Artist Series 02 marks the next step in Alt Dub’s steady expansion, gathering four producers who each interpret the label’s warm, spacious dub aesthetic through their own distinct lens. Founded by Federsen in 2024, the imprint has quickly curated a sound where analogue warmth, submerged rhythms, and meticulous sound design continue to evolve rather than ossify. With collaborations from cv313, Fletcher, and now a new wave of contributors, Alt Dub is shaping a catalogue of truly discerning dub techno sensibilities.
For this second instalment of the label’s ‘Artist Series’, Forward Memory, Thomas + James, Gradient, and Beppu continue on this sonic trajectory. Each artist widens the scope of the imprint thus far, pushing its sonic vocabulary to the edges of that genre-restricted envelope. The four tracks feel like genuinely interesting, experimental perspectives on dub’s gravitational pull, four ways of working with tension, atmosphere, and reduction, whilst staying true to the sound from which they originate.
Opening the EP, Forward Memory’s “Scholz’s Star” sets the tone with its driving, deliberate, pulse. Organic percussion provides an irresistible sense of movement, while twitching oscillations trace delicate paths through the murk. Pads swell and recede, as the track moves with an understated, no-nonsense, complexity. Slowly evolving elements, a simple kick, simplicity, very lovely stuff and the ideal tool for those who seek to create mixes of the more hypnotic school of thought.
‘Artist Series 02’ is scheduled for release on 6th January via Alt Dub. Buy vinyl from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Forward Memory – Scholz’s Star
A2. Thomas and James – Chosen Colour
B1. Gradient – Vibes Realm
B2. Bepu – Conversions