Various

This is another instance of digital creativity folding in upon itself. The artist at the centre of these musical Venn diagrams is Arrogalla, an electro dub artist from Sardinia. Beyond that, it's harder to describe, as he's both remixer and remixed in this free netlabel download. Most tunes amble along at an upbeat leaning mid-tempo, with spacious, but rock hard, rhythmic acumen. In his mixes, 8-bit sounds pong across the stereo field with a thickness and complex texture that saves them from being cutesy, videogame-inspired dub excursions. In other hands, Arrogalla's songs gain even more sonic variety, such as TDBT's "Remake Arrogalla," which sounds more Ninja Tune-y, with a bit of dancehall and guitar churn thrown into the mix. The contrast between production styles is unified by the frequent use of folkloric, Sardinian vocal samples. The exotic factor of the samples adds some gravity to the songs, as well as a pleasingly uneasy harmonic contrast that stakes Recto Versus 2's territory far away from coffee shop dub. Frenetic vocal turns by Quilo are a nice touch amid the instrumentals. Whether dubstep, electro dub, downtempo or glitchy, this is a consistently imaginative project with no weak spots.