VARIOUS / TECTONIC

Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space!

Genre: GRIME / FWD

Boomkat Product Review:

Tectonic's most ambitious project comes to fruition; a double disc set of twelve exclusive and unreleased dubstep originals from the likes of Kode 9, Shackleton, Loefah, Mala, and King Midas Sound, plus a disc of mighty remixes from the legendary Scientist. The project is practically unprecedented in its scope, over 12 months in the making, meeting roots and future in visionary style. The previously unreleased and exclusive tracks are very much a showcase of 1st generation dubstep producers, with only a couple of notable exceptions. Generally these are producers who found common ground in the rooted principles of dub and laid the template for the diverse sound we know today. Highlights have to be Shackleton's desolate 'Hackney Marshes' and the Lovers dread vibe of King Midas Sound's 'U', but that's not to discount some remarkable tracks like the first new Loefah production since 2008, a rare appearance from Roly Vex'd aka Armour and two exclusives from august 'step auteurs Mala and Kode 9. On the remix disc Scientist duppies the contemporary material until it heaves and breathes with masterful mixing board trickery. The man at the controls ranks among the finest Dub engineers ever to grace a desk, and although his prime period was nearly 30 years he's still got an innate sensitivity to the subtleties of fluctuating reverb/echo/delay combinations and the transient spaces they're capable of creating. With this in mind the original tracks are rendered as hallucinatory images of their former selves, spatial dimensions warped and surfaces refracted until they feel overgrown and listening to them is like peering into an alien forest, becoming both unpredictable and almost unstable. With the fold-out double disc sleeve and artwork from Kiki Hitomi and Brooks Jarret, this is every bit the authentic dubstep collector's article.

2CD (0)