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REVIEW: 'Essential Dubstep Vol. 5'
Other | Thursday 30th May 2013 | Alex
It’s the usual deal: if you love dubstep, get it; if you don’t, don’t. (Unless you’re a DJ, because as the press release insists, the tracks are “full leght!”)
Philosophy Records have done a few of these compilation albums. This one’s got thirty-one tracks from relatively unknown guys – at least, I’ve never heard of most of them – and for all its enthusiasm it can’t quite leap from being invigorating to being infective.
Some of it’s great – the record’s glossed with signature, ricocheting claps that invigorate and gratify. Some of the synth stuff’s nice too – ‘Dub Compilation’ reboots the mix and propels us from repetitiveness to springiness. Kairo Kingdom’s ‘One Two’ isn’t bad either, with its portamentos being as tenacious as they are slick and coiling.
But the rest is a bit superficial. It’s trying to drag you into a tremendous battle in a far-away galaxy, but the reality is a couple of nerds, playing with figurines, making laser sounds. It’s like a film-shot that tricks you into watching an inter-galactic war, only to zoom-out and expose a middle-aged dude playing a computer game. It’s not that it doesn’t reverberate and the shrieking bro-step is as sincere as anything, but it’s not absorptive – where’s the infiltrative ‘wub wub’? It treads a good line between being new, faithful (to dubstep) and mainstream, but poppy vocal excerpts aren’t enticing anyone (with sense).
There are some hefty low-lights: I can’t imagine listening to Spwee’s ‘Kung Fu’ without smirking, although his later track is cosmically syncopated. Most of ‘Essential Dubstep Vol. 5’ is ok, and none of it’s thorough-bred dubstep; it’s difficult to make sense of why this album, and by extension, dubstep, is so niche.
Catch ‘Vortex’ by Stellar, the album’s closer, below -
Written by Alex Dean - @AlexDean94
