Skream
Originally released in 2006, available again. This is the debut album from Skream, Croydon's musical wonderkid. At 15 he discovered making music, and 5 years after, he helped to change the course of UK urban music, building the foundations of dubstep, the UK's most talked-about musical genre. Skream's clipped, techy minimal style has quickly become his trademark. Long before grime existed, it reflected dark, murky streets and sinister nights, the sound of decaying London and its frustrated communities, stuck out in satellite towns and sink estates with nothing but a PC and freely-available software to channel their frustration into. His signature tune, the scene's anthem "Midnight Request Line" is an explosion of electro arpeggios and dub sub-bass. It's a tune you can sing along to. From the opening haunting strings of "Tortured Soul," which calls to mind the work of Philip Glass or Aphex Twin, to the more optimistic chords and guitar of "Dutch Flowerz," to the heavy vocal cuts featuring Warrior Queen and JME, and the heavy digi-sounds of "Auto-Dub," it's clear that this is a sonic visionary at work.