Kelly Dean Is Pushing Deep Bass To New Places

It's not all searing drops and wubs over at SMOG in Los Angeles. Label mainstay Kelly Dean has been exploring the deeper side of bass on the label for over half a decade, and his new Concrete Landscape EP might be his most intrepid and mature endeavor to date. The EP opens with "Abduction," a 7 minute spooky house tune that keeps the bassweight of dubstep, but flexes some real creative versatility. Check it out:

"The track is an attempt at grabbing my favorite elements of dubstep and fusing them with deep progressive house," Dean tells THUMP. "The grinding mid synths throughout are sprinkled with reverb'd claps that hint at dubstep, while the beat and percussion are obviously house influenced."

Elsewhere on the EP, Dean teams up with deep bass underground stalwart Deco on the title-track. It's an essential old-school dubstep cut, all stark tones and sub-low rumblings that beg for a beefy soundsystem upon which to hear it all. "Matt Deco is one of the most underrated producers under the 140 umbrella," says Dean. "He's dedicated to producing quality music with a clean representation of the roots of our genre. I think we both have the same concept of dubstep, with different vibes, so to blend them together seemed like it would have a linear outcome."

The whole EP is an homage of sorts to the shrouded skies of Dean's hometown: "The title, which Deco came up with, reminds me of LA just like SMOG does. The sharp edges and hard textures of Los Angeles buildings make me think of dark music. So that's the artistic concept involved. In the end I just want to contribute back to the amazing music community that inspires me everyday to write tunes."

Find Kelly Dean on FB // Twitter // Soundcloud

More bass:
12th Planet and the Rise of Swamp
Skream Didn't Punch Me When I Mentioned Dubstep
Meet Gantz, Istanbul's Dubstep Ambassador

Jemayel Khawaja is THUMP's Associate Editor in Los Angeles - @JemayelK