“Drown” is the kind of dubstep that doesn’t announce itself until it’s already got you. WINK and borne spend the first minute building something almost gentle — a vocal that sounds like it’s being sung underwater, a pad that keeps swelling and pulling back — and then the drop at 1:18 arrives heavier than anything the intro promised. That’s the trick: the melody sets you up soft so the low end lands like a slap. borne’s vocal is the anchor, doubled and pitched down until it’s less a lyric than a texture, and it keeps the whole thing from tipping into pure noise. UKF put it on their channel for a reason; this is the melodic-dubstep lane done with actual restraint instead of piling growls on top of each other. I’ve had it looping while doing dishes and kept forgetting I was doing dishes. It won’t convert anyone who thinks the genre peaked in 2012, but for the rest of us it’s a clean, well-built four minutes that knows exactly when to hit and when to breathe. The second drop trims the fat and rides out on the vocal. Solid stuff.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.