As it stands right now, on the eve of 2010, bass music is a beautiful mess. Stretched and tortured by numerous influences and the possible avenues for producers to take, its become splintered but, in the same way the T1000 glooped back together in Terminator 2, it constantly manages to gel to its roots, evolving away from its half step/atmospherics in what seem more like ellipses than cycles. And whilst London remains somewhat of an epicentre for many of dubstep’s microcosms, other bubbles of ingenuity have sprung up around the globe with keen producers and promoters ready to move with the ethos of dubstep and put their own distinctive slant on the sound.

You see, the anything goes attitude and the genuine distance between sounds and strains, these are what attracted me to dubstep in the first place, and the fact that Burial can sit comfortably on shelves next to Benga and that someone like Brackles can slay a dance playing a Dorian Concept tune, keeps my attention and drives me to spend endless hours frantically tapping away on the spring mounted plastic of my keyboard.

So starting as I am, to write a column for URB in the final month of 2009 it would seem almost fitting to look back, a cathartic cleansing of the palette if you will, at some of this year’s lasting highlights but dubstep is morphing at such a manic pace that anything other than looking forward would kind of render this column useless after a few weeks, but the first thing I feel I should mention is that Punch Drunk Records boss, Peverelist, has just unleashed his debut CD called Jarvik Mindstate. It’s a truly hypnotic collection of tracks from the Bristol-based producer that veers away from any preconception of what “dubstep” is at every turn. His command of space and percussion is superb and it could very well be destined to become a benchmark for the experimental dancefloor producers to beat, throwing curveballs like the lopsided rhythm of “Clunk Clip Every Trip,” alongside the haunting melodies of tracks like “Bluez” and “Esperanto.”

DC resident Martyn will be starting the new year in emphatically prudent fashion with a duo of 12” releases–exclusively featuring remixes of tracks from his Great Lengths album by Zomby, Roska, Redshape and Illum Sphere–alongside the 50th mix for the Fabric series, an honour he plays down by delivering a typically smooth and current mix. Some of the forthcoming remixes feature in the mix but its Zomby’s contribution that stands out in typically gloopy fashion, as the faceless producer reels of his own maniacal brand of pitch bent synth lines atop a tribal funky beat, stamping his trademark wayward weirdness all over the remix.

Hotflush boss Scuba is also starting 2010 with a mix as he takes to the decks for his Sub:stance mix in conjunction with the Osgut Ton label. Named after his own club night in Berlin which happens at the infamous Berghain nightclub, it’s a typically deep romp through super exclusive dubplates and refixes. New tracks from Ramadanman, Pangaea, Joy Orbison and George Fitzgerald, who you’ll see releasing music on Joy Orbison’s Doldrums label shortly go toe-to-toe with refixes by James Blake of Mount Kimbie and Scuba’s own version of Scottish producer DFRNT’s “Headspace.”

But for all of these higher brow full length “projects”–if you will–there is a constantly shifting onslaught of fresh music and an unbelievably potent release schedule of 12” singles to keep on top of; and at this stage I feel it’s fitting to draw your attention to a few of them.

Martin Kemp’s debut solo 12” is due out on Blunted Robots shortly and it’s really a picturesque sample of his superbly rich percussive style. Both ‘After the Night’ and ‘Aztec’ wield an oddly hypnotic quality that will keep you replaying them to listen to each layer seperately.

French producer F returns to the 7even Records imprint after a couple of month’s silence with “Energy Distortion,” a heavy footed stomp through his typically technoid style that gets re-worked by a serious contender for producer of the year, Untold. Stepping away from the brash pseudo-grime, massive bass stab on every kick drum production style of his latest Gonna Work Out Fine EP, Untold takes it deeper, fucking with the strings so that they seesaw around the piano stabs before he injects a deep ascending bass line into the groove. Untold will also make an appearance on the fledgling Brainmath label, previously home to Zomby and the equally anonymous Spiders, with a single sided 12” of “Flexible,” one of the stand-out cuts from his recent FACT mix.

Starkey’s “OK Luv” collaboration with MC Badness is also imminent on Planet Mu, offering the world the first glimpse of his sophomore album material. Featuring cuts that display an incredibly keen ear for melodic composition, it quickly becomes apparent while listening that Starkey has taken his work to the next level, turning to his ear for classical composition–as much to the happenings of UK grime music–for a little inspiration. The digital release also features a cracking remix from Hyetal:

Manchester-based producer Fantastic Mr Fox is set to release his debut solo release on Black Acre with the Sketches EP a prominently minimal and bouncy look at his particular style of synth contorting. The title track, which also gets reworked by SBTRKT, and “Brick-A-Brac” are both a little more upbeat, but sitting atop almost four to the floor drum patterns. “If I” is a shadowy and telling stomp through Stephen Gomberg’s hard drive, exposing a more hip-hop learned talent, adept at the 140bpm template.

Joker also stands on the eve of his next release on Pinch’s Tectonic label–home to possibly the album of 2009 for me, 2562’s Unbalance–following up his single track contribution to the Tectonic Plates Vol. 2 compilation with a full 12” of tougher beats in “City Hopper” and “Output One Output Two” and Pinch himself is releasing one of the standout cuts, “Get Up,” from his 2007 Underwater Dancehall album, providing one of the most defined remix packages. Versions from Bristol staples RSD and Guido, sit with refixes from Jack Sparrow (who is set to release an album on Tectonic come 2010) and LV.

Words: Oli Marlow for http://sonicrouter.blogspot.com

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