Plastician - Dubstep Allstars Vol. 10

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  • Chris Reed's roots go deep. As Plasticman, he appeared on one of the first dubstep releases ever, a 2004 Rephlex compilation confusingly titled Grime. Since then, he's stuck with dubstep through all of its stylistic shifts and fits. His apparent preference for the more aggro side of things—you could say he's a disciple of Coki rather than Mala—also meant that he wasn't the most popular DJ outside of dubstep's core audience, especially once the brostep backlash began. Judging from the bills he ends up on these days, I (wrongly) assumed he was deep into that world of heavy metal machismo. Instead, Reed's Dubstep Allstars is a remarkably diverse, sometimes even sexy, look into the world of dubstep in its second decade of existence. Like the last few in the series, this one is tried-and-true dubstep through-and-through. If the idea of an hour of that bores you, Dubstep Allstars 10 won't work too hard to change your mind. For the rest of us, however, it's a rewarding listen, especially because Plastician's hand moves a bit more slowly than some of his contemporaries. These are still fast mixes—each song gets about two minutes—but they breathe a little more easily, and they unfold more luxuriously. The smoother transitions even make the mood shifts hit harder. There's one unforgettable moment when the roughneck dubstep dips into sinuous g-funk with Mutated Mindz' "Valentine Dreams." It feels like a freefall into a pit of puffy satin pillows, before the mix picks itself up, dusts itself off and heads straight back into the fray with the thrashing of Stinkahbell's "Sunday Worries." Plastician wisely chooses to keep it brief, ending the mix after a digestible 54 minutes—enough to leave one satisfied, yet still a little hungry. At this point, anything with the title like Dubstep Allstars is going to be a niche effort, and true enough the mix fails to excite in the same way many of his more adventurous peers have. But Plastician hasn't become a world-traveling mainstay by reinventing himself—just the opposite. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but that doesn't mean your old dog can't get really, really good at the tricks it does know.
  • Tracklist
      01. Cato feat. Doctor - Brap (Plastician VIP) 02. Nomine - Waves 03. Jaydrop - Blind Run 04. J:Kenzo - Contagion 05. Vicious Circle - Not Afraid 06. FNC - Prism 07. Commodo - Axis 08. LAXX & Walsh - LA Drift 09. Jaydrop - That’s How It Is 10. Kumarachi - Voyager 11. Merky Ace - Greaze (Pote’s Smash N Grab Remix) 12. Megalodon & Badklaat - Twisted Metal 13. J:Kenzo - Depth Charge 14. Moony - Close Enough 15. Mutated Mindz - Valentine Dreams 16. Stinkahbell - Sunday Worries 17. Dream - Desolate 18. J:Kenzo feat. Footsie - No Man’s Land 19. Korea - Submarine 20. Plastician - Alone Time 21. Teknian – Sorga
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