- After a mightily impressive first couple of releases (Instra:mental's sublime "Futurist" is amongst the year's best dubstep cuts), Ireland's burgeoning NakedLunch imprint has drafted in Californian upstart Jus Wan for its third offering—a shrewd move considering the quality of the Statesider's first two workouts for Apple Pips and Tube10 respectively. And while, on paper, it's a surefire recipe for success, the results aren't quite as dazzling as one might expect.
Title track "Submersive" features soft pads and splayed, sub-aquatic guitar tones that ripple gently amidst a meaty but heavily reverbed rhythm section, mellow rim-taps keeping the whole thing ticking along steadily and insistently. Meanwhile, "QB-41" sees Jus Wan pick up where the skippety "Affletic" left off, with a warm, meandering bumblebee of a melody rubbing up against hazy 2-step beats and blunt, plodding bass tones. Both tracks are solid, bouncy and pleasantly organic in feel, the former's pensive atmosphere offset nicely by the latter's summery exuberance, but nevertheless lack substantial dancefloor clout (if a little character to boot). What's more, Scuba's version of "Submersive" makes no attempt to up the ante, instead opting to bolster the already heavily dubbed-out vibes with a knee-deep bassline and added, quintessentially "Scuban" melodic decorum. It's the best of the three pieces, ambling along in blissful, dreamlike fashion, but by no means the best of Scuba per se.
Which makes this release—while a safe bet for fans of the deeper side of the dubstep coin (and a good deal better than the increasingly turgid morass of sludgy genre-fodder being ploughed out these days)—one that doesn't quite carry the momentum generated by its superlative predecessors. Here's hoping NL004 does.
Tracklist A Submersive (Scuba Version)
B1 Submersive
B2 QB-41