Starting the year in the voting category for best new label on the
DubstepForum.com awards. 2011 see’s Area Recordings once more pushing its boundaries of sound with a new release from label boss ‘Be-1ne’. Continuing to forge his own direction ARE004 brings forth 2 stripped back weighty rollers, showing that dance floor dubstep is all about the beats and the bass.
On the a-side ‘cane cutter’ delivers a knock out blow, opening with brooding atmospherics and industrial sounding bass stabs into a syncopated melody and a chopped half time break before unleashing its hidden rolling bassline and weighty drums. This is a definite dance floor smasher taking dubstep back to its roots of dark rooms and big sound!
On the b-side Be-1ne further explores this terrain with ‘soar’. Showing a more musical laid back approach to his production palette. The opening guitar stabs seem reminiscent of an old western, used sparingly, drawing you in but not overwhelming the listener along side its intricate percussion patterns. The track drops with a mighty helping of bass, kicks, echoing snares and 2-step inspired syncopation evolving through each passage introducing lush flutes and refined silence.
"Simply put, the best "pure" dubstep release of the year. Area Recordings always had consistent quality coming out, but this year saw Be-1ne's crowning moment so far. After those ghostly chimes keep you on edge for the first 50 seconds or so, the track gives way to one of the best drops in dubstep history. I'm struggling to find the right words about the drums on that drop, so I won't even bother, just believe me, they're good. Something that really impresses me with Be-1ne's releases, and most primarily with this release, is the way he engineers the bass so that you don't just hear it, but it seems to fill your whole room, seeping into every corner."
Night-Tracks (2011)