TECTONIC PLATES VOL. 2 (Tectonic Recordings)

Alongside renowned imprints such as Hyperdub, Tempa and DMZ, DJ Pinch’s Tectonic label has been responsible for releasing some of the scenes biggest releases to date, and helping promote dubstep as a worldwide movement, a position it’s now currently enjoying with the likes of Kode9, Skream, Benga and Digital Mystikz representing the sound across the globe. Always looking to push the music into innovative new places, the label’s second compilation stands as testament to exactly how far dubstep has grown in the three years since breaking into the media’s consciousness.
Whilst Tectonic’s debut compilation, 2007’s Tectonic Plates Vol. 1, saw the boundaries of the half-step formula being thoroughly explored through the likes of Loefah’s System and Skream’s all conquering Bahl Forward, the second compilation has a far broader palette of styles, ranging from the much loved Berlin-soaked sounds of 2562 and Martyn, to the deepest Bristolian meanderings from Punch Drunk Records Peverelist.
Opening track Yet from Stockholm’s man of the moment Martyn sees the producer continuing to expand on his dancefloor friendly style, with skipping drum syncopations and echoeing synths, tied together expertly with a lush three note bassline, whilst the double header of Skream and Benga’s Trapped in a Dark Bubble and Technocal, sees both young beat makers in refined form, the former creating a dark stepper riddled with softly whining bass pads, and the latter coming with a swinging 140bpm track full of skittering eletro-tinged snares and an insistent, driving riff.
A man creating some of the very best music on the peripheries of the scene, Flying Lotus makes a debut Tectonic appearance with Glendale Galleria, a mixture of shimmering synths, hypnotic attitude and bucking foot drums, before Bristol’s leading second generation producer Joker displays his dextrous mix of slinky r n’b beats, cycling high-hat effects and those trademark synths in his Untitled_Rsn.
The collection of tracks on offer in …Plates Vol. 2 shows the remarkable growth of a scene that has spread from a single London borough right out to a worldwide audience. 2562’s Greyscale and Skream’s Precression, previously only available on vinyl, both bring through the immediate connection the genre has with European techno and dub, whilst tracks from Rob Smith’s RSD project and Pinch himself represent the long history of West Country bass to the fullest, with the urgent dramatics of Pinch’s Joyride acting as mesmerising closer.
Whilst the compilations 11 tracks may, for some, lack the sheer quantity on offer from Tectonic’s previous collection, this release, like its predecessor, will stand up as an enthralling document of a scene’s remarkable creativity in uncertain times.

Tectonic Plates Vol. 2 is released through Tectonic Recordings 11th May.

Words by Louis Cook.