?Combat once again serve up music for the connoisseurs of harder beats, with another genre-bending EP, this time from ScanOne. Red Dub starts off simple enough, stop start drums jerking over bass undulations and livewire synth action, but pressure builds as amens and electro-filth enter the fray. Flipside, Orca is one for the poppers and lockers, as vintage sounds groove with dot-matrix printers and the funky drummer in a future history lesson.? ? iDJ Magazine
?This release highlights the links between underground electro and dubstep?s darker excesses. It?s most evident on ?Orca? and ?Red Dub?, where murderous, gut-wrenching basslines complement scattergun percussion, nightmarish synths, and on the latter, even a brief dalliance with straight kicks. But the label hasn?t entirely lost its purist streak and ?Skip? and ?Static Shock? revert to full-on electro-breaks mode. 4/5? ? DJ Mag
?Like Orca and Red Dub, will give them a blast sometime. ? Surgeon (Downwards Recordings)?
After his sterling 12? of electro-infused dubstep on the Studio Rockers (under the Bionics moniker), Spring 2008 sees the return of Jude Greenaway in full battle-mode as ScanOne, with the follow-up to 2007?s Toolkit 1 E.P.
Comprising of 2 mutant dubstep tracks on one side, and 2 mutant electro tracks on the other, this EP continues his exploration of the warped and wonderful no-man?s land between dubstep, electro and breakbeats, Toolkit 2 gleefully mutates genres while focusing the results firmly, as always, on the dancefloor.
A1 > [ Red Dub ]
Perhaps his heaviest dubstep / electro fusion thus far, Red Dub is a mechanoid steppa track whose sleek metallic rhythms are fleshed out by a huge pulsing sub. Rolling old-skool drum breaks keep the dancefloor momentum, while the clicks and bleeps of search drone add to the deep, brooding and understated sci fi atmosphere that ScanOne excels at creating.
A2 > [ Orca ]
A mutant breakstep track with darkly epic strings and rolling, clattering drumwork that?s underpinned by subs and snarling bass riffs.
Managing to keep a core of stoic, meditative calm amid a storm of furious percussion, Orca has found it?s way into the sets of more adventurous DJs such as Rob Booth (Electronic Explorations ) and techno uberlord Surgeon.
B1 > [ Skip ]
A mutant electro garage track based around a cheeky squarewave bassline and slinky 2 step beats, Skip was first featured on Mary Anne Hobbs? Radio One show, doing the rounds as a digital-only release until finally making the transition to 12?. Similar to the original Skip but edited and remastered for vinyl by Matt Colton (Alchemy Studios).
It?s heavy 2 step flavour mixes well with similar output from Point B, Ardisson, Reso, A Made up Sound, Metalbox Products and Hessle Audio.
B2 > [ Static Shock ]
The E.P. finishes off with Static Shock ? a track that?s been worked upon, re-worked, put aside, resurrected, then beefed up again to give a furious, heads-down electro track driven by pounding kickdrums and militantly funky square basslines reminiscent of 2 Lone Swordsmen at their very peak. Fierce dancefloor electro weaponry.