Sub:stance

by Andy KellmanBerlin’s Berghain club has been hosting Sub:stance, a dubstep night presented by Hotflush operator and producer Paul Rose, aka Scuba. The club’s label, Ostgut Ton, naturally commissioned Rose for a same-named mix. Despite leaning heavily on recent and forthcoming releases from his own label, the mix makes for an excellent “state of dubstep/post-dubstep, early 2010.” Much of its components skulk down steely, unlit corridors, not unlike a busier take on the austere dub techno for which Berlin has been known since the early ‘90s. Even so, there is ample range, produced most suspensefully during the stretch when Badawi (yes, Asphodel/illbient Badawi)'s rustling, disquieting “Anlan 7” gives way to the euphoric rush of Joy Orbison's “Hyph Mngo.” From there, the set once again gradually increases the tension level, reaching a point of nearly snapping until Joker’s leviathan “Psychedelic Runway” arrives with its pummeling probe-riffs to conclude the set.