital Mystikz's wiry “Clash.” Poisonous in the best sense of the word, the discs' material infests your psyche like a cockroach scooting around inside your cranium.

January 2007