November: 9 dubstep & grime releases you need to hear this month

Swindle 'Funk & Grime EP' (Butterz)

The second release in the new EP project ‘A Trilogy In Funk’, ‘Funk & Grime’ sees Swindle return to his London roots following the release of ‘Connecta’, an EP steeped in the musical heritage of Brazil. Although a product of grime, Swindle’s one-of-a-kind maverick approach to making it (as well as working live instrumentation into his productions) is again at the fore here, with vocal cuts featuring Ghetts and D Double E forming the backbone. ‘Lemon Trees’, a beat defined by its rebooted soul hook, sees D Double ride a sparse, analogue beat, subtly underpinned by bass guitar licks and dizzying funk samples, while ‘Works Haffi Run’ featuring Ghetts is far grittier and almost reminiscent of Swindle’s early work for Planet Mu. To finish off, Flava D turns in a lethal club flip of album track, ‘Mad Ting’, featuring JME.

8/10