August 14, 2018
Surrealist Records
The wide variety of talent on this compilation provides a good yardstick for the state of riddim today. Here, the music freely wanders into deep dubstep territory; delivers the weird, wonky chops it's known for; crosses over into hip-hop and takes on tribal dub influences; and breaks down every wall in sight with some genuine EDM bangers. No less impressive than the variety of music is the global pool of talent that these tracks come from. This compilation pulls not only from across the US, but around the world to showcase some great examples of the genre. There plenty of the really wonky aggressive riddim that most of us think of when we hear the genre mentioned. UK producer Raskol (https://soundcloud.com/raskoldubsteppadubz) goes straight for the jugular with the aggressive and snappy "Ill Omen," and Missouri's Atreus (http://www.soundcloud.com/Atreus) flexes his years of production experience on "Life." All the way from Buenos Aires, Argentina; Evoid's "All Black" is crammed with energy, while Panda and Salem Moon (https://soundcloud.com/princesssalem) scatter tv and pop samples over a heaving beat. There are moments of real mainstage EDM energy, too. Louisiana's BOARCROK offers the melodic banger "Like This," while Get Dangerous tears things up with "Temptations." My favorite moments are when things go deep and we get to explore the rich sub-bass energy and huge open spaces in sound that riddim can create. J Brd (https://soundcloud.com/jbrdmusic) in particular does some wonderful work with harmonics on "Spiritual Release," and Texan producer Boo-Sir delivers his erratic but interesting take on the deeper side of riddim, as does Baltimore's Retchs (https://soundcloud.com/retchs). MiKrodot (https://soundcloud.com/mikrodot) manages to take riddim to a deep tribal and spiritual place with "Sacral Chakra," where froggy synths bounce over richly textured flute and drum samples and a fat bassline. Curator and producer, LoDurr himself has a track on the project called "Like a Bitch" and don't miss "Bit" from Nottingham's Katch, all the way from the UK. Smokstax crosses over into the deep realm with his track "6 million" as well ( https://soundcloud.com/smokestaxmusic ). The deep riddim vibe even crosses over into hip-hop with "Octangle," a collaboration between Georgia's Salty (https://soundcloud.com/sal-t-dubstep) and Ohio's Mt. Analogue. Heady rap punctuates the massively spacial riddim wubs that make Salty a special name in the riddim scene. Mt. Analogue is an established member of the toortous gang and recently appeared at The Untz Festival, most notably as part of The Trifinity with Yheti and Toadface. Overcoming a year of what could have been stalled negative energy, Sparlin confirms that he's back in action as a label boss, and he has a clearer vision of the sound and style he wants to get behind. This collection of tracks is a showcase of his broad network of producers, as well as a good demonstration of the emerging sound of riddim.