Today would have been DJ Rashad's Birthday. Hyperdub and Teklife celebrate his life via video

Son Raw interviews Slackk about coming up in Liverpool, his debut album Palm Tree Fire, and literary track titles.

What is instrumental music about? It’s a question I struggle with when reviewing beats because fundamentally, the answer is nothing. Yet as humans (or barring that, music writers) we constantly search for meaning and representation in sounds that are completely abstract, to make sense of the emotions they conjure in us.

Rabit's Black Dragons was so far ahead of its time when it dropped that he can release a vocal version over a year and a half later and still have it sound fresh out the box. Meanwhile, Riko's yardman flow is an immediate draw and his tendency to vocal the deepest, darkest riddims separates it from trancehall's current obsession with chart pop.

LV's second album with Josh Idehen has enough pop power to transcend its London underground origins. Son Raw reports.

Son Raw works according to his own internal logic. Slackk makes Grime, but he doesn’t make dance or rap music, the oppositional poles that form the genre’s DNA. Whereas Grime’s superstar emcees have gone on to successful careers not altogether different from American rappers, and experimental artists like Logos reformat the genre’s attitude and sounds […]

Son Raw’s heading to the beach for a minute Once again, it’s on… First up, Bristol imprint Crazylegs continues to play mad scientist with UK dance music traditions, mixing and matching various tempos, styles and perspectives on each release. Ziro’s Lost featuring Trim is no exception and like Murlo’s remix of TRC’s Me and You […]

And now, a word from Son Raw’s sponsor Another mix, another awkward self promotional write up from myself. Honestly, I can big up the artists I support all day long but writing about my own DJing is about as painful a task as I can imagine. As such, I’ll dodge that obligation by heaping praise […]

 Son Raw‘s current mood: Flowdan vocal The Montreal-based producer known as Hesk has evolved into the Torontonian known as 6Maka6. While my hometown misses him dearly and he no longer has access to Romados chicken, it’s hard to argue with the results, as his razor-sharp club tracks have reached an a growing audience while his […]

Son Raw drinks Dom Perignon. While plenty of labels are putting out fantastic Grime-related music in 2014, Local Action might be the imprint that’s best captured the genre’s overall scope. From DJ Q’s vocal Garage to Finn’s R&B-sampling choppage to Slackk’s cinematic abstraction, the label has showcased just how diverse UK music can be, hitting […]