Jack Dixon & Robin Card - Decade EP

01. Adrian
02. Leave
03. Keith
04. Alone

With all the interzones being explored between dubstep, house and techno of late, it's especially pleasurable to find a newcomer with a wholly different, but congruent, angle. For one thing, Berlin-London duo Jack Dixon & Robin Cardfix pile on the rolling breaks, haunted vocal science and thrill-ride darkness of mid-'90s drum & bass. There's a measured, flickering-machine dub techno dryness to their production as well, and it helps make Dixon & Card's debut energetic without being frazzled.

The jungle feel is especially pronounced on the first three tracks. On "Keith," an echo-drenched, Jamaican-tinged male "ey-ey-ey-aye" that makes up half the vocal hook (the other is a woman's wordless coo) comes out of a collective memory of mid-'90s ragga jungle as much as Dixon & Card's galloping snare work. But the track moves with a lightly carnival hip-sway that's closer to what 2-step garage brought to the continuum—and it's followed by "Alone," on which that skipping quality guides the beat, though it's closer to recent toybox-IDM dubstep than anything Groove Chronicles would have done. But even when the tone (and bass) gets dark, as on "Leave," the beats step too lively and the synths gleam too brightly to leave you in the lurch.

The remixes are a mixed bag. Colo's slurry version of "Alone" is arty and pretty but doesn't stick too much. Eliphino's "Keith" remix layers on the synth glide and punches up the bass hits to good, spirit-of-'95 effect. James Fox's "Leave" attaches a straight-four to the chassis and rides it through some pleasant whooshes...www.boomkat.com

Scuba - Triangulation

1 Descent
2 Latch
3 Three Sided Shape
4 Minerals
5 On Deck
6 Before
7 Tracers
8 You Got Me
9 So You Think You're Special
10 Heavy Machinery
11 Glance
12 Lights Out

The advantage of being the younger sibling isn't just having someone to look up to, but also being able to learn from their mistakes. So it is with dubstep producers, who might have started out borrowing the attitude of their predecessors in drum & bass, but subsequently seem to have avoided many of the pitfalls that befell the junglists. This is particularly true when it comes to albums. Or, more specifically, following them up.

Drum & bass threw up awe-inspiring debuts like Goldie's Timeless and Roni Size's New Forms, only to provide crushing disappointment on the sequels. One thing that's been surprising about dubstep isn't just that it works so well in the long-player format, but that second albums have often been better than the first. Burial both refined and widened the palette of his debut, the imminent Ear Drums and Black Holes from Starkey has a scope his 2008 debut Ephemeral Exhibits only hinted at and Triangulation—the new album from Paul Rose, AKA Scuba—takes all the elements of 2008's A Mutual Antipathy and more to the next level as well.

Or should that be deeper down instead? As his moniker suggests, Scuba has always had a somewhat aquatic sound. Indeed, "Minerals" even begins with the noise of dripping water and sonar bleeps. But what really makes Scuba feel so submerged is the feeling of pressure here, bending the different styles into strange new mutations like alien-looking fish who feed at the bottom of the oceans. "Heavy Machinery" has a house beat anchored by a grinding dubstep bassline, while "Three Sided Shape"'s two-step rhythms are awash with electronic flotsam and drowned vocals.

It can definitely get dark down there, but Triangulation never sinks in misery, the closing "Lights Out" has the same warm house undercurrents and rhythmic invention as Joy Orbison. He also remembers to come up for air—"Before" and "So You Think You're Special" both boast the kind of soulful phased vocal effects Instra:mental have made their trademark, an influence Rose might well have developed working with them and D-Bridge for Autonomic recently. That elder drum & bass heads like Instra:mental and D-Bridge are actively looking to the younger dubsteppers for inspiration confirms that dubstep has come of age, a fact that an album as mature and well-rounded as Triangulation makes even clearer...www.residentadvisor.net

Borgore - Gorestep Volume 1

1. Saturday Night
2. Love
3. Mama's Boy
4. Sunday Morning
5. Borgore Ina Trouble

Borgore is a dubstep/d&b artist from Israel currently releasing tunes through Shift Recordings.

SumOne - Oblivion

A Oblivion
B Hide Your Faces
C Sad Spirits Meditation
D Hell Is...

Planet Mu welcomes US junglist SumOne to the fold with a sinisterly affected single of refried Burial style steppers and Breakage shaped forward D'n'B. 'Oblivion' makes no bones about it's influences with a Burial styled dark and ethereal stepper, all clocking woodblocks and grimy textured atmospherics with serious darkside overtones that will sit perfectly next to your S.Y.N.K.R.O records or the brilliant Spatial 10". 'Hide Your Faces' is one for the clandestin warehouse crew, with an electrified revision of Breakages junglist reductions formed from staggered snares and liberlally applied delays, while 'Sad Spirits Meditation' combines melancholy Mu-ziq - alike IDM melodies with tricky percussive rolls for intricate stepwork. Final track 'Hell is...' reminds us of the brilliant Amit, with a mean halfstepped D'n'B roller displaying some impressive subbass prowess and frankly evil atmospherics descending into voodoo junglisms. Fans of Breakage, Amit, or Burial will adore this record...www.boomkat.com

Tim Exile - Listening Tree

01. Don't Think We're One
02. Family Galaxy
03. Fortress
04. There's Nothing Left Of Me But Her And This
05. Pay Tomorrow
06. Bad Dust
07. Carouselle
08. When Every Day's A Number
09. Listening Tree
10. I Saw The Weak Hand Fall

Tim Exile is set to release his second album, Listening Tree, through Planet Mu and Warp later in the year.

Exile began his musical career in 2000, releasing drum & bass on labels such as Beta and Moving Shadow, but as the years progressed, his sound started to become more complicated and abstract. This was mostly due to his obsession with the Reaktor software, which enabled him to spend much of his time creating new and interesting sounds from scratch. His debut full-length, 2006's Pro Agonist, saw him add elements of breakcore to his constantly mutating hyper-breakbeats, but that gradual change in style is nothing compared to the total departure that he's taken onListening Tree.

Long-term fans may be shocked to know that Listening Tree is peppered with Exile's own vocal tracks, as he tackles issues such as Britain's buy-now-pay-later culture, and even the dynamic nature of the universe on "Family Galaxy," the first single. "'Family Galaxy' is about the constant process of change that underpins everything," explains Exile. "It's a tale from a thingless world where nothing stays the same. As 'now' shines its shifting shades on 'then,' so our ideas of what we have done and will do continually morph."

The result is an eccentric electro-pop album that is just as likely to appeal to fans ofHot Chip as it is Otto Von Schirach...www.residentadvisor.net

The Qemists - Join The Q

01. Stompbox
02. Lost Weekend (Feat. Mike Patton) 
03. On The Run (Feat. Jenna G) 
04. Dem Na Like Me (Feat. Wiley)
05. S.W.A.G. (Intro) 
06. S.W.A.G. (Feat. Devlin Love)
07. Drop Audio (Feat. MC ID) 
08. When Ur Lonely 
09. Soundface (Feat. Beardyman)
10. Got One Life (Feat. MC Navigator)
11. The Perfect High 

JOIN The Q, the debut album by The Qemists, meshes the high energy of drum’n‘bass and rock with a wide-ranging set of sounds that betray the fact that the mysterious trio were a band before they took to the decks.

We’re talking dancehall, metal, electro, grime and hip hop with a smattering of respected guest vocalists.

But while they’re certainly at the top end of the drum ‘n’ bass revival (easily surpassing the likes of Pendulum and even some of The Prodigy’s more recent material), it does threaten to outstay its welcome on occasion.

Album opener Stompbox, for example, is an unrelenting distortion of drum ‘n’ bass sound that could just as easily leave you reaching to turn it off.

Even Lost Weekend flirts with being too one-note and is saved only by an emphatic rock vocal from Faith No More’s Mike Patton, which give it extra bite.

Hats off to The Qemists, then, for at least trying to mix things up at regular points and keeping things interesting and of wider appeal than the early tracks suggest.

Dem Na Like Me, for instance, finds Wiley adding some grime and Brit-pop to the mix for an invigorating workout that deservedly became a recent single, while Alabama 3’s Zoe Devlin Love adds some sultry soul to S.W.A.G, which unfolds over the course of two tracks and surely represents the album at its most sonically ambitious.

There’s a distinctly Nine Inch Nails feel to the industrial rock and drum ‘n’ bass mix that is the pumped up Drop Audio, featuring MC ID, and they even draw on house and pop for Got One Life, which namechecks south London and features another useful guest vocal from MC Navigator – not to mention a famous classical sample weaving its way in and out to appealing effect.

They end with a flourish, too… The Perfect High referencing the voiceover on Michael Jackson’s Thriller for opening effect, before dropping an utterly pulsating collision of orchestra, electronica and drum ‘n’ bass beats to, quite literally, finish things off in breathless, sweaty style.

It’s just a shame that Join The Q can’t quite maintain the high standards of its best tracks. If drum ‘n’ bass is your main music scene, you’ll be riveted. But for an album that threatened so much crossover appeal, it’s not nearly as accessible (or enjoyable) as it might have been.

dBridge - The Gemini Principle

01. Seven Year Glitch

02. Blush Response (Feat. Instra:mental)

03. A Lost Cause

04. Ponderosa (Feat. Calibre)

05. Creatures Of Habit

06. Mr. Malcontent

07. The Question

08. Desire Line (Interlude)

09. Pure Elegance

10. Cast A Cold Eye

11. The Yearning

12. Mourning Dawn

13. Mana's Lamen (Outro)

What's going on? Two utterly sick D'nB releases in one week! With the sort of credentials some producers would kill for including releases for everyone from Trouble on Vinyl to Soul:r, the man like D-Bridge counts none other than Burial amongst his biggest fans and it's clear to see why when you've listened to this album. Initiating itself as the best D'n'B album since Breakage's 'This too shall pass', 'The Gemini principle' comes laden with eight cuts and not a duffer in sight, certainly a hell of a lot more than we could say for a recent comeback album from a certain celebrity jungle producer. The mood is brilliantly uncompromised by any commercial factors here, instead just cutting straight to the chase with a selection of certified dancefloor heaters sounding like the best of a massive range of our favourite hardcore/jungle/D'n'B heads from Paradox and Dillinja, to Breakage or Foul Play, but never once slipping into feeble imitation or homage and instead forging a headstrong and highly effective sound. Fans of any of the aforementioned producers must check this out, it's proper corker. Essential Purchase...www.boomkat.com

Me & You - Music for Birthdays

Cd 1 "floating"
01. The Stranglers - Golden Brown (Me&You Texture Like Sun Remix)
02. Da Ranjhaz - The Reason I Wrote This (Me&You Re-Edit)
03. The Impressions vs J Dilla & Pharoahe Monch - We Must Be In Love (Me&You Re-Edit)
04. Showbiz & A.G. feat. Big L, D'Shawn, Lord Finesse (D.I.T.C.) - Represent (Me&You Sorta Sick Remix)
05. Phyllis Dillon - Don't Stay Away (Me&You Even Vulcans Cry Remix)
06. Gang Starr - DWYCK (Me&You Lemonade Was A Popular Drink Remix)
07. Me&You - Attack Of The Yellow Ducks
08. N.E.R.D. f/ Common, De La Soul, Mos Def, Q-Tip - She Wants to Move (Me&You Polka Dot Flow Remix)
09. Me&You - Fly Pelican Fly
10. Me&You - I Wish I Was An Elephant

Cd 2 "heavy"
01. Me&You - Me&You Is Da Bomb - Aiiightt!
02. Me&You - Fabregas
03. Rick James - How Can I Love You When Your Body Keeps Moving (Me&You Re-Edit)
04. Me&You - Papillon
05. M.I.A. - Jimmy (Me&You White Choo Hill Remix)
06. Fela Kuti - United States Of Africa (Me&You Remix)
07. TM Juke - Come Away (Me&You Remix)
08. Me&You - Banksy Fashion
09. Me&You - Arnie Versus Gandhi
10. Me&You - Anyone See The Light?
11. Bob Marley - Sun Is Shining (Me&You Taino Remix)
12. Me&You - Untitled (silence)
13. Michael Jackson - Human Nature (Me&You Remix)

Irmin Schmidt and Kumo - Axolotl Eyes

1 Kick On The Floods
2 Drifting Days, Crime Pays
3 Umbilicus Clear
4 Raketenstadt
5 Atoloxl Eyes
6 Meteor Infected
7 Etrurian Waltz