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Image 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.

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Indie Pop
Image One Little Plane, Until [Text, 2008] One Little Plane is the project of singer/songwriter Kathryn Bint. Her gentle voice covers subdued guitar and gentle percussion, giving you no hint that drum enthusiast Kieran Hebden AKA Four Tet is behind the production. While Kieran adds subtle touches that no doubt add value to this record, what causes this record to be successful is its charm. Kathryn has a vocal delivery that is careless, yet involving, and each songs sounds like a ...
 
Experimental
Image Kamran Sadeghi, Through Thickness [Dragon’s Eye, 2008] Exploring the rhythm beyond its regular structure is the main objective in this abstract and experimental album by Kamran Sadeghi, titled Through Thickness. Like little insects beating their wings against an aquarium where rabid fish circle the dying microphone, the sharp frequencies in the swirling noise of clicks is just one image floating to the surface in this harmonically deprived composition. Sadeghi "draws from [the sound's] ...
 
Dubstep
Image Meat Beat Manifesto, Autoimmune [Planet Mu/Metropolis, 2008] Jack Dangers is back! And on Planet Mu out of all the labels (for European distribution; Metropolis picked up the US release). What a perfect fit, seeming that Planet Mu is one of the established labels spearing the evolution of experimental and intelligent flavors of dubstep. Right off the bet, what's amazing is that unlike other classic electronic acts (ok, I'll say Orb and Orbital), Meat Beat Manifesto is _not_ locked into the past. D...
 
Breakcore
Image Igorrr, Moisissure [Self-released, 2008] Slap! What an album... I'm really out of words. Let me attempt. Track one - Valse En Décomposition - baroque organ chords with a low-fi trip-hop beat followed by a bee buzzing turning into glitchy classical piece. Track two - Oesophage De Tourterelle - light piano arpeggios, tremolos and octave scaling progressions turning into insane breakcore. Track three - Putrefiunt - solo monk voice over a flamenco guitar exploding into hardco...
 

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