Flux Pavilion has been around long enough that some of you reading this were in diapers when “Bass Cannon” came out, and yet here he is, still making a drop feel like a personal attack. “U Want Me” reminds you why dubstep got big in the first place, back before everyone decided it was cringe to admit they liked it. The vocal hook is simple and a little bratty, which is exactly the right call. Then the low end shows up and flattens everything in the room. I played this at a normal volume once and immediately felt stupid, so I turned it up and felt correct. There’s a confidence here that newer producers keep trying to fake and can’t, because they didn’t spend a decade learning where to put the silence right before the hit lands. Flux knows. This is grown-up dubstep that still wants to break your speakers, and I respect it enormously. Crank it and apologize to nobody.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.