Dubstep now has an 8-bit interface, taking micro-music one step further into the future/back to the past. Teenage mainframe commando Unicorn Kid aka Oliver Sabin has already got high profile previous with Gorillaz, Pet Shop Boys and Owl City – decide for yourselves whether he’s animal crackers or not – and definitely makes an emotional arcade connection to add a high score, power up-securing angle to dubstep’s mission of crushing opponents. It does sound like dubstep done on a smaller scale – which is to say, the intentionally lower budget sound shows no disrespect; the sweeping widescreen approach is replaced by a miniature installation of components that has Unicorn forcing the issue just as effectively and expressively.
PhOtOmachine’s mix is the definition of brooding. While CPUs squeak and flutter amongst two-steppish, paradise-honed environs, the bassline is one exercising caution bleeding into dark lorded doom, and the Peckham producer, whose curriculum vitae also bears hipster hook-ups with Xrabit & DMG$, Yo Majesty, Speech Debelle and Jammer, brings together humbleness with a sickness to the bottom end. Insinuating that if you take the banter of the synths lightly, you’re in trouble, making you realise the shrill yelps are not necessarily ones of joy. Both definitely bring something to dubstep’s table, and while its stature is of a younger brother trying to grab the attention of its bush-whacking/phlegmatically bassy source while showcasing its own heavy on the treble credentials, both offer constructive options able to convey just as much largeness of heart and sound.