(Rephlex/Inertia)

I have to admit – I was not expecting to enjoy the Grime 2 album as much as the first.  For a while I had been drifting away from the dubstep styles, toward the harder, darker and more minimal strains of grime.  However, from the moment I put on the headphones at the record store, I knew everything was once again about to change.

It was Hatcha’s brilliant mix -  Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1 – that initially inspired me to discover more about the underground garage styles, and suddenly Kode 9’s first track from Grime 2 – Swarm -brought the feeling of another world rushing back into my head.  For this is serious head music.  It is music that takes you from where you stand and places you firmly in another land of lush textures and gentle sounds before tearing you away in a frightening fury of twisting snares and rolling basslines.

Grime as a style, is often discarded as being oversimplified and at times, barely containing anything resembling a beat.  Grime 2 on the other hand takes a different route to its predecessor and presents ten layered journeys into something at home both in your headphones and on the dancefloor.

The vinyl is split up into two 12”s, with Kode 9 filling the first with his four tracks.  Kode 9 is something of an enigma.  His ramblings on www.kode9.com verge on over intellectualising dubstep, so my first worry was that this would translate into music that only the most serious chin strokers would enjoy.  I couldn’t have been further from the truth.  Immense, multi-faceted, progressive sounds build and expand through each of his tracks.  Whilst the tracks initially work on a danceable level, continued listens reveal tiny pockets of turbulence gently fighting against each other, yet somehow converging as a whole.  These tracks continue to evolve, even after hearing them many times, which is one of the great causes behind the impact of this music.

Dubbed out, reverberating tracks are what Loefah is known for and he doesn’t disappoint on this LP.  Whilst his first is a half-stepping odyssey into a foreign land of laughing children, the second immediately displays the variety this producer is capable of, by launching into a Hatcha-esque stomper, complete with obscure film samples.  Loefah’s third and final track sits barely on the verge of syncopation, creating a pressure which constantly threatens to – but never does – drop.  This is another of dubstep’s powers.  Whilst other styles may rely on a breakdown to create intensity and build a set, dubstep uses a constant increase of tension as its momentum.

Things become decidedly darker in each of the Digital Mystikz productions.  Still keeping to the dubstep vibe, Coki and Mala (Digital Mystikz) venture into a more filtered and deeper region of Grime 2.  A tribute to their ability, the second track, Country Man, startled me on a first listen.  Progressive and musical, this duo continue to release amazing material… it’s frightening to think what would be tucked away in their studio still.

And therein lies grime and dubstep’s current dilemma.  The huge dubplate culture within these styles prevents many of the tunes from making it to record store shelves.  Hopefully through the continued support of labels such as Rephlex, quality releases will begin to see their way to Australia.  If Grime 2 is to set the standard – there are great things to come.