PinchMissing in Action: A Collection of Selected Tracks, B-Sides and Remixes from 2006-2010Review

Pinch, one of dubstep’s true pioneers, takes us on a brisk tour of his enduring hard drive to unearth some prouder moments that never had the pleasure of meeting wax.

They swerve from his own subterranean dub journeys to lively remixes of lesser bass-centric protagonists he’s met along his path. For example, fidget house agitator 30Hz enjoys a snaking minimal retake of Mutate(d) and Ninja Tune’s Emika gets taunted in astral bleep on Double Edge.

Flavours go east at several junctures. The late Nusrat Fateh – aka the "Elvis of the East" – smokes his larynx over a skippy rendition of Dil Da Rog Muka Ja Mali. It’s a festival of melodic drums and tabla reverberations that could easily be mistaken for Warp’s Plaid sneaking in a session on holiday in Asia. Other scene stalwarts such as Shackleton and Mala help vary the percussive assault.

But of all of these tracks, these previously lost soldiers, perhaps the most valued recovery is Bristol’s Henry & Louis with Rise Up. It’s a jaunty skank about the lower levels of hertz with an energising rasta toast from Steve Harper bobbing on top. Pure, raw, and livid with life.

Some of Pinch’s tracks don’t stand up too well in isolation, however, seeming to crave the companionship of a DJ mix. Attack of the Giant Killer Robot Spiders! is one such slab, 136 Trek another. Furthermore, one of Pinch’s greatest works, Brighter Day, here gets the Qawwali VIP dub which, while incredible, painfully lacks Juakali’s immense vocal, so well-loved that it's been a historical closer of dancefloors.

M.I.A. is perhaps only for the truly obsessive collector. History never allowed these tracks the air to breathe, and that’s a telling fact. Pinch remains a progressive mind in a musical field he was central in triangulating, and perhaps it’s more exciting to keep moving forwards with his latest work than get too bogged down with these minimalist historical anomalies.