Exerting gully textures and repurposed oldschool oscillations, 3WA opens his junkyard inside the Earth & Stone roster. Complete with a collector’s zine, a screen printed sleeve and of course a 180g plate, this 3-track EP sets the standard for Earth & Stone’s first expedition through TERRA. The forecast shows galaxies rising beyond 140bpm on Earth & Stone’s ERTNSTN catalogue, which was opened last year by Foamplate and Lungman. But you can rely on the label’s 2nd catalogue, TERRA, to remain firmly rooted in heady dubstep.
In 2019, 3WA’s efforts finally gained serious attention. Backed by character-carving dubplates, the Portuguese producer’s opium-dizzy ballrooms were stamped into wax by 786 Recordings, Foundation Audio and even Crucial Recordings. Now he’s planting fresh seeds in Earth & Stone’s brand-new catalogue, starting with TERRA001.
Laying the needle down, spring-loaded alarm systems flicker purple and red across the wonked-out patrols of gear-eyed junkyard dogs in ‘Laser Lords’. These jagged, mechanical movements follow ‘Altair’, the busted A-side dripping in delayed swagger and off-kilter anarchy. Hermitized, ‘King Of Style’ steals the show from the far edge of the B-side’s track band. Burrowing into brave minimalist sound-trenches, the violent maws of raw digi-kaiju argue overhead, where the Mad Hatter goads their lazer-firing vocal chords into a frenzy.
2020 looks up as this rising label signs this dedicated artist. Drawing dubstep in the direction of intrigue – towards broken bricks and ancient, vivid tapestries – whilst retaining the attention of the dancefloor is a difficult line to walk, but it’s no surprise that 3WA and Earth & Stone would meet along it.
