Phantasms manifest in dubstep and haunt centre stage in techno: Round Black Ghosts Number Two is on the boil. Tonight’s line-up embraces the history and future of dubstep from London to Berlin, swinging on the long waves and leisurely half-beats of dub techno.
 
London dubstep and Berlin dub techno continue to exert a ping-pong influence on each other, often through personal networks. The many paths of dubstep migration is a movement that speaks of human connections, and Round Black Ghosts explores the dubstep-techno meld from the perspective of Berlin’s longstanding bastion of dub experimentalism: ~scape. Tonight highlights the relationships between ~scape’s Stephan Betke and Barbara Preisinger and compiler Tim Tetzner, between Tetzner, ~scape and CTM, between Tetzner, ~scape and the London’s dub-step progenitors, and offers a glimpse of Round Black Ghosts compilation number two.
 
Peverelist, first enlisted by Pole for the remixes of his 2007 Steingarten album, tonight offers a characteristic set drawing from UK garage, jungle, and the hypnotic end of techno. Unquestionably dubstep, yet diverging smoothly from the standard, Peverelist’s broken, rolling kicks and staggered chords bring the influences of 2-step and Basic Channel-style dub techno explicitly into the dubstep sound.
 
Pole continues to develop his Steingarten sound with loose percussion, effect-laden guitar and melodica, incorporating more and more dubstep elements with exceptional spaciousness between each sinewy, degraded line. It’s heavy on the low-end with light syncopation and a live drum feel to lead into the live instrumentation of Hackney Centralist, Bass Clef.
 
Bass Clef ‘s moody and twisted live vibe – futuristic, wonky dub with mixing desk, a trombone, a theremin and lots of cowbell sets Basic Channel chords precariously on the edge of thunderous low-end.
 
Back to dubstep roots with the Croydon old-guard: Skream and Benga, arguably dubstep’s foremost ambassadors, bring you skank a plenty with ghostly traces of jungle, garage, drum'n'bass, and grime. Last up is Zed Bias, dark and bass heavy, garage flavoured aesthetic moulded in Ammunition Promotions’ monthly "Forward>>" nights in the early 00s.
 
Programmed in collaboration with ˜scape.