Shackleton - Soundboy's Nuts Get Ground Up Proper ep
If ever there were a record that made you ashamed of your stereo's puny bass response it'd be this one, a three track stormer from London dubstep imprint Skull Disco. Shackleton's bass drops are huge, shoomping bolts of leaden mass - neither in tune nor out of it, they are simple there, wobblingly omnipresent. To the requisite dub signifiers of melodica and sampled patois, Shackleton adds jittery piano House chords. All three tracks are littered with enough rimshots and congas to keep them moving forward, even when the atmosphere smells like burnt earth and dead air. "Blood On My Hands" is surprisingly tender, despite a creepy voice that describes watching "the towers fall...fall...fall". (Philip Sherburne)

Single of the Month!
Shackleton - Soundboy's Nuts Get Ground Up Proper ep
Although this won't be to everyone's taste (grime purists - avoid!), this is awesome music that I guarantee you'll be coming back to in time. 'Blood On My Hands' leads proceedings with a chilling vibe - in both senses of the word, as a depth charge vocal guides the listener through. 'Naked' continues with the introspective sound, tablas and inviting melodies awash with sub-bass and alien vocal snippets. 'Hypno Angel' finishes off this excellent EP, with ethno-dread vibrations to melt your head. 5/5 (Rob Ellis)

Shackleton/Gatekeeper/Appleblim - Soundboy's Bones Get Buried In The Dirt Volume 1 and 2
...two new releases on London's excellent Skull Disco label [create] their own kind of non-place. Gatekeeper and label head Appleblim both revive rave culture as it probably felt to nobody but the most drug addled and paranoid - their bolts of bass and jagged stabs are pure dystopian fantasy, a cartoon nightmare so far removed from its source that no one could mistake it as a longing for the real thing. Shackleton's contributions are by far the most 'ethnic' of the four cuts, from their African inspired percussion to their Middle-Eastern melodies. But the curiously unmodulated quality of the drums leaves them feeeling strangely deracinated: the mere traces of MIDI commands that happened to be triggering sounds with a certain nostalgic charge. The nostalgia dissipates with every successive hit. Bass is the place, it turns out: the only living ground beneath a graveyard of digital memories. You may be following the high end, but the low is what's persuing you. (Philip Sherburne)

Shackleton - New Dawn/Massacre
Sam Shackleton comes with more of the fresh vibes we're used to hearing from his Skull Disco imprint. 'New Dawn' opens with all the sounds and smells of an African bazaar, before breaking out into a bongo driven roller, peppered with ethnic yelps and bursts of dub static. On the other side, another carefully drawn-out intro from Shack drops into a frantic workout of hand percussion and snaking bass. 4/5 (DJ ThinKing)