Various - Every Day Dubs: Vol. One

Cd cover- Everday dubs, Various artists. Photo / Supplied

Rating: * * * *

Verdict: NZ's first dubstep compilation. It's rib-rattling.

It's hard to decipher whether dubstep is a futuristic or prehistoric-sounding music. It's fair to say it's a bit of both which is appropriate considering the mysterious and sinister moods it conjures up.

Auckland DJ Jason Howson, an early convert and stalwart on the New Zealand dubstep scene, has put together the first local compilation of this bass-heavy, minimal music style that originated in south London in the early-to-mid 2000s.

It's a genre that's fickle and constantly evolving, so Every Day Dubs doesn't try to capture where the local scene is currently at, it's more about trumpeting the tunes that defined it.

Christchurch three-piece Truth have the most innovative touch here with dark agitating tunes like Fatman and Bubba Ho Step; there are two tracks from Optimus Gryme (including the seductive Truth remix of Immortal), who this year released New Zealand's first dubstep album; and Frosty's quirky Tropical Kids is genius in how it shudders and serenades as a soft bongo beat taps away in the background.

This compilation is for hardcore fans as well as a good sampler for those intrigued to find out more about this stoic musical form. And it also showcases the very different sounds local producers are coming up with, from the the bleepy Gabba dubstep of Benny Hedges's I Run This, to the pulsing techno inflicted Ghost Pennies by P-Vans, to the shivery skank of Dutty Ranks' Mash Up.

You can't argue with the rib-rattling workout these 13 tracks put you through either - and that's what dubstep is all about.

Scott Kara