Pinch - Underwater Dancehall

Presenter

Declan Doherty

Published

Tuesday 20th May

Tectonic/Shogun

Although dubstep’s roots were largely formed in the South London suburbs of Croyden, Brixton and the like, one of the genre’s leading lights hails from further North in Bristol. Rob Ellis, aka Pinch, is the man behind the Techtonic imprint, which is responsible for many top quality dubstep releases from artists such as Skream and 2562. However, like many other dance floor oriented genres, dubstep often struggles to translate well into the long playing album format (Burial and a few others being notable exceptions to this rule).

Another exception is Pinch’s Underwater Dancefloor. Not just dub-step, this album is a work of numerous influences and sounds, driven by strong vocals throughout. The mood is edgy, itchy and for the most part dark and brooding. An uneasy shuffling two step rhythm keeps us in suspense throughout. There are elements of Detroit electronica interposed with the distorted sounds of Ellis’ home town Bristol, and much less of the gimmicky samples and obvious baselines that can tend to infiltrate some of dubstep’s lesser releases.

Yet there are a few uplifting moments, most notably the vocals of Yolanda, better known for her appearances on several of Detroit’s classic Underground Resistance releases. New York dub artist Juakali also brings things back to some of dubstep’s more familiar energetic ragga territory.

Underwater Dancefloor is an exceptional album that ensures the sounds of dubstep will keep progressing and expanding for the time being at least. And thrown in is a second cd, with the same tracks as the first, sans the vocals.