Altone - After World

Icy dub techno doesn’t come classier than the strain you’ll find on Iceland’s AE Recordings. On their latest EP, they welcome Japanese producer Altone to the fold with four impeccably sculpted immersion chambers. There’s a healthy amount of movement within the scenes Altone captures, avoiding the pitfall of dub techno becoming too soporific and instead creating a powerful sense of kinesis in the shimmer and shudder of the Basic Channel-indebted chords. ‘Drifting Sand’ is especially powerful, using a gorgeous, resonating tone which takes on an organic quality as it gently modulates over the subliminal rhythm section. Watch out though for the squashed, house-leaning funk of ‘Uninhabited’ if you want a low-key groover for the hypnotic crowd.