excellent label follows up Jab Jab from Grenada and juke from Chicago with rough, ramped, Bristolian, new-school-old-school dubstep from the Pennine way. More

Lock on for a legit excursion into 140 realness as Sneaker Social Club welcomes Silas into the fold. The breakthrough Oxford beatsmith has been on the bubble-up for a minute, facing off with the likes of Trends and Boylan on Mean Streets, remixing PRAGA and throwing down for repeat appearances on Rinse and elsewhere.

The sound Silas pushes on the ‘Wot’ EP - his debut solo 12” no less - is steeped in the original dank pressure of OG grime and dubstep, where moodiness and minimalism create the perfect storm for all-consuming soundsystem immersion. There’s a wavey swing to ‘Know Yourself’ which contrasts with the strict, claustrophobic drive of ‘Wot’. ‘Ubuntu’ on the flip teases an evocative sound world just past the edge of the mix, but manages to hold down the stripped back approach on a skippy 4/4 rhythm which nudges garage into a kind of tech-house-funky amalgamation. ‘Make It Happen’ offers yet another subtle slant on Silas’ style, crooked and gritty but still executed with
an unrelenting, austere focus.

Consider this an essential pin dropped on forward-leaning bassweight sounds which carry the torch for grime and dubstep’s ice-cold origins, maintaining maximum presence without even a whiff of derivative wobble. More

The legendary Horsepower Productions return to Sneaker for a thematically charged trip into future zones, driven by dexterous breakbeat science and ruffneck soundboy wisdom.

The UK dubplate heavyweights are no stranger to a loaded sample, and they’ve got a message to impart on this double-edged record. They kick off with a rumination on the planet’s fragile ecosystem on ‘Tropic’, which looks to a possible future with an ominous fate for the foliage we hold dear. Production-wise, Horsepower set electric drum loops off against lurid daubs of synth without derailing the motion, but a huge amount of the track’s impact arrives in the sampling from a cult classic slice of sci-fi. The premise is that the last remaining trees and plants from earth are adrift in space in a bio-dome, and have been condemned for demolition - a depressingly feasible scenario with an aggravated soundtrack to boot.

On the flip, ‘Computer Rock’ rides a tough break slow and hard and injects dystopian electro synth licks into the mix for a darkside roller that celebrates the visionary talent of Jeff Brown, aka Kase 2. Brown pioneered graffiti in the 70s with futuristic styles that still hold sway today, leaning into his own sci-fi imaginings about computer worlds inhabited by extra-terrestrial beings, Brown passed away in 2011, and this track and the attendant B2 cut ‘Kase - Reprise’ pay tribute to a forefather of hip-hop culture by channeling the future shock styles of Bambaataa et al without ever sounding throwback.

The concept on this record gets taken out further with the additional digi-only tracks, which take in the low-slung, skunked up funk of ‘Blaque Gras’ and the amped up rave damage of ‘Kase 2-Part 2’. Throughout, on-point samples and a clear-eyed focus bring out the best in the Horsepower approach, offering up next level dance wreckers with something to say. More

Repress!

More than ten years since he first emerged on Skull Disco, Appleblim presents his debut album. The label he co-founded with Shackleton was the first the world heard of his productions, but Laurie Osborne’s innate relationship with electronic music culture reaches back much further than those groundbreaking early days of dubstep. Early days spent soaking up hardcore, jungle, techno and plenty more besides were fundamental foundations from which to spring into the then-unknown realms of sub-low half-step club music. At that time FWD>> and DMZ were the church for this ritualistic sound, and Appleblim was a regular fixture at both.

As dubstep matured, magnified, mutated and meandered, so Appleblim moved beyond Skull Disco to explore different avenues of expression in the new many- layered club music landscape. His own Apple Pips imprint was a natural vessel on which to explore the emergent fusions of hardcore-derived sounds and the US-born house, techno and electro, while labels such as Aus Music equally provided a home for his work (often alongside Komonazmuk). Meanwhile long-standing collaborations with Alec Storey (Al Tourettes / Second Storey) finally manifested in the hyper-modern mind-twist of ALSO, captured as an album on legendary rave label R&S.

More recently it’s been possible to hear Appleblim delve into electro-acoustic and ambient production alongside bassweight sounds on Tempa, one of the original bastions of dubstep culture. As the existing boundaries between genres, cultures, eras and scenes continue to dissolve, on his debut album Appleblim offers up a fresh approach that brings some of the foundational sound ethics of rave culture into a modern framework.

Hardcore breaks are still a regular sound source in contemporary club tracks, but on Life In A Laser it’s instantly apparent that Appleblim has moved beyond choosing popular drum samples to truly tap into the elusive feeling engendered by the music of the era. It’s a tricky feat to manage, but in the pie-eyed chords of “Ignite”, the subby 808 tom basslines on “NCI” or the Mr. Fingers synth flex on “Manta Key” the sonic finish sports the same understated grit and grime that made those early records so timeless. There’s still space for modernism, not least on snaking 2-step killer “I Think We'll Let The Gas Sort This One Out”, but it’s offset by a layer of dust, not to mention an inherent moodiness that can’t be faked.

This fine balance of rave romanticism and future-minded approaches binds together in a cohesive conceptual statement. First and foremost it’s Appleblim’s personal reflection on the music that has moved him on countless dancefloors since his first flirtations with soundsystem culture. At the same time the canny influx of modern ideas into the soundworld of the 90s genuinely results in a new proposition, making for a perfect fit on the modern-day ‘ardcore fetishists label of choice, Sneaker Social Club. Many may claim to draw on old-skool influences in their modern trax, but take one listen to “Flows From Within” and you’ll feel the same time-slipping surge of future-shock as the ravers at Lost, Dreamscape, The Dungeons, Clink Street, Blue Note and all those other iconic spots.

Newton aka Nick Newton aka Nick Rhythm Section. You know this EP is going to hit the spot when you have one of the original members of the first rave super group on production!

Originally released on Rhythm Section Recordings in 1992, this EP will be well known to many who use to got to the big raves of the early 90’s. Every track captures that moment of history, erupting into peak time rave anthems with hooks and riff that imprint into your brain!

The tracks go from the darker side of the scene into full on rave anthems for the hands in the air crew. You know if it came out on RSR back in the day that it will tick every box and more. More

Having been re-discovered as a groundbreaking slice of proto-grime from 1994, Dylan Beale’s legendary soundtrack for the SNES game Wolverine: Adamantium Rage finally gets the reissue treatment it deserves via Sneaker Social Club.

When the game came out in 1994, Beale’s soundtrack for the SNES edition stood out from the pack for its gritty beats, deceptively weighty low end and edgy orchestra stabs, but few would have guessed how certain tracks would predict the shape of music to come. Around 2016, the ‘Tri-fusion’ track in particular was picked up on by London-based producer Sir Pixalot as a mind-blowing slice of Eski beat coldness. To prove his point, Pixalot ran an acapella from J-Wing over the track and the results spoke for themselves.

While ‘Tri-Fusion’ is a straight-up accidental grime sheller, there’s scores more heat packed away in Beale’s soundtrack for Adamantium Rage. The limitations of the space on the game cart meant Beale had to get creative with the most limited samples. Fortunately his background producing UK hardcore and jungle in Rude & Deadly and Stuck To Your Lips meant he knew his way around the restrictions of an Akai s950. Fuelled by the inspiration of jungle and West Coast rap, he worked on the game soundtrack with a similar spartan attitude, limited to 200kb with which to load up the music engine for the game, samples and all.

Given the importance of minimalism in the effectiveness of soundsystem music, it’s not surprising tracks like ‘Cyber’ and ‘Dark Queen’ pack a punch which could absolutely set a dance off. Watch out for ‘Weapon X Lab’ too - another stand out bomb creating a deadly machine funk out of the tightly clipped bass samples and weird animal groan loops. Alongside the full, original soundtrack, this first issue of Wolverine: Adamantium Rage OST comes with additional tracks never used in the original game which widen out the styles Beale was exploring within the shockingly limited means at his disposal.

“I vividly remember when we first played the soundtrack on a bigger set of speakers to the boss,” Beale recalls, “his initial reaction was one of amazement that we had created something so ‘real’and different in comparison to everything else out there in terms of video game music, which I remember with great pride and fondness. Comparing to everything out there, it was totally unique- a moment in time.” More

Last year Low End Activist mapped out the depth and breadth of his sound with the Hostile Utopia album on Sneaker Social Club and now he returns with a fresh payload of future shock-outs from the grimy depths of his sound well. Recent times have seen LEA releases tipping towards MC guest spots but on this EP he’s turning inward with three varied, mutant workouts for soundsystem immersion.

‘Sent West’ makes no bones about its inspiration from the tough, boxy end of early dubstep, but as ever the kink in the Activist’s sound comes from the detail around the rhythm and his embrace of off-centre textures. ‘Neurosis’ plumbs even further down in its dogged pursuit of infinite subs and dystopian atmospherics, offering the kind of subliminal, wayward stepper to tweak nervous minds to distraction. ‘Dry Chat, Wet Rag’ stretches out on the B side with a phantom dub pulled from rad-blasted wastelands, caked in slime and tough enough to withstand any fallout.

Calling to mind the introspective, evocative work on the likes of Engineers Origins EP, this is LEA using the hardcore continuum to tell his most murked-out tales. More

Weighing in heavy with murderous intent across three guaranteed dance levellers, Trends & Boylan land on Sneaker Social Club with a bang. The pair have been slugging out grime-leaning gear for the past five years, causing a ruckus with their truly evil ‘Norman Bates’ beat, releasing also on Trends own Mean Streets label and linking up with Slimzee’s foundational stable Slimzos for some dubplate action.

They bring that street-level swagger to the tracks on the Ninety Nine EP, but here their punchy 8-bar flex is embellished to blend in with the Sneaker surroundings a treat. ‘Carnage’ tips towards chopped up Think Breaks while ‘Nocturnal’ doubles down on the dirtiest of b-lines. Confirming their allyship from dubplates' gone by, Slimzee links up with Trends & Boylan for the double A side slammer, ‘Ninety Nine’, weaving dread-side D&B stabs around a tightly-wound beat with devastating results.

There’s not an ounce of excess on these cuts precision tooled to smashup the dance good and proper. Need we say more? More

Bowling out of Offenbach with a swing in his step, Dogpatrol returns for round three on Sneaker Social packing another four-strong payload of mutant rave clout. If you caught the previous missives then you should have some idea of where he's coming from, getting freaky with rave signifiers and laying down ear-snagging swerves to juice up the dance good and proper.

On this latest release we dip-dive into the grime-licked garage-tech shuffle of 'Non PGR' only for the script to get flipped at the mid-section in favour of diced up Think breaks. The pressure doesn't ease once Nasty King Kurl comes on board for a rolling remix strapped to a disgustingly massive kick drum impulse.

'Sassafras' takes a leaner approach to bleepy breakbeat contortions on the B side, holding down the arrangement and letting the track rip when everyone's wound up and hungry. NKK returns again to partner up with our resident Dog for the collab joint 'Creepin', chopping out the RnB samples and whipping up square wave synth flurries shouting out that overlooked substrata of dubstep - the Purple sound. It's a cheeky hint at the deep-level affinity for all rave gear which powers this EP, another sure step on from your favourite canine soundsystem practitioner. More

Rushing out advanced patterns that springboard from hi-tek soul, jungle, footwork and weightless grime into unknown zones, J-Shadow arrives on Sneaker Social Club with an album which cements his status as a true sonic scientist.

Since his first drops some five years prior, the London-based DJ/producer has weaved a web of intrigue across labels like Bun The Grid, Nous Disques, Warehouse Rave and an album last year for Keysound. Through it all, he’s demonstrated a prodigal affinity for the elements of hardcore -rooted soundsystem culture without ever being beholden by the perceived rules of dance music. In his hands, tracks can hover in suspense without ever needing a breakdown or build-up, pivoting on skittering drum machine pulses or teetering on the precipice of mountainous subs, gliding on celestial pads or skating into abyssal negative space. The acknowledgement for past methods is there in some of the canonical samples - like where Heather O’Rourke’s Poltergeistcall takes on a truly alternative dimension subtly bedded into the vast swathes of ‘Beneath The Undertow’ - but nothing is as it seems.

The End Of All Physical Form is no self-consciously ‘deconstructed’ record, though. It’s futurist rather than post-modern, carrying on the legacy of jungle and other such forms as vehicles for innovation and urgent exploration, bristling with energy and still, ironically, physical despite the mutated forms the beats and basslines manifest in. Find these works an open-eared soundsystem and they’ll absolutely do the damage, taking the dance somewhere far beyond in the process. More

DJ Support: dBridge, Laurent Garnier, Vladimir Ivkovic, Lukas Wigflex, Konx-om-Pax, Borusiade, Rob Hall (Skam), Mincy, Black Cadmium, Em & Stav, Tailor Jae, Pressa, Roger 23, Shcuro + more. More

Early DJ Support from: Laurent Garnier, Riz La Teef, Boofy, Ojoo Gyal, Addison Groove, Emerald, Main Phase, Miley Serious, Kouslin, Yushh, Bakey, Tãn, Sister Zo, GRRL (NTS), Syz, Flore, Star Eyes, Lefto, Roger 23, Tailor Jae, Ciel, Om Unit + more More

From a lifetime dedicated to the craft of jungle and breakbeat culture, Yorobi steps up on Sneaker Social Club to deliver her first solo EP. Her prior outing on wax alongside Tim Reaper in 2020 built on years immersed in the scene as a DJ, from her first moves on pirate radio and at underground dances in Amsterdam through to her frequent presence at vital dances like Rupture. She’s worked with the likes of Sun People and dropped heat on labels such as Repertoire, Planet Wax, Parallax and Exit, but now is the time for her to present the full scope of her creative vision across five expansive forays into inventive D&B abstractions, mutant electro and inverted ambient soundscapes.

There are familiar threads detectable in melodic brushstrokes or sharply angled drum edits on these tunes, perhaps calling to mind the most innovative corners of the Logical Progression compilations, a splash of braindance here or a hidden corner of a Photek LP there, but such impressions are juxtaposed with idiosyncratic swerves which make Yorobi’s work entirely her own. Drawing on intensely personal themes through her own rendition of the traditional spiritual ‘Motherless Child’ and indulging her own tangential experiments deconstructing 80s dancehall, reflecting on the limitations of psychology and channeling her inner Aphex, Yorobi runs at the extended play format with an unbound energy which makes for some of the most effervescent, inventive rollers we’ve heard in a long time. If you thought everything that needed to be said in drum & bass had been already expressed through decades of drops, think again. More

In no uncertain terms, the debut solo EP from Mantra has been a long time coming. To anyone plugged into drum & bass for the right reasons, her name should already be on the tip of your tongue. At the helm of Rupture alongside Double O she’s nurtured the realest of the real in D&B terms, creating a scene within the scene for all true heads, where the demand for creativity, innovation and sheer integrity keep the music pushing forwards well beyond the confines of the venerated dance. It’s no surprise to hear this four track 12” follow suit - you already knew it was going to be good when you spied her name on the label.

In true Rupture spirit though, you shouldn’t just assume you know what you’re getting. Making her intentions clear from the get-go, Mantra opens up with ‘Damaged’, an icy half-stepper built from raw, rasping drums with an industrial patina. It’s no breakneck roller, but rather a deadly creeper with more than enough bite to satisfy those who want their music fierce.

It’s ‘Murda’ and ‘Victory Dance’ where we can hear Mantra stretching out into the rollers, but even so the breaks come diced at intriguing angles, the energy is teased with a distinct flair, and they only go off when Mantra deems it time to - much like when she’s at the controls in the club. ‘Ala’ offers up something wholly distinct once again, offering the kind of hidden B2 magic that makes a record special with some trippy backroom stepping business shaped out by mellow synth impulses and a pad setting a melancholic mood. Original, innovative pressure from someone largely responsible for keeping such values alive in D&B, as if we expected any less. More

In a blizzard of delirious sonics and twis’ up samples extracted from the annals of dancehall and ragga, Seekersinternational return to Sneaker Social Club to double down on the manifesto they laid out with the original RaggaPreservationSociety EP way back in 2016.

As ever, the SKRS magic lies in their ability to convey a deep affection and serious dedication for the source material while simultaneously getting shamelessly weird with it, taking the mutant tendencies of dancehall’s wildest instrumentals and injecting some added cosmic sauce into the mix. On this new record, they’re also embracing the volatile potential of junglist breaks - always intrinsically linked to Jamaican music at the point of inception, especially in the rough and ready daze of ragga jungle.

‘No Parasites (Lickshot)’ is a fierce mission statement, raining down mayhem without ever slipping into familiar modes - the emphasis is on the ragga, the jungle is there as a piquant flavour in the stew, but as ever the SKRS sound remains entirely out on its own. In contrast, ‘CaughtUp (HeartBreaks)’ almost edges closer to hardcore structures, but something keeps slipping in to run the interference, hovering just beyond perception for that all important woozy feeling.

‘2GoldChain (DriveUCrazy)’ is cut up enough to be another interstellar voyage, but here SKRS keep the music back in the mix and let a tapestry of chat lead out front as though capturing a casual street level chaos - bewildering and familiar in equal measure. ‘OriginaloftheOriginal’ completes the set with an earth-shattering script flip once more, coming on like square wave grime and half-speed breakbeat set to emotional stun. If it takes a minute to make sense, that’s because you’re hearing something entirely new. More

King of the drum ‘Paradox’ is back on Sneaker with another killer double A side rekid
More

DJ Support
Jessy Lanza, DJ Flight, Giant Swan, Pangaea, rRoxymore, Laurent Garnier, James Ruskin, Carista, Kikelomo, Vladimir Ivkovic, Sinistarr, Metrist, EMA, Alan Fitzpatrick, Dangermami, Alienata, James Zabiela, Mark Archer, Lucretio/ The Analogue Cops, Star Eyes, Tailor Jae, Doc Scott, Yorobi, DJ Fart In The Club, FFF, Jamiu, Smokey, Aquarian, Photonz, Roger 23, Om Unit + more to follow More

Casting a self-reflexive lens over his roots via the medium of crushing, future-rushing soundsystem sonics, Low End Activist returns to Sneaker Social Club with a full-length of monumental proportions.

When the Low End Activism 12” ignited on Sneaker in 2019, it paid tribute to the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, UK, where LEA originates from. In the shadow of social inequality and strengthened by the unity of the multi-ethnic community, Blackbird Leys still imposes a powerful influence on LEA’s work, even as he’s stepped out onto Seagrave for last year’s Game Theory album and notched up the first couple of releases on his own self-titled label.

On this new album, Hostile Utopia sums up the conflicting emotions attached to memories of home – how it’s possible to feel nostalgic for the griminess of urban and suburban Britain, its ordinary tales of bitterness and frustration, but also its intrinsic passion and solidarity. At a time when social division is actively engineered by Machiavellian forces, real conviviality at street level feels like an impossible dream.

LEA communicates these tensions through a style which is becoming his signature – dynamic bass torsion and chiseled, fractalised rhythms slugging around the 130 mark. It’s moody like a UK-themed record ought to be, but it’s not morose. There’s fierceness in every snap and rumble, as the legacies of hardcore, jungle, dubstep and grime pour into the casing prior to the gunpowder lighting.

On previous LEA releases, the MC roll call has pointed to some of the most vital voices touching the mic in the present day. Flowdan, Sikka Rymes and Trim all had something different to impart over the riddims, and now Hostile Utopia expands on that with the most extensive show of lyrical strength yet. Mez lights up the woozy, abstract grime swerve of ‘Mercenary’ in a musical style. Emz brings a ruthlessly sharp verbal steez to ‘GetGet’, Killa P gets busy toasting over ‘DFRNT STYLE’ and ‘Superhighway’ carries the dexterous hip-hop flow of Cadence Weapon.

In between those standout tracks, LEA expresses just as much in the production. Tracks brimming with stories to impart, laden with symbols masquerading as samples and draped in aural garb that firmly places Hostile Utopia in a place, a mood, that could only belong to the UK. It’s a hybrid sound just like the society it sprang from, and therein lies its power. More

There’s sludge on your shoes. It’s turning them green – who left the tap on? We’re in the basement, and it’s dripping up from the floor – what’s that about? Brightens the place up a bit though.

It’s too wet in here. Let’s take a long, low ride – let the cool air seal the party emulsion across our faces as we roll down the windows to let the smoke out. The street lights flicker across you like an 808. You draw on the bass and breathe out the breaks.

The boot’s full of this sludge. We’re going to have to offload it. There’s no way we’d get it back across the border with our shoes in this state.

Stopped at the lights. Something’s leaking.

A lone searchlight and an ill-advised turn.

The back road dreadnought.

One fly-tipped fridge humming at 62 Hz.

Angles, barbed and brilliant, thrown at the problem.

Everything melts eventually.

This was assembled during days of fever 452 miles from the lush garden, like a misplaced 404 error. Anti-promotion paid for by a penny placed in the mouth of Instagram to ensure safe passage over the false river. More

ZamZam 94 is a long-awaited plate from South London duo Traces, fresh from a pair of releases last year on Innamind. Laser-focused on a stripped-down, essentialist strain of UK bass music, Traces’ ZamZam outing showcases two distinct facets of their approach.

“No One (Can Tell I)” is a perfect slice of eyes-down spiritual dubstep for the ages, a sound we always crave here at ZamZam. Waterhouse-flavored rusted metal hi-hats, reverb thick like smoke, expertly-crafted bassweight, subtly ricocheting percussion, perfectly minimal stabs, and a sampled spirit of Jamaica Past… Utterly timeless, “No One” is a masterclass in restraint and depth over flash and slickness.

Equally direct and unfussy, “Listen” flips the vibe utterly, running off a winking slice of badman soundtape, shakers and siren, earworming midrange melody, and a mirror-image bassline with more swagger per bar than anyone in a 140 session will be able to resist. Battle-tested on dubplate & ready for early, late, or anywhere in between, “Listen” is a guaranteed sheller More

Stark, cavernous and politically critical dub-poetry lands next on FELT in a vital sign-of-the-times fashion. Where much new music in our scene seems to act as a conduit for escapism, usually via melodic mind-balm or, if vocal at all, lyrical surrealism and ambiguity, the collaborative works of ELDON & Withdrawn take the left turn. The sound design perfectly fits into the FELT jigsaw puzzle: cold, slightly glitch-inspired, echo/reverb minimalism etc, but things are kicked up a stratosphere with the half dancehall-toasting, half scathing analysis of modern Britain coming straight from the mouth of ELDON.

Processed, enveloping kalimba notes shatter off into the distance in the opening moments of 'reGenaRation' before we're plunged into the depths. Bleeding into the title track, the A-side is all claustrophobic commentary on trickle down economics, overdrafts, killer shark metaphors and empire. Adam & Eve? Rewind and there's Shango, god of thunder and lightning. 5 rewinds later - still going. The B-side continues with equal strength, amazing wordplay and broken, industrial rhythms for a broken United Kingdom.

IYA SHILLELAGH is ELDON & Withdrawn

Recorded at Zig Zag Zig Studios

A2 co-produced by How-du

B1 co-produced by Shifting Borders

Mastered by GENG PTP

Design by Fergus Jones More