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

Tuckz 'Headtop' (Trapdoor)

Lewisham grime collective Vision Crew spent much of 2016 working on new music and earning props for their tireless work ethic. Tuckz, one of the crew’s brightest talents, is the latest to branch out on new EP ‘Beginner’s Luck’, and ‘Headtop’ is our pick. Produced by in-house beatmaker Ezro, it finds Tuckz splitting his flow in two: skippy, in-and-out barring on the verses, matched by laid-back flows on the hook. Ezro’s beat is a joy, too, referencing classic grime refix techniques but underpinned by deft 808 patterns.

9/10

Spurz 'Loud Futures' (Apothecary Compositions)

Canadian producer Spurz, now based in London, has been on our radar for a long time. His music often operates in-and-around instrumental grime spheres and has been filtering its way through to some of the scene’s most influential selectors, but without ever earning the props it deserves. His debut album, ‘Loud Futures’, should change that. An 11-track voyage through the sounds that have influenced his own (there are flashes of grime, dubstep, synth music, trance and even jungle), it feels like a coming-of-age proper. Littered with beautiful tracks such as the swirling, sugary ‘Days In Rain’, there’s a definite aesthetic established early on; it’s an LP full of emotion, executed with a meticulous hand. Every track feels crystalline, although the stylistic switch-ups – from blissful, beatless opener ‘Arms Length’ to the crushing ‘Roto-Tiller’ and frenetic ‘Palace’ – illustrate the breadth of Spurz’ palette. Bright, unpredictable and largely optimistic, ‘Loud Futures’ is a dance record we all need at the start of 2017.

9/10

Caski 'Traitor' EP (Trapped Audio)

Bristol’s Caski follows OH91 in turning out for imprint-on-the-rise Trapped Audio, with new EP ‘Traitor’ an exercise in percussive weight and abstract rhythms. The title track is dark and eerie, defined by twisting patterns, looped FX and crunchy, industrial textures, all offset by booming, low-slung bass notes that really do land like hammer blows. Grime don OH91 turns in a scorching remix to boot, before Caski joins Near on bouncy, two-step joint ‘Got Me’.

7/10

Utah? 'Nitrogen' EP (Symbols)

One of our favourite emerging producers for a while now, Utah? is back (finally!) on Kastle’s Symbols imprint with a gorgeous new record. At seven tracks long, ‘Nitrogen’ might feel like more of a mini-album, but it draws on the sounds and loosely scientific themes he explored on 2015 EP ‘Oxygen’, only this time with a more refined and detailed touch. From the cinematic gloss of opener ‘Refraction’ to the bright, squeaky melodies and booming kicks on tracks such as ‘250ml’, it again operates on the fringes of instrumental grime, deploying flashes without ever feeling boxed in. Utah?’s handle on emotion also plays a starring role too, moving between gradual ascendancy (‘Jackal’, ‘250ml’) and more mournful inclination (‘Formula’, ‘Catalyst’) with real maturity.

8/10

Kave Jonson 'Japhet' EP (Spindark Records)

Kave Jonson, co-head of Spindark Records, hasn’t always had the shine he’s deserved over the past 12 months, but new single ‘Japhet’ is a timely reminder for those not familiar. His sound looks backwards to go forward – think very much in the DJ Oddz/Youngstar/Eastwood mould – but ‘Japhet’ is emphatic. The pulse bass stabs, subtle wobble and hollowed-out vocal FX might form a simple blueprint, but in the rave, this is the sort of fodder MC’s eat for breakfast. On the flip, Johnson pairs ‘Japhet’ with ‘War Rhythm’ to even more boisterous effect.

7/10

Shudan 'Ice Chirps' EP (White Peach)

Four fresh tracks of in-your-face grime from White Peach regular Shudan, here. Opener ‘Neko Riddim’ is awash with sino references and off-piste melodies, but it’s the chop-and-screw approach to programming that hits home loudest, while ‘Chat Shit Get Banged’ deals in murky, rumbling low-end akin to producers such as Trends and Spooky. Third track ‘Amaterasu’ is just as brash, only this time punctuated by aqua-themed pan pipe melodies and odd periods of hazy calm, before the title track rounds off with layers of cinematic texture and scope.

7/10

Zygos 'Future' EP (Foundation Audio)

its 2017 with a heavyset three-tracker from Belgian producer Zygos. Packing plenty of punch, opener ‘Future’ is machine-like in its programming, powering along with booming sub, rasping FX and a rising sense of pressure, while ‘Dist’ takes on an industrial guise with bruising, clanking FX and scorched-earth dub sounds. Final track ‘Indistinct’ then signs off with eerie, cloaked melodies and a stuttered, off-kilter lean that takes classic dubstep sensibilities and casts them into flux.

7/10

Odeko 'Digital Botanics/Construct Conduct' (Gobstopper)

Odeko, a producer who debuted on Gobstopper in 2016 with the deft and beautiful EP ‘A Hisory With Samus’, is back with a new double-single for the label. Deeply idiosyncratic, his sound is rooted in the unknown and references a wide range of sounds, from the bubbling melodies of ‘Digital Botanics’ to the hyper-trippy synth web of ‘Construct Conduct’. Subtle trap patterns exchange blows with short bursts of muffled white noise on the A-side, but it’s the 80s-inspired synth melodies on ‘Construct Conduct’ – popular in the throwback OSTs that came to define 2016 (see Stranger Things) – and the way he builds them that really earmark Odeko as a special talent worth watching.

8/10

Trends 'In The Jungle/Iron Fist' (Slimzos)

More fire from grime’s most active producer in Trends, this time for Slimzee’s legendary imprint Slimzos, which has been freshly rebooted for 2017. We’ve marvelled at the brutality of his straight-to-the-neck brand of beat-making time and time again, but he still continues to surprise, as the marching gun-shot intro to A-side ‘In The Jungle’ testifies. Warped bass rumbles then slices through the noise to give the track a snarling flow, while on the flip, ‘Iron Fist’ does exactly what it says on the tin. Think more rasping, demented bass programming, this time punctuated by flashes of industrial percussion and off-the-wall FX.

8/10

Tomas Fraser is Mixmag's dubstep & grime editor, follow him on Twitter