The last time we checked what’s happening on Japan’s mighty dubstep scene was about half a year ago back in June. And while late spring / early summer that I covered then was a very busy period for the scene, these past six months also had a lot to offer… so let’s get started!

CITY1 – After his vinyl debut in April on Gourmet Beats with Tribal Connection and his follow-up EP, Buluu on Trusik in July he finished his introductory trilogy of sorts on yet another important label, UK’s Subaltern Records. Speak Out EP was released there late August and its title track featured none other than Rider Shafique, one of the best known dubstep MCs (who also happens to be a regular collaborator of fellow BTC crew member Karnage). The vinyl edition featured three tracks, while the digital version came with two additional tunes, including an instrumental for Speak Out.

Speak Out EP
2019.08.30 / vinyl, digital
01.Speak Out feat. Rider Shafique
02.Koroga
03.Zee
04.The Deepest (digital only)
05.Rut (Speak Out Instrumental)(digital only)

And around the same time his dub remix for Zen Rydaz (a project by J.A.K.A.M., MaL and Macka-Chin) was released on the second installment of the project’s RMX EP series:

DAYZERO – But City1 was not the only one to rework a Zen Rydaz track: for the next part of the remix series Dayzero also got his hands on one of their tunes, the one called Rumble, featuring Rhyda:

But of course this was far from being the only new material from him. Late July he teamed up with Karnage and Cam Lasky and released an EP on the latter’s label Kwaioto. Titled Species Genesis: The Good Son it was inspired by You-Jeong Jeong’s book, The Good Son and comes with five tracks + alternate mixes for each.

Species Genesis: The Good Son (by Dayzero, Karnage & Cam Lasky)
2019.07.29 / digital
01.Call In The Dark
02.Who Am I ?
03.Danger To Others
04.Origin of The Species
05.The Good Son feat. Samantha Gang
06.Call In The Dark Alternate Mix
07.Who Am I ? Alternate Mix
08.Danger To Others Alternate Mix
09.Origin of The Species Alternate Mix feat. Samantha Gang
10.The Good Son Alternate Mix feat. Samantha Gang

In August he did a remix for Eater & Stizzla‘s album Schlachthaus, which was released by Vomitspit, a label run by him and Karnage:

And most recently he was involved in US label Deep, Dark And Dangerous‘ free xmas remix album: he remixed Fidget by Mr. K, while Ramsez remixed his Puppet on a Stage and Sectra reworked Looming Shadow off his 2018 DDD EP, Space Cartoon. The whole, pretty massive compilation is available on the label’s Bandcamp page.

And besides all this, he also created a new alias, DVYZ for his abstract, chill beat tracks that he previously also released under the Dayzero moniker and he already dropped an album called Subworld Tree… in December (out on CD and digital) under this name.

KARNAGE – The other half of Vomitspit also did a remix for that Eater & Stizzla album:

And besides taking part in the Species Genesis EP, he also worked with Cam Lasky on two more installments of their Pacific series, that they started this April and continued the following months with parts 2 and 3. With Part 4 the series took a surprise turn as it was a techno release done by Coronel G and Ghostnoht (available here) out on Kwaitron, yet another Kwaioto sub-label. However after this strange detour Karnage and Cam Lasky was back at the helm for parts 5 and 6 and these also marked the return of the pure deep dubstep sound that they abandoned after part 1. Part 5 was released in August and part 6 in November, both on Kwaioto, but in November a techno remix collection also dropped on the Kwaitron imprint. For this one, available here, Ghostnoht remixed all the tracks from part 1 thru part 6, so it probably also marked the end of the series.

Pacific Pt.5 (by Karnage & Cam Lasky)
2019.08.26 / digital
01.Gun Arm
02.Pearl Harbor
03.Gun Arm (Beatless Mix)
04.Pearl Harbor (Beatless Mix)

Pacific Pt.6 (by Karnage & Cam Lasky)
2019.11.25 / digital
01.Samurai
02.Empire
03.Samurai (Beatless Mix)
04.Empire (Beatless Mix)

Besides these releases with Cam Lasky, Karnage also dropped a free tune on Infernal Sounds back in August, that is available for download at the label’s Soundcloud:

And the latest offering from him is a three track EP out on Vomitspit: City17 is a collaboration with UK’s Sparxy and his old US pal MarkIV that was released late November and it is available from Bandcamp.

City 17
2019.11.22
01.Sparxy, Karnage & MarkIV: City17
02.Sparxy, Karnage & MarkIV: Reflex
03.Karnage & MarkIV: 1997

HELKTRAM – After being somewhat quiet during the last few years (he hasn’t released anything since 2016 except the excellent Alter, a track featured on the 2017 Subaltern compilation Kaleidoscope Vol. I) Helktram finally returned with not one, but two vinyl releases: his Suggestive Effect EP dropped on Trusik mid-August followed by Recoil EP, another Subaltern release a few months later. The vinyl editions of both came with three new tunes, but the digital edition of Recoil also had an additional bonus track.

Suggestive Effect EP
2019.08.16 / vinyl, digital
01.Suggestive Effect
02.Insecure
03.Iron Box

Recoil EP
2019.12.06 / vinyl, digital
01.Recoil
02.Mineral
03.Beware
04.Air (digital only)

ISH10 YOW1R0 – Meanwhile Ish10 Yow1r0 also kept himself busy with three new EPs. All with his trademark depressing titles and tracks that are exactly 2:58 long. Kill Me, Kill Me, Kill Me was released early October thru Myorph‘s Bandcamp page, My Eyes Full Of 「」 followed a few weeks later as a “name your price” kinda deal on Living, while his latest one was The Escape From Suffering That Can’t Be Expressed In Words, offered as a free download on his Soundcloud page. Additionally he released a standalone free dl track on KeepDeep (Soundcloud download) and future garage kinda tune with Nézumi (on Bandcamp).

kill me, kill me, kill me
2019.10.01 / digital
01.kill me and you will be saved…
02.people wants me to die…
03.kill me if you want to be happy. you will be happy…

my eyes full of 「」
2019.10.23 / digital
01.with eyes full of tears
02.with eyes full of sorrow
03.with eyes full of tears (Kurosawa Remix)

the escape from suffering that can’t be expressed in words
2019.12.03 / digital
01.i’ve lost my hair, so I cut my thin arm
02.is the blood flowing out of my arms beautiful?
03.the indelible wound is beautiful, isn’t it right?
04.a scar of this arm which doesn’t disappear is the evidence that I lived for…

And what can we expect for 2020? Karnage already announced that he will drop a joint album with Rider Shafique and City1 also mentioned in an Instagram post towards the end of the year that he’s got some releases lined up for 2020, so let’s hope it’s gonna be yet another busy year for the scene!