- With dubstep anniversaries kicking off left and right this year—Tempa hit 100 releases, Deep Medi and Tectonic turned ten—it's a time to ponder where exactly it's all headed. A lot has happened in the last decade. Protagonists have switched sides or given up altogether and there no longer seems to be a central scene. Dubstep isn't what it used to be, and the ill-fitting notion of bass music can't contain it all. For bastions such as Tectonic, who have kept it all pretty loose from the beginning, there's always been a place for mavericks with a mind for twisting the tropes. Lately, label boss Pinch has welcomed into the stable plate-shifting house (Roska), bass-heavy techno (Nurve) and rave (Acre). Ipman's debut album, Depatterning, sits nicely amidst the upheaval.
Pieced together from two years of recordings, Depatterning reflects the UK soundsystem culture Tectonic has tracked for just as long. The first half is a nonlinear mashup of drum & bass, dubstep and techno crossover. The second is something else entirely. Clumped together in a dreamlike reprieve, "¥," "Ø" and "Ü" don't really make sense. They treat dubstep and drum & bass structures to a cathedral wash, evoking the sense of crisis that's caused artists in the post-post- scenario to get increasingly morose and cataclysmic. But it doesn't entirely work. You get the feeling Jack Gibbons is still holding onto the past, refusing to let go or fully succumb to the unknown. He's playing it safe, not challenging what he knows.
Depatterning comes off like something this well-versed producer had to put out in order to move on. There are several dance floor wins—"Regicide," gravelly stomper "Gravity" and the squealing "Strong Ones" all deserve a mention—but there's nothing new to sink your teeth into.
Tracklist01. Regicide
02. Technicolour
03. Gravity
04. IPA
05. Last One In The In The
06. ¥
07. Ø
08. U
09. Strong Ones