The Guardian, who has the stream, points out that this album is "a breakthrough after many mini-breakthroughs: a major label dubstep record that faces the charts and the world, not just skanked-out ravers returning home from a club." Which basically means it should suck balls no matter who made it—there's nothing worse than dance music aiming to please football halftime dancers, blockbuster film music directors and frat partiers alike. But Benga, Skream and Artwork are pioneers of the genre—starting out in the early-mid '00s with brow-furrowed, meditative scrapes and blossoming out into big room (never rote) throb—and they'd never let their ideas curdle. Thus, their collaboration as Magnetic Man is more about pointed ambition, channeling everything they've learned over the past decade about plaintive melodies, skittery beat manipulation and weeded-out dudes on the dancefloor into a crowd-pleaser that doesn't wuss out on the darkside for the sake of making their moms happy. Case in point: "K Dance," which sounds like peeling off your helmet in space and waiting for your head to blow up. Massive!
Stream: Magnetic Man, Self-Titled (via The Guardian)