Following several digital releases and an incessant series of live shows, France's Ruby My Dear finally presents his first full length album, and demonstrates with a bang that yes, time has come for a new wave, a new form, a new shape of breakcore. Intricate but accessible, intricate but somewhat friendly, hard but catchy, Ruby My Dear takes this genre, cleans the dust, and infuses it with a very welcome, unmissable energy and freshness. Breaks are back.
Larvae's fourth album is a highly introspect and mesmerizing work which takes a step forward from the more electronic trilogy formed by "Fashion Victim", "Dead Weight" and "Loss Leader". An instrumental, solo work, it is a place where long strings and fragile melodies form a contemplative landscape and relegates the electronic beats to the backgrounc. An intense collection during which Larvae focuses on its most emotional and sincere side, here is a necessary album for introvert nights and profound, closed-eyes listening. (Get this on CD / as digital files)
Bleak, fiercely heavy, distorted and yet so close to the soul: Oyaarss's debut album is an impressive work of pulsions, subtlety and coldness. Tapping from electronic experimentations as much as from metal atmospheres, "Bads" builds massive tracks of noisy percussions towering on the most desolate icy soundscapes. Something to close you eyes to or to head-bang along, a highly gifted album of gritty strings, antagonistic beats and detailed builds-up; a colossal, self-imposing work of extremely rare power and depth. (Get this on CD / as digital files)
Harder, faster, more guitars, more growls. Whourkr is Igorrr's metal alter-ego, and “4247 Snare Drums” is this act's third full length album. The product of a painstakingly long recording process by two musicians who are already seen as some of the hardest-working perfectionist in the scene, it is also a towering culmination of extreme metal run through equations, growls laid down mathematically, and guitars calculated for maximum efficiency. Polymorphous, violent, absurd but also extremely detailled, here comes the deadliest, ugliest and most precise sow-metal you could imagine. (Get this on double LP + CD / on CD / as digital files )
Somebody will need to come up with a genre name for Underhill's “Silent Siren”. With music written by Dean Rodell, Balkansky / Cooh and Current Value and vocals by Martina Astner and MC Coppa, this album is as coherent as its line-up is improbable. Trip-hop, drum'n'bass, gothic atmospheres and hip hop: all these elements are molten into each other with great care, creating an impressive work which is far more than the sum of its parts. Try it at home, then try it on a huge PA: Underhill's “Silent Siren” is a multi-faceted creation which just invites its listener to dive deeper. (Get this on LP+CD / on CD / as digital files )
Four confirmed, veteran Ad Noiseam artists and a myriad of versions, edits and corrections ping-ponged between all of them. "Existence" and "Obey" are the carefully laid-out, detailled and fresh results of musicians having fun with each other's material and proving how at ease they are with both dubstep and drum'n'bass. DJ Hidden's sharpness, Broken Note's epic proportions, Niveau Zero's clever open-mindedness and Balkansky's meticulousness: yes they managed to pack all of this in these two highly cohesive tracks. A must-have for anybody into any of these acts. Get this on 12" / as digital files
Gathering the tracks from the "Fraktals" and "Simetría" EPs as well as two exclusive new tracks and a remix of a Niveau Zero original, "Adhesion" is the crowning release of Balkansky and Loop Stepwalker's collaboration. A tour de force in precision, strength and toughness, this full length album unfolds its massive low end, efficient beats and larger-than-life basslines with insolent talent, catchiness and bold weight. A new essential albums demonstrating the strength of well written, imaginative and original hard dubstep. (get this on CD / as digital files)
A new salvo of anthemic, harder-than-life dubstep from the Bulgarian and Spanish phenomenons that are Balkansky (a.k.a. Cooh) and Loop Stepwalker. This follow-up to their "Fraktals" EP shows how these two manage to write heavy and distorted tunes without ever falling in the current pitfalls of the genre. Free of "wobbly" or "filthy" clichés, here comes a record which will pack dancefloors, surprise delighted fans and once again affirms what a driving force these two musicians have become. (get this on 12" / as digital files)