Underwater Dancehall
Label: Tectonic
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Underwater Dancehall
Single-tiered descriptions of dubstep are falling increasingly short, and Pinch emphasizes as much on Underwater Dancehall. The moody offspring of U.K. garage has lots to give, and Underwater Dancehall’s dubstep sounds easily exceed the standards Pinch set as producer and head of Bristol’s powerhouse Tectonic label. The album’s two discs (the second disc houses instrumentals of the first one’s mostly vocal cuts) are eloquently built, with each beat colored by incidental flourishes. “Brighter Day” will prove uncomfortable for those attached to the haunting, previously released wordless original (“Qawwali,” as featured on disc two), but NYC’s “Dub War” MC Juakali is respectful, teasing the track’s floating melody with clever verses. While disc two’s renditions are more compelling – subtle and hypnotic – nothing subdues like disc one’s “Angels in the Rain,” on which delicate, double-tracked vocal snippets dance around Pinch’s chirp-flecked piano and synths. If you think dubstep’s well is barren, the lengthy trip here will knock you senseless.
This article appears in Nov 14-20, 2007.