Tempa Allstars Vol 9 – Tempa 125

Submarine fire churns away deep underwater, or dare we say underground, as legendary London dubstep stable Tempa rolls back through with its ninth configuration in weighted sound. New and old faces load up the torpedoes manually; some dare climb inside the mortars themselves. Carre leads with the slammer ‘Clicked’, light on production but heavy on the introduction, before longtimer ’96 Back’ provides a carnivalesque chiptune cackle on ‘Catford Jewelzz’, a homeward nod to the rising (in terms of cool) South London ward. Hodge complicates the feel with a sprint into «bassy techno» with the plungered 130-ish number ‘Sway’, while ‘Slikback’ stops over for a slower crunch-wallop, ‘Sea’, paradoxically dry in sound. We move into the tricky stuff from there, ‘Fantasy Dub’ by Invt being an immortal reviving of UK funky step, and D1’s ‘Oni’ a secret delegation in pure dark garage.