Dusk & Blackdown - Margins Music

1 Darker Than East (Roll Deep Entourage)
2 Con/Fusion
3 Lata VIP
4 Kuri Pataka (The Firecracker Girl)
5 Rolling Raj Deep 
6 (Keysound Radio) 
7 Concrete Streets 
8 The Bits 
9 Dis/East 
10 This Is London 
11 (Keysound Rain)
12 Iqbal’s Groove 
13 The Drumz Of Nagano 
14 Focus 

It's been a long time coming, but dubstep hack Martin 'Blackdown' Clarke and co-producer Dusk have finally completed their A-Z of London's sonic landscape in the form of 'Margins Music'. Blackdown's writings on his hallowed blogpsot have long been hinting and suggesting at a music that encompasses the rich diversity of London's myriad of multi ethnic communities and their inherent territorialism. So alongside his trusty sidekick, the pair invite us for a mooch round their end. From the opener 'Darker than East' we set out with sirens blazing and a running commentary from Target for company, but it's 'Con/Fusion' featuring the first of many lush vocal contributions from Farrah that will really hold your attention, before moving through predominantly south Asian ends on the run of 'Lata VIP' to the string led bollywood pomp of 'Kuri Pataka'. The album takes a swerve into sweaty grime territory at the halfway point with 'Concrete streets' feat Durrty Goodz and the massive 12" cut 'The bits' feat Trim on furious form, making the breezy respite of the album highlight 'Dis/east' all the more welcome for it's rich tapestry of cooling textures shaped from swirling strings and tripping piano lines. This prepares you sweetly for the final tracks running on a steppers vibe til the album's closure, with 'The Drumz of Nagano' rolling out some Oriental rhythm mysticism before killer recent single 'Focus' comes to the end of the line with that epic crescendo. As a package it's quite an accomplishment as a sonic charting of LDNs urban life in this decade and if you've been following his blogspot or consider yourself to be a connoisseur of the finer end of the grime/dubstep spectrum this comes very highly recommended.