This is a solid EP from Skope! Although "Wouldn't I" and "Outlaw" aren't anything spectacular, the title track is quite a lot of fun and definitely bears the hallmarks of Skope's later stuff and "The Spaniard" is absolutely fantastic.
"Wouldn't I" is this slow, moody and atmospheric cut with some great usage of vocal chops. It's got a bit of a nice groove to it but outside of its sonically pleasing characteristics it's not all that memorable sadly.
The ... read more

DIVERSA's "Of The Mysterious Voice" is a pretty mediocre release. Although fine sonically, the EP is really not that engaging. It's just shy of 22 minutes of okay soundscapes. The opening track I feel like does the sound best, being pretty mellow and introspective and works pretty well with its moody atmosphere. The piano led Crowning Touch is alright but I don't feel like it quite hits as it intends to. Water For Your Heart tries continuing this trend and falls shorter in my opinion, ... read more

Sorrow went searching for something miraculous, and he came back with something pretty damn close. Although overall not his best work, it's still an accomplishment that he could continue to pump out so many brilliant projects and this is no exception. Solid throughout, Sorrow delivers a sample of his styles: bringing deep Future Garage cuts, angelic and wistful production as well as Deep UK Dubstep all under one EP.

Opening with Never Too Far, I'll be honest and say that I'm not too crazy ... read more

Zes' Hindsight EP is a pretty nice, relaxing release. Although I'm not personally resonating with this release in full, the sound and the vibes are on point. Alternate reminds me of a more chill take on Madeon's style, Bliss is appropriately blissful especially with the vocals, Do It Again has some real weight behind the reverbed soaked production and The Final Decay is a nice way to end things off especially with the weightier drop in the final third. Memories is the only track that I really ... read more

Just a heads-up before the review - the Spotify version of this release is missing two tracks: Waiting So Long and Suede. The release on Bandcamp has these tracks.

ah hell naw ominous moustache in da corner

This is the first Powered by Inspected Compilation, and was my main introduction to Inspected back in the day. Although I have good memories of blaring this in the background whilst playing Black Ops, it's fair to say there are some duds here. I wouldn't really say this compilation is very ... read more

Asa's Heartbeats EP is a gargantuan project for an EP. Six tracks with a combined run time of 46 minutes. Asa has built a fantastic track record of constructing wondrous soundscapes and wholly cohesive projects but my initial concern going into this was if it could keep me engaged for the entire length of this project.

At Dawn opens with a beautiful poem performed by Ben Jacobs with Asa constructing a magnificent soundscape to back his soft delivery, like a wonderful wake up call as beams of ... read more

So first off I just want to note for anyone that decides to check this out that there's a problem with the Spotify upload as the first track is erroneously only the first 19 seconds. With that out of the way, I can now talk about this incredibly average EP.

Their final release as a trio, Millions Like Us don't exactly go out with any sort of real impact or memorable moments. Luminary is an EP of missed potential. Although an improvement over their previous release, any intrigue that this ... read more

Joe Ford's Culture EP is an okay listen. Starting off incredibly strong, the rest of the EP very quickly settles into mediocrity with only the Asa collab at the end being anything notable outside of the title track. The first track is hauntingly abrasive with some incredible sound design and fun switch-ups, and although a bit of a dense wall of sound is thoroughly enjoyable. Real Talk is a bumping almost garage like tune with a lot of Asa's hallmarks plastered all over it but with some heavier ... read more

Sanctuary is raw beauty taken sonic form. This collaborative EP was released when Asa was still top of his game, before the quiet an uneventful release of Torn Together. The first half of this project really sets the groundwork for The Movember Collection in sound design in my opinion. Although this is a long project for a 5 track EP (29 minute runtime), the journey this will take you on is serene and visceral.

The title track opens this one up and it really sets the tone of the EP to follow ... read more

On a sound design level, Jackhammer by Emperor is phenomenal, however none of these tracks are really all that memorable. Whilst the bass tickles my brain in ways I thoroughly enjoy, I don't feel myself really gravitating towards anything here.

The title track has an absolutely monumental drop, but apart from that doesn't do a lot with the rest of the run time that I find to be that appealing. Next Day I think does it the best with the quite ear catching synth that immediately opens as well as ... read more

Wow. What a fantastic change of pace from Boy Kid Cloud. This Way is a great, groovy garage tune with some really good vocal chopping. Someone Said is a lot more reserved and chill, but even the stronger focus on the vocals I find to be great on this one as it's very lowkey with the compression and used great as vocal chops. And then the remix on the tail end from Asa & Sorrow is beautiful. When these two get on a track you know it's going to be magic, and they deliver in spades here with a ... read more

The Great Expedition sees Culprate really starting to become a mad sound wizard. With some really incredible production throughout this EP, you're bound to find something you enjoy here. Although I'm not crazy about a couple of things tried here, overall this is quality and this is a project that I'm going to come back to again and again.

Scarred opens this EP and the bleep bloopy synths that immediately greet you aren't something I'm crazy about. On first listen I was very worried for what I ... read more

Precursor to the duo "Icarus", Millions Like Us release a pretty decent EP on Inspected - their penultimate as a trio with Chris Mitchell. A mix of solid tunes and cheap festival bait, there seems to be some clash of styles here which might explain there only being 3 EPs together before moving on as just a duo. The heavier tracks are definitely done best in my opinion with some good sound design and production, with some questionable features and really cheap tracks thrown in to the ... read more

Oof this is rough.

"6am" is bad. Production on this track is god awful with some really cheesy singing on top of it. "I Need Love" is marginally better, just having very boring production with some poor autotune, and more of the same cringe inducing singing. If this is the direction Boy Kid Cloud has decided to go then it's a miss.

This EP is a difficult one to place. Teknian's "Sonic" suffers from being a release that could have just been a couple singles but ended up packaged as an EP. Tracks individually range from being just good to being quite fantastic, but everything is different enough to make me feel like nothing here really belongs together. I'm happy enough overall with the tracks individually, but honestly this is one where I feel like you should only really check out one or two tracks that sound up ... read more

Ukulele Dubstep.

I'm not crazy about this. It's a really cheesy Singer Songwriter Dubstep thing, like some weird budget Ed Sheeran Dubstep track. It's very disappointing as a comeback but even outside of that this feels pretty uninspired and derivative whilst also forcing some wubs in for good measure.

Mercury by Gemini is his best overall project. It's also his final project - only having a handful of remixes after this in 2013-14 before coming back one last time in 2016 for a single. Overall solid, it's played pretty safe here with a collection of serviceable and inoffensive cuts. It may not push the boundaries, but what we do have on this EP is still pretty fun. A lot of the issues I have had with poor production quality are mostly alleviated with some clear progression since Fire ... read more

Final Scenes is a project that tries to do too much and as a result falls flat on its face. It's trying to be this cool Synth Wave/Funk/Disco Dubstep Fusion EP, but this ends up more of a nonsensical mashing of styles. This is a frustrating drag to get through because you almost hope that tracks will lean either one way or the other but then at the last moment possible the wrong turn is taken.

The title track is up first, and on first listen I was quite intrigued as I thought that we were ... read more

Nightmares In Reality is a pretty solid EP overall with some great highlights dotted with a couple forgettable tracks. Leaning a lot more Neuro than his previous release, this has some incredible production at times however I think sonically a couple tracks miss their mark. It's definitely worth going back to check out as this is a pretty iconic release for the time but maybe don't get your hopes too high.

Opening with Hall of Mirrors I'm already in two minds about this. Although overall not a ... read more

You know I was ready to go into this one hating it. I kind of knew about xKore and my understanding of their stuff was just like a really cheap "brostep" bass cannon sound. But you know what? I actually really dig this. This is a great dubstep EP, maybe even fantastic. Although the mix is a little muddy at times, overall this is a lot of fun and I'd dare say still holds up to this day. I'm shocked.

Opening things off we have the title track "Stabs". This is some pretty ... read more