Headhunter - Nomad

Once dismissed as another passing trend in electronic (dance) music, the recent progressive and experimental work within the micro-genre known as dubstep is starting to suggest otherwise: Burial's ''party music for an empty room'' (NY Times) on his sophomore, Mercury Prize-nominated release Untrue, the abrasive, dancehall and grime influenced album London Zoo by Ninja Tune-signed artist The Bug, and TV on the Radio's incorporation of dubstep rhythms on their fantastic 2008 release Dear Science. All this together might suggest that this supposed fad often dismissed as ''glorified drum and bass with fart noises'' is managing to gain some serious traction, not only within the traditional ''dance music community'' (as dubstep nights--most recently a Kode9 label showcase--at the minimal techno mecca Berghain/Panorama Bar in Berlin might suggest) but also within indepedent music scenes more generally.

The unique style of this micro-genre--which attempts to fuse the rhythms of 2-step with dub reggae atmospherics and vocals--is also its downfall; the relatively specific parameters in which a given artist supposedly has to work have, on the whole, pushed this style in the direction of homogenity. The complex drum-programming involved (the unique 2-step influenced beat that implies 16th notes that don't actually exist) as well as the open-ended nature of the ''dub'' component have also, however, allowed for some of the most innovative and avant-garde (yet accessible) work in electronic music in the past couple of years.

Alongside Burial and the rest of the cutting-edge slice of dubstep comes Headhunter, a producer who has been releasing a steady stream of 12" over the past couple of years and whose 2008 debut LP Nomad pushes the envelope by integrating elements of dub techno* as well as by surpassing and refusing recent homogenous trends through a unique synthesis of 4/4 rhythms and post-garage programming, eloquent and intricate use of melodic, dubby synths and atmospherics, and sparse and soulful vocals (both sung and spoken). The warm, all-encompassing bass sounds that accompany this album stand in stark contrast to the jarring drops and electro ''fart noises'' that infect the vast majority of this microgenre; the seamless transitions from 2-step to techno rhythms and back again (often within the course of single track) distort and make irrelevant the supposed distinctions and lines between dubstep and the rest of electronic music. Each track overflows with intricate programming details that don't completely eschew orientation around beats in the way most experimental artists do; Headhunter instead chooses to incorporate them ever-so-slightly, all the while abandoning the often-favored traditional ragga influences in favor of a more dub-oriented approach.

The album opens with the four-to-the-floor laced ''Lifeform'' and transitions calmly and comfortably into the more traditional ''Prototype'' (adorned with distorted spoken word) and then further into ''Technopolis,'' a track that oscillates between assorted rhythmic styles. Headhunter often finds himself employing dubbed- and glitched-out melodic female house vocals alongside reverbed synth lines: most prominently on the track ''Your Say'' but also throughout the course of the album. This use of vocals often recalls the work of experimental ''house'' guru Luomo; here, however, the appeal of the vocals is not so much dependent on wordplay but rather on the indecipherable and slurred nature of their sound. ''Paradigm Shift''--the name of which is quite telling, not only of the track itself but also of the album as a whole--stands more along the lines of dub techno while still working within dubstep influences and techniques, all the while managing to include modified and eloquent usage of the ''hoover sound'' intertwined with the clicks and piercing synths of minimal.

Techno and other assorted influences aside, this is most certainly a dubstep album with techno, etc. on the backburner: make no mistake about that. The so-called ''fart noises'' of dubstep (jabs of low-frequency electro), for example, have their place in Headhunter's repetoire; they lack, however, the homogeneity of sound and pointlessness that plagues their despised function as a defining characteristic of dubstep. Here they instead serve an auxillary purpose--icing on the cake if you will--in which they contiguously accompany and embellish the collective strata of sound by adding yet another warm, uninterrupted layer.

This is enthralling headphone music, one of the most original and groundbreaking electronic music releases of 2008 with the ability to capture the attention of any discerning music fan. This is music for early mornings and spliffs, when you can still feel the bass in your veins from your nighttime activities but only want to hear its shadows, lest your further deteriorate your already damaged hearing and current state of mind. Burial's album might still take the cake as the best overall introduction to dubstep, but his intensely ambient approach fails to capture the more authentic developments and components of this unique contemporary electronic dance music phenomenon. Nomad is the album that fills this gap, transgressing and surpassing not only the traditional sounds of the genre it might purport to represent, but also electronic (dance) music more generally, making it arguably the most innovative electronic release of this year and certainly one of the best dubstep recordings ever to be released.

http://rapidshare.com/files/158003632/Nomad.zip.html

*Click here for an amazing live PA set by Andy Stott, one of the legends of dub techno

NB: For one of the better examples of more traditional dubstep and to put all of this in context (including what I mean by fart noises) check this track out