August: 9 dubstep & grime releases you need to hear this month

Tizzy Gang 'Opps Next Door Vol 1' (Self-Release)

Tizzy Gang are comprised of Merky Ace, Cadell and Canadian spitter Tre Mission, all of whom are far better lyricists and beatmakers than given credit for. ‘Opps Next Door’ marks their first album release proper, and sees the trio exchange flows over a remarkable 20 tracks, with additional production from Faze Miyake and Filthy Gears, and guest features from UK and Canadian artists including MIK, Nasty Jack and Lord Cutty. The LP feels admittedly too long and more like a rap mixtape than a cohesive album, but maybe that’s the point; why not? Merky’s flow remains as potent as ever – on ‘Shekkel’, he sprays with so much intensity he seems to generate his own beat as he spits – while Tre, the first North American MC to really fuck with grime, shines on ‘Breakfast’ and hard-as-nails vocal rally ‘Eski’.

8/10

Lloyd SB 'Princess Anna' (Gobstopper)

Lloyd SB is a producer who deserves a lot more shine, as he proves on his Gobstopper debut. On ‘Princess Anna’, the B-side to his new 12”, dizzying, slapstick sounds crash and collide, rhythms are skewed and contorted and vocal FX cut in-and-out in a heartbeat – it’s brash, anxious and completely off-the-wall. Although written with grime in mind, Lloyd SB, like fellow Gobstopper alumni Tarquin, is a producer coming at things from his own, far-away place. What a track.

9/10

Bok Bok 'Salvage 2017' EP (Night Slugs)

Night Slugs label boss Bok Bok’s first solo EP in three years finds him stripping everything back and honing in on day-dot grime sensibilities. Written from a place of disillusionment (although not overtly political), even the EP’s bouncy, summer-time opener ‘Island Hopping’ is rough around the edges – and deliberately so. Made on a 12-bit sampler, ‘Salvage 2017’ offers little hope but plenty of tension; the crunching loops, dogs on time-warp grime beat ‘Know Already’ are a case in point, as are the skittish, anxious patterns and grumbling low-end on ‘Salvage Lurkin’. Final track ‘Pr Drawbridge’ – a beatless, widescreen synth epic – offers a little respite, but the overwhelming mood is grey and comfortless.

8/10

Sepia 'Eclipse' EP (Deep Dark & Dangerous)

More fire from dubstep golden boy Sepia, who turns in his latest 12” on Deep Dark & Dangerous. Where his past records have often looked to marry rough with smooth, opener ‘Sakura’ sets a darker tone from the off, all moody sub and charging, pulsating rhythm, while the title track continues the theme apace, this time with rattling, rolling low-end and eerie, crystalline shard-like synths. Third track ‘Point Blank’ is far more percussive, although still packs plenty of growling low-end and a whirring melody line before strings finally come into view on mournful jaunt ‘Regret’.

8/10

Saule 'Cure Dem' EP (Infernal Sounds)

Thumping new-age dub from Gourmet Beats prodigy Saule, here, on Infernal Sounds’ latest plate, the fierce and ever-ready ‘Cure Dem’ EP. The title track opens with some crushing, fully charged sub and dizzying bass horns – it’s properly anthemic, lighters-up stuff – while over on the flip, B-side ‘Suede’ goes hard in the paint, although from a more industrial, percussive standpoint. Fellow stateside producer Mesck turns in a cut-throat remix of ‘Suede’ too, throwing wheezing, contorted bass tones, sci-fi FX and shattered glass into the mix. A booming 12”.

8/10

Skelecta 'Princess Peach' EP (Pear Drops)

Bristol’s Pear Drops collective keep the good stuff rolling with a new, 90s arcade-inspired three-track release from Skelecta. Sugary and excitable through the opening few bars, ‘Princess Peach’ soon explodes into life with monstrous, razor-like squarewave jabs that rip through the track’s giddy melodies and sweetboy, chiptune vocal FX. ‘Megadrive Memories’ then reboots signature console sounds, but this time it’s booming 808 sub that knits everything together, while final track ‘Alright’ serves up twisted demonic, eight-bar grime lifted straight out of the Trends and Boylan playbook.

6/10

Anz 'Anz' EP (Chow Down)

Fresh off the back of winning Red Bull’s nationwide Riddim Rally competition, Anz feels perfectly placed to launch her debut, self-titled EP – which incidentally also marks the first release from Chow Down, the tight-knit Manchester club crew responsible for throwing some of the city’s best small parties. Furiously-paced tropical burner ‘Panrico’ opens up, echoing the work of day one UKG pioneers such as Sticky (think ‘Triplets’), before half-dreamy, half-eerie pan-pipe melodies set the tone on lurking, OG dubstep leaner ‘Clanger’. Third track ‘Fencin’ feels more compressed, drawing from Bristol’s purple synth sound (albeit reimagined within a crunchier, less finessed landscape), before the dense, winding low-end on sublow heater ‘Loa’ signs off.

8/10

Mumdance & Logos 'FFS/BMT' (Different Circles)

A quick-fire double single from weightless grime gods Mumdance & Logos, who continue to cut, paste and re-mould OG sounds as they see fit via their Different Circles imprint. A-side ‘FFS’ is the wilder of the two tracks on offer here, a raggedy, percussive jaunt sliced apart by huge, crunching stabs and a super pitched-down vocal sample: “Ahhhhhh, come on mate!” ‘BMT’ fizzes and crackles like a rickety electric fence for the most part, with short atmospheric bursts (think dusk in the jungle) and hollowed out, Telo-like bass sounds providing an eerie intro. Not quite an outer-body listening experience, but pretty close.

8/10

Chad Dubz 'Kingdom Dub' EP (Foundation Audio)

Militant bass pressure from Bristol’s Chad Dubz, who returns to Foundation Audio with this new three-track EP. The raw, bludgeoning power of the crunching title track is truly deepest, darkest stuff, while on the flip, the trippy, experimental and almost cartoony flow of ‘Space Cadet’ makes for an equally great listen. Final track ‘Drainpipe’, meanwhile, is a skeletal, percussive heater spiked with killer doses of grizzly sub; it’s been making waves in the club for the last 12 months, and signs off the EP in a playful mood Grab a 12” while you can.

8/10