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 GANG COLOURS – The Keychain Collection
(Brownswood)
Who: UK post-dubstep upstart.
What: Gang Colours, or Will Ozanne, is doubtless well aware of what happened to dubstep as we used to know it – thus, taking the genre’s bare-boned original essence and adding a clutch of minimalist, often piano-led melodies was a smart move for the Brighton resident. The Keychain Collection, his first LP, is a wholly unpretentious debut, primarily driven by sanguine beats and unobtrusive vintage sub-bass. Like many of his non-festival-minded contemporaries, the producer tends to place mood above hooks in his craft; therefore, few tracks here are instantly memorable even if the majority of them are indeed pretty groovy. Ozanne does, however, take a credible vocal turn on a subdued dubstep ballad, Fancy Restaurant, and is more than adept at applying Mount Kimbie-like atmospherics. Dig this if UK dubstep means more than Chase & Status to you.
Well: Not exactly revolutionary, but worth adding to your collection.
***½
RUSKO – Songs
(Mad Decent/Downtown)
Who: Dubstep’s original populariser.
What: One of the pioneers of the now-proverbial bass drop, Rusko first shot up in 2007 with his landmark single Cockney Thug (subsequently reworked by Caspa in notorious fashion). Considering the erstwhile Christopher Mercer’s tendency to whip himself and club/festival crowds into a frenzy, his 2010 debut full-length O.M.G! was a mixed bag – unsurprisingly heavy on the wub-wub and questionable collabs. On Songs, he wisely plays it safer while retaining his pop nous. First single Somebody To Love kicks off with a cod-Italo-house piano riff (Miike Snow, I’m looking at you); then, a huge drop lands and we’re in a familiar fluoro-clad territory. It’s a brief meat-headed high, however, as Rusko subsequently ventures into trad dancehall/dub on Skanker – which is hardly Box Of Dub-level stuff, but still packs enough bass to make you want to nod your head – and tries every subgenre he can wrap around 90BPM beats. Some of it even wubs off on you.
Well: A relatively diverse outing – I’ve expected a lot worse.
***
 LORN – Ask The Dust
(Ninja Tune/Inertia)
Who: FlyLo’s Milwaukee-based protégé.
What: An expert beatsmaker, Lorn knows how to craft an addictive hook and deploy it with flair while leaving Skrillex fans scratching their heads in “where’s the drop?” befuddlement. He’s also one of the few people in modern electronic music who make scratchy synth pads sound sublime – like he does on Diamond, one of the highlights of his second album Ask The Dust. An inspired follow-up to 2010’s astonishing Nothing Else, the LP may lack a standout tune to match Cherry Moon – Lorn’s finest three minutes and 40 seconds – or a grinding stomper like Automaton, but it’s certainly a more rounded record. Here, the track flow is considerably smoother right from the opening Mercy (clocking in under two-and-a-half-minutes); a bona fide epic is present in the shape of The Well and the way Lorn works a subtle melody into Dead Dogs is nothing short of amazing. Me gusta.
Well: An excellent sophomore LP.
****
 INFECTED MUSHROOM – Army Of Mushrooms
(Liberator)
Who: You know who.
What: Considering IM’s last true standout was 2007’s Becoming Insane, one can hardly expect psy-trance bangers the calibre of Deeply Disturbed and I Wish from them anymore – if anything, Erez and Duvdev have effectively buried psy with 2009’s industrial metal-heavy Legend Of The Black Shawarma. As ‘shroom’s eighth full-length Army Of Mushrooms attests, living in LA and hanging out with Korn (whose Jonathan Davis has misguidedly declared dubstep “the new metal”) and Skrillex has rubbed off bigtime on the Israeli duo. The album misleadingly begins with Never Mind, which sounds like something Justice have left off Civilisation, but things go downhill once the drop lands on Nothing To Say and the braincell-eliminating leadoff single U R So Fucked. Throw in a D&B cover of Foo Fighters’ The Pretender, a pointless dubstep remix of early hit The Messenger and tons more wub-wub, and you’ve simultaneously got a US chart hit and a stylistic abomination.
Well: ‘shroom-heads need not apply.
*½
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EAMON MCNELIS, vocalist and trumpet player for Melbourne’s prohibition-era, gypsy jazz band FLAP!, chats to KRISSI WEISS about trumpet players as band leaders and wearing many different musical hats.
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