- It’s a mystery why Scuba (Paul Rose) is releasing a lot of his tracks as white labels on the semi-anonymous Abucs imprint. It’s actually a sublabel of Rose’s Hot Flush label, and if you think about it, ‘Abucs’ is really just Scuba spelt backwards. Oh well, the Abucs releases are Scuba proper, and show a man clearly on his own path with a clear headed view of his own sound world.
On his latest 12”, Scuba continues to work his niche in style, bridging IDM colour and complexity with Tectonic-heaviness and brooding shadows. The A-side ‘Outmost’ begins boldly, hollowing out a deep space with warm dub echoes before crashing in with a driving beat on the fast side for most dubstep. Still, not quite techno crossover like some of the genre’s recent tracks, but dark and gripping with a fierce low end reminiscent of Cyrus that will get your sub-woofer working hard. The melodic coda resplendent with bells and Boxcutter-esque ambience takes the heat out a little, but it’s a track still brimming with more than enough dancefloor possibilities.
‘Beta’ on the flip-side takes things a little less lightheartedly and instead wends its way somewhat airily through a classic U-ziq/Reflex like melodic chain. Relatively straight up and content with its own tune, ‘Beta’ doesn’t hide any big surprises or changes and, although neatly built and overall pleasing, it doesn’t quite thrill. A tidy single nevertheless.
TracklistA Outmost
B Beta