Dark times call for dark music… ‘Nero’ sees the one and only Stelios Vassiloudis make his debut on Darkroom Dubs. After a decade of gracing the likes of Bedrock, Poker Flat, Balance and many more bastions of deepness, his arrival on Silicone Soul’s imprint is a long time coming. And as the EP suggests, it’s a deep, dark and beguiling affair.


Three tracks noxiously laced in dub aesthetics, sculpted with more space than a planetarium and heavy like dark matter, we kick off with ‘Doxie #3’. Stately, cavernous and driven by a pounding kick, the magic is in the synth ebb and flows and snake-like percussion that weaves in and out of the hypnotic mix. It’s followed by ‘Error’. Don’t be fooled by its misleading title; with more of a jacking drum arrangement and more urgency in those insistent dubby synths, there’s nothing erroneous about this chasmic, cosmic composition whatsoever.


Finally, Stelios closes the deal with ‘1MDB’. Taking us deeper into techno territories, here the big oceanic dubby synths that characterise the whole EP weave and bob around a subtle acid bounce and rolling bassline while the drums rise in tension and momentum in a way that the Greek producer has made his own over the years.


Tense, focused and stripped right back to the essential elements. These are the tunes this label was made for. Dark times call for Darkroom Dubs…


Art by Michelle Haswell
www.darkroomdubs.com