Dusk & Blackdown, Margins Music [Keysound, 2008]
Blackdown is Martin Clark, famed dubstep blogger for the original Hyperdub.com (now with his own) and contributor of the "The Month in Grime/Dubstep" articles for Pitchfork Media. Dusk is Dan Frampton, his frequent collaborator and DJ partner for Rinse.fm. This is actually the debut album for both, though no two could be considered more veteran of the dubstep scene. Blackdown's music has always had a very transparent Asian influence, and that continues on here, expanding into India with "Kuri Patacka" and "Rolling Raj Deep", the former being the most unique Eastern themed dubstep track since Geiom's "Pheli Nazir". Margins Music, while very varied in its sound, is loosely themed around the melting pot that is London, and Dusk and Blackdown allow vocalists the opportunity to almost steal the show to sell this idea. But the production is just too crisp to ignore. "Con/Fusion" is the epitome of the Asian-themed dubstep Blackdown's explored for years, and the ever-changing beat of "The Bits" flexes so much production muscle, it's almost begging for an instrumental version that isn't clouded by Trim's interesting, if somewhat juvenile, rhymes. With all the variation, there are some missteps (the Durrty Goodz collab is kind of a throwaway), but overall this is an incredibly solid statement from two dubstep stalwarts finally synchronizing their experience for the album format.