Dubstep & Grime
July: 9 dubstep & grime releases you need to hear this month
Preditah, Blay Vision, Compa and more
Blay Vision 'Turner Ave.' LP (Lit City Trax)
Blay Vision is wired differently, a grime MC/producer totally unconcerned by the pull of the scene around him. His debut LP, ‘Turner Ave’, is a testament to the commitment to do things his own way: from the standout single ‘Gone Mad’ featuring JME to ‘These Guys’, Blay also produces the majority of his own beats, most of which tap into the experimental Boxed-style landscape as opposed to the standard 140bpm MC template. Throughout, he also speaks his mind on an array of issues ranging from politics to the road to religion, displaying conscious lyrics befitting of spitters like Sway and Akala, only told with grittier, more lived-in swagger. While the narrative and the beats might be complex, ‘Turner Ave.’ feels accessible, but also cohesive: amped-up hype tune ‘Skeen’, the skippy, Teeza-produced ‘Moving Now’ and reflective slow-burner ‘Normal’ all speak of different experiences, but still make sense sitting on the same tracklist. It might go under-the-radar as a project, but Blay might have just released one of the grime albums of the year.
9/10
