Kaiju are a pretty versatile duo within the dubstep genre, covering dark and spacious beats, heavy stompers, and dubbed out wonders like this.
Released in 2016 as a 10″ white label on Mala’s foundational Deep Medi Musik label, “Bun Down Babylon” is backed with “Wrong Tings”, a similar rootsy dubstep tune. 10″ records are a rarer format, but more common within the reggae scene, because acetate dubplates are often 10″.
The buoyant and extremely solid bassline pushes the song forward, and makes it a dubby tune right from the start. The drums are similarly dubbed out, adorning a dubstep halftime beat with a heavy selection of echoing percussion.
The melody is mainly in the bass, but the slightly mournful organ complements it perfectly, just as the joyful skank completes the reggae vibe.
And of course, no dubby dubstep track would be finished without the mandatory Jamaican vocal sample, but here there’s also a flitting melodica.