Asylum – ‘Always Love / Bad Habit’ EP

Since launching Uprise Audio in late 2012, Edward ‘Seven’ Berry and his team have been very busy indeed. Since starting up, the fledgling label has gone from strength to strength: pushing out some of the biggest releases on the scene, being voted no.1 ‘Best New Label’ in the prestigious 2012 Dubstep Forum Awards, and garnering huge airplay across the waves from DJ’s on Rinse FM, Radio 1 and 1xtra.

Label head Seven is a prolific underground figure and well versed in bass music history. Like many eminent Dubstep producers around today, he was a D&B and Jungle enthusiast long before making his name in Dubstep. Setting his sights exclusively on the deep, dark and experimental in 2008, Seven went on to achieve huge success with numerous releases before making the move to cultivate his own label. Today Uprise Audio boasts a roster of extremely talented artists, all ready to scratch our dubstep itch with their own unique take on the label’s raison d’etre: forward thinking, heavy and energetic bass music.

Their latest offering comes from LA/London-based producer Asylum AKA Andrew Greening. Another D&B head turned Dubstep connoisseur, Asylum spent ten years in the fold of London collective Vicious Circle. In 2011 he started experimenting with the 140bpm side of things, and each resultant single – be it ‘Not Afraid / Hibernation’ (Crunch), ‘Blindfold / Salvage’ (Uprise), the massive Germinate EP (Crunch) or the punchy and vibrant ‘Zero Gravity’– has gone on to receive huge support from all over the Dubstep scene, with Asylum’s tracks becoming a staple in the sets of Youngsta, Skream & Benga, V.I.V.E.K, N-Type, Truth, Icicle and many more.

Asylum returns to Uprise with UA006: his first solo release on the label since dropping the huge anthem that is ‘Blindfold’ on 2012’s UA002. The EP opens with ‘Always Love,’ building with neat syncopated drums and a haunting reverbed vocal hook before delving deep with a warbling sub heavy bass line. Asylum, highly familiar with the low end sonics of dubstep, constructs a surging bass element that pulses underneath the drums. ‘Always Love’ effectively utilizes mids, breaks and well thought out space to push and pull the tracks individual elements into one cohesive, structured moment that should leave any crowd calling out for a good ol’ rewind. On the B-side track ‘Bad Habit,’ Asylum takes things slightly more up-tempo with his use of crisp, teasing drum work. This one makes for an instant head-nodder, especially when met by its growling, warrior-esque bass line.

On UA006 Asylum shows off with two quite different tracks, comprehensively demonstrating the immense versatility that makes Dubstep such an interesting genre. The first track is a certain dance floor anthem with its sampled vocals and pulsing bass, whilst the second is a growling, introspective track that plays around with tempo and drum work patterns. Overall, UA006 is a fantastic example of the exciting and forward thinking work consistently pushed by Uprise Audio and a stellar release from Asylum. Digital release is set for 16/06 via Juno Download (23/06 all other stores) and record release on 30/06, so get your pre-orders in now!

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