Genre: Dubstep/House/Techno/Experimental

Year: 2010

Label: Hotflush

Catalogue No.: HFCD003

Country Of Origin: U.K.

Rating: 9/10

Dubstep it seems has a dark future, not in the sense that it’s coming to an end, but in the sense that the number of followers of dark dubstep has increased over the years. Not only are there more number of producers making such kind of music, they are also receiving plaudits from critics and listeners alike for creating dark, wistful and inhabitable sonic landscapes. Burial’s eponymous album and the sophomore Untrue, Boxcutter’s Oneiric, Kode 9 + The Spaceape’s Memories of the Future, King Midas Sound’s Waiting For You, etc. and even compilation albums like Appleblim and Shackleton’s Soundboy Punishments and Mary Anne Hobb’s Warrior Dubz have proved that dark dubstep is here to stay and that it is burgeoning. You can add Scuba, who has created a stunning record that delicately balances dance floor frenzy with ambient sounds and field recordings, to the aforementioned list. But, Scuba is not new to this scene. His 2008’s debut and the singles and remixes he released prior to and after that displayed his penchant for drawing influences from industrial sounds. But, what separates Scuba from these other artists is his eclecticism and his experimentation with techno and house music. Part of his eagerness could be explained by his Djing stints at the now famous Berghain night club in Berlin.

Paul Rose

In this record, Scuba creates a more cohesive and tighter sound than his debut simultaneously breaking through the clutter of the deafening slabs of bass driven records that have become synonymous with dubstep. Like Burial, he creates a sound that is cold, detached, robotic, futuristic, and industrial, which mirrors our mechanical existence in the concrete jungle. Though the sounds are cold, they never embrace misery and stay true to the dance floor. To correctly reflect this alien sound, Scuba uses paraphernalia in the form of field recordings of rustling, clattering and clashing objects, falling drops of water, metallic sounds, etc. and uses them as embellishments on the record rather than mere inutile static sounds. These sounds add chaos, liveliness and motility to these tracks. Accompanied by these is the effective and emphatic use of synths like in the barren and beatless album opener ‘Descent’ which dwells on synths that sound like subdued industrial sirens and landing spaceships or like in the third track ‘Three Sided Shapes’ that features droning synths sounding like machines doing menial work. Also, tracks like ‘Tracers’ do have swollen synth passages and uplifting crescendos, but they are either stabs or are short lived, maintaining the frigidity of the record. The sultry and soulful female vocals make an appearance only at the opportune moment, and steal the show away. The vocals are cut up and most of the times echoic. While most of the songs have industrial leanings like the songs crafted by minimal techno artist JPLS, there are songs that use the emptiness of the deep oceans as the muse like in the track ‘Minerals’ which is set amongst beats but uses ambient sounds that are characteristic of whales. Also the near silence of the ambiance contributes to this feeling.

Holding all these elements together are the skeletal beats of the songs. The album opener which is beatless serves as a prelude to the tracks that follow. Most tracks are genre defying and effortlessly and smoothly change from house to two step garage to techno to downtempo and everything in between. Case in the point is the magnanimous track ‘Tracers’; it starts out like it’s a trance song with an intoxicating synth stab, but later gives way to amazing dubstep beats. Even latest trends like UK funky have been incorporated into the songs as can be seen in the track ‘On Deck’. The last song on the record ‘Lights Out’ shows best the ingenuity of Scuba as far as experimenting is concerned. One is left bewildered as to when the transformation has occurred on the track if one gives the track a passive listening. There is a lot of attention to detail here so this record demands a careful listen to enjoy all the nuances.

Scuba Triangulation

Lot of people will crib endlessly about the obvious reference point- Burial’s records. But, Paul ‘Scuba’ Rose has really moved on as can be seen from the plethora of activities going on deep under the cold surface of the tracks. Some tracks may not be dancefloor scorchers like others or may not really give away entirely to adrenalin junkies, but this does not mean they are not doing their job well. In fact that territory is a virgin territory for remixers or for Dj’s who want to slow things down in their set. This record is amazing from head to toe and easily the contenders of the top ten albums of 2010.

Article by Vikrant Dev

(+1 rating, 1 votes)

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