PINCH

A special collection of tracks and remixes originally released on different labels by Tectonic Recordings founder Rob Ellis, better known as the DJ and producer Pinch.

Although it may have been some time since Pinch’s debut artist album ‘Underwater Dancehall’ (“the sound of dubstep in 2007” said Resident Advisor), he has hardly been slacking off. Aside from running Tectonic, which includes releases from 2562, Addison Groove, Author, Benga, Digital Mystikz, Distal, Flying Lotus, Joker, Loefah, Martyn, Peverelist, Photek, Roska, RSD, Scientist, Shackleton and Skream among its glowing catalogue, other labels have solidly engaged the talents of Pinch for a number of one-off releases and remixes over the past six years.

This compilation brings together some of these moments, some better known than others, handpicked by Pinch and arranged chronologically by release date on labels such as Planet Mu, Six Degrees, Soul Jazz, Punch Drunk, Lot49, Tempa, 2Kings, Swamp81, and Ninja Tune. Releases for Planet Mu feature significantly, including the original deep VIP flip of one of the scene’s defining tracks ‘Qawwali’. This is then neatly followed by a largely overlooked remix by Pinch of the legendary Qawwali vocalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, running at 116bpm rather the more typical dubstep tempo of 140bpm.

As the tracks progress through the time period of their release, trends form with periods of dark wobble ('Chamber Dub', 'Cave Dream') moving into more techno inspired soundscapes ('136 Trek', 'Mutate(d)') and wonky-beat orientated rhythms ('Motion Sickness', 'Attack Of The Giant Killer Robot Spiders!"). There is also space for Pinch’s devastatingly effective remix of Henry & Louis 'Rise Up' as well as Emika’s ‘Double Edge’, which was also included in his Fabriclive Mix, released earlier this year. As an extra treat, hidden in the CD somewhere is Pinch's first ever “dubstep” track, ‘Deserted Island’, made available for the very first time since it was created back in 2004. The CD also features ‘Elements’, the flipside to 2010's ‘Croydon House’, taken from Swamp 81's vinyl-only catalogue, which will not part of the digital package.

As dubstep develops and disperses into countless new sub-genres, this collection also serves as a bookend to a first chapter in Pinch’s production career. Some of these titles had been reported "Missing In Action", but here they are, reporting for duty once more.