Conrad Pack

On a mighty debut LP for Lost Domain, techno dub mutator Conrad Pack achieves an immaculate consolidation of deep techno, clandestine noise and steppers dub guided by the spirits of Jah Shaka as much as Chain Reaction, and comparable to underground streams of John T. Gast, via early AFX and Regis.

Under a title of biblical connotations, ‘Commandments’ taps hard into a vital vein that summons classic, rebel UK soundsystem pressures, from JA roots to free party offshoots. Featuring tag-teamed missiles co-produced with close compadres Gonz and Leeway, the nine trax hold firm to tried and tested principles of hypnotically propulsive bass and ritually suggestive atmospheres idealised for getting properly stuck in and zoned out. Frankly it’s some of the best in this mode of the decade so far, and among the most potent recapitulations of a spirit and driving momentum that persisted throughout the ‘90s into the ‘00s at dances across the UK, before receding ever deeper into niche fissures of the club rhizome as this particular baby was sloshed out with the bathwater in favour of other stuff during the 2010s.