Depth Charge

Fap, basically.

It’s a super awesome welcome back to Interchill, a label I’m personally delighted has weathered the multiple storms of dwindling sales, mp3 streaming, and Beatport. Depth Charge is their first compilation since 2009′s One Dub, and it showcases the newer and edgier sound — there’s dubstep, Naasko, but not as we know it.

Daega Sound’s Don’t Stop kicks off with a delicious sense of space between the sounds. Dub is shedding the step and we’re left with a syrupy new genre to get on and enjoy. Bakir’s Deep End spends most of its time, as the name might suggest, down in the bassy bit of the spectrum but when it bubbles up into the midrange, it creates an almost Brazilian rhythm and groove to make the sort of thing you’d see someone dancing to with their dreadlocks dangerously dipping into an open flask of something terrifying.

Occult’s Loose Change is the first time when you realise: hang on, this album’s a bit special. It’s that soulful, spacey end of the wedge with beautiful half-melodies one on top of the other. I find the “yeah, yeah” vocal a bit “yeah, yeah” but I can live with it.

I’m equally impressed with Sunshine from Submotion Orchestra, that fuses live vocal and instrumentation with little flecks of dubstep, with the glitch-o-meter kept well and truly in the green. It’s an interesting structure, and I’m keen to hear more. Less so with Ruckspin, Planas & Levaillan’s Steppin which is an unfortunate noodly interlude over a decently moochy groove.

Things get all kinds of awesome again with No War from RootsInSession, an act about whom I am able to find out nothing. It’s a sparky, rhythmic groove with sunshine happiness all over the place, all intertwined around a darkly solid bass. Effing lush, as they say in Reykjavik.

Mous & Doba’s Story Tailors pushes things into the realm of the psychedelic, before SE23′s remix of Hibernation’s wonderful Catacombs adds a floaty, emotional flavour. Pascal’s Journey from Spiral System holds the flow nicely.

If you’re set up waiting for something brilliant, it appears in the shape of Owl’s Gaze from Kaminanda, which has a sort of squarish and almost industrial sort of shape to it: the sounds really are arranged in a very slick and innovative way. I could listen to this all day, except I can’t, which is a shame because it’s track that contains basically everything I’ve ever wanted.

A shame, but not really since we’re up next with Daisy (Dub) from log(m) & Laraaji (seriously, what is it with artist names and special characters these days. I ask you.) The track is glorious, a cascading cuddle with melodies all over the place, and an incredibly tight-on sound.

Venture’s Breathe In takes things a little introspective, before Liquid Stranger bursts forth with Sorb, which is stunning. Positively dripping with cinematic awesomeness, it’s a huge piece of music and incredibly well-executed. It’s a tough act to follow, but Kryptic Minds’ Brief Passing does so in a dreamy, crystalline fashion that’s gleaming with awesome.

In short then: wow. While delighted to see Interchill back on the compilation trail, I couldn’t help think that their style would have betrayed their quality, in some way. But this isn’t the case here.

What’s perhaps most attractive about this is the evolution of Interchill’s sound. From ambient, to chill, to downtempo, and through that dubby patch a few years back, they’ve come out the other side with a sound that’s not just new,  but totally individual: it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Interchill being able to sound like this.

Release Date: 4/2013