Soundboy’s Gravestone Gets Desecrated By Vandals [coll] – [Skull Disco]

abacus   11/20/2013   A Library, CD

2008 post-mortem compilation from the label that defined UK dubstep, setting a standard of disorienting magnitude to deteriorate danceability in clubs and get desecrated by molly-saturated American DJs. Like the previous comp, the first disc here is split between label heads Shackleton and Appleblim (with Peverelist coproducing a couple Appleblim tracks) with the second disc comprised of all remixes. The split disc is full of the stripped down, tribal wobbles and erratic hand percussion beats. The Appleblim tracks are a little more danceable with ambient synth swells and consistent beats set in the smoky shuffle while the Shackleton tracks are more primitive, dank and murky, almost shamanistic. As with the last comp the remix CD seriously trumps the originals, taking the skeletal frameworks and chopping, splicing and stacking. Pole’s track takes some hypnotic bass plunges, perplexing beat juggling and mind altering subtractions while Brandon Moller turns up the lights in Euro-house sparkle. Badawi’s 12 minute sprawl stretches and strips away the beat almost completely leaving a fathomless chasm of bass. This needs some serious speakers to get the full experience, good thing we got em.