February: 10 dubstep & grime releases you need to hear this month

Klasey Jones 'Foreign Buyers Club' EP (Terrorhythm)

Plastician spent much of 2016 touting Klasey Jones as a future star and, on the evidence of his debut EP for his Terrorhythm imprint, he’s not wrong. Clearly inspired by the instrumental strains of UK grime and US cloud rap, Jones also takes cues from 80s synth music, anime and video game scores on ‘Foreign Buyers Club’, merging his various influences to create a one-of-a-kind sound palette. The various phases of gorgeous, spacey opener ‘Area 55’ are a case in point, as the track dawdles along with languid trap beats, hushed melodies and dream-state vocal sampling. Elsewhere, ‘Gang Gang’ deals in pure romance (think luscious string melodies in the foreground, understated bass tones in the back) while third track ‘Yoko & Ano’ switches things up yet again, this time lending itself to the widescreen, arcade-inspired sounds of producers such as Joker. And finally, our tip ‘Cement’ – an icy, dizzying ode to cloud wave, dotted with 80s sound references – is inspired. Some debut.

8/10