Strago - 4117

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  • Dubstep is still alive and kicking, but a lot of it just isn't very interesting anymore. Niteshade Inc. was started two years ago in foundational London record shop Blackmarket when it pressed up two slabs of lithe white-label dubstep. It finally returns in 2013 with a third vinyl-only release from former drum & bass producer Strago, two tracks whose massive sense of scale sets them apart from their heavy-lidded contemporaries. Recalling the glory days of Distance, "4117" balances precision drum hits with synth guitar and threatening wobbles, only instead of ham-fisted machismo we're suspended over a pitch black valley of reverb. Strago's grip on dynamics and tension is extreme even for dubstep, and the two tracks pull on the genre's thread of anxiety until the whole thing's a pulsating core of dread. Taking a relaxed back seat, on first listen "The Fort" is more trip-hop than dubstep. Only the very light reggae flourishes and the voracious LFO remind us which genre we're listening to, and that's probably why these tracks sound so fresh in the first place.
  • Tracklist
      A 4117 B The Fort
RA