Sam Shackleton has been among the most eclectic protagonists of the international electro circuit for years, among the main exponents of the dubstep movement, also fueled thanks to the publications of his label, Skull Disco. With “Euphoria Bound” Shackleton delivers a highly hypnotic work, a technological safari capable of uniting ancestral and clubbing futuristic, ten tracks that lead the listener into a virtual jungle, where the scores of producer English return to accept the presence of groove. The sound is dark, it has the flavor of club more Londoners undergroundbut “Euphoria Bound” aims to be recognized as a treatise on modern psychedelic music rather than a container of music for dancing.
Tribal percussion, chopped samples, dub interference, ghostly vocals, fragmented loops, Shackleton intends to challenge the listener, while offering him numerous areas of comfort. Yes, because the setting – while proving to be anything but reassuring – never becomes particularly difficult, a path that reveals decidedly excellent ideas, especially in correspondence with tracks 2-3-5, “Philistine Wavelength”, “Contagious Illusion” and above all “The Unbeliever's Pulse”, even if the choice of the trailblazer single ended up falling on the brighter (let's say so…) “Crushing Realities”. A series of rhythm-driven Afrocentric rituals, where the word dubstep never completely disappears, confined to the background, useful for contributing to the elaboration of a sound design very rich in details, but without necessarily resorting to the easy seduction of drop.
Ethnic influences, esoteric explorations, Indian ancestry (present in “Elemental Dream”, and even more so in the final mantra “Buried And Irretrievable”), post-modern exoticisms, a musical cosmos that is well defined but free of barriers, which does not give up the unpro-experimental spirit of jazz and even a tremolo guitar, placed between the coils of “The Dream In Fragments”. An aesthetic research that we could pigeonhole to the ethno-dubstep voice, not without some ambient rarefaction, but packaged in a form this time supported by the rhythm. Positive vibrations for all those who love to explore sound territories beyond the classic boundaries of electronic music.
04/02/2026
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
