Albums
February: 18 albums you need to hear this month
That's the month sorted, then
Calibre 'Grow' (The Nothing Special)
Northern Ireland’s Calibre is a technically astonishing producer, but he’s felt a bit constrained by d’n’b sometimes – especially when we knew what he was capable of at other tempos thanks to his Deep Medi 12”s in 2009 and 2010. So when these four slabs of vinyl from Craig Richards’ label with plain black labels, classy artwork and no information arrived with no warning, we were thrilled. The sounds here float between 2-step, jazz, techno, electro, Burial-ish ambience and – in ‘Over the Top’ – utterly perfect deep dubstep rollage, and at these slower tempos, Calibre’s sounds are able to breathe and evolve in throughly new ways. This album is a proper realisation of potential, and may end up achieving classic status. Joe Muggs
9/10
