[Apple Pips]

Apple Pips sure do have an odd release schedule. After “Humber” appeared in April following a couple months of delay, the Bristol based label was silent until late June, when Brackles’ “Get a Job” and Ramadanman and Appleblim’s “Justify” appeared within just two weeks of each other. Cue more radio silence until late, at which point two new Apple Pips 12″s appear from nowhere in the same week: Instra:mental’s long-anticipated “Leave it All Behind” and “Dodgem/Sunken” by frequent Appleblim collaborator Al Tourettes. Apple Pips have proven exceptional at providing little-known artists with much needed exposure, and Al Tourettes seeks to impress with “Dodgem/Sunken,” the label’s eighth record.

“Dodgem” kicks things off with whirring noises, Warp-alike bass rinses and rough hitting syncopations. Not exactly what one might immediately identify as “dubstep,” “Dodgem” owes much more to 90’s IDM to these ears, with bits of garage, techno and jungle peeking out from all corners. “Sunken” maintains the back-alley mood, with detuned music-box noises conspiring with a gritty low-end over a more grounded and techno-inspired beat. Al Tourettes’ productions with Appleblim have rightly caused some damage, whether through their mighty remix of Hector & Bryant’s “Tension” or their decimating, space-age re-imagining of Planetary Assault System’s “X Speaks to X,” but “Dodgem/Sunken” finds the young producer from Bristol with plenty of his own tricks up his sleeve. That my first few spins his latest left me pondering where to slot it speaks to its originality, and wherever the sound of UK bass music may be heading I suspect Apple Pips and Al Tourettes will be leading the way.