Rinse FM's DJ Distance is the latest name to take on Tempa’s Dubstep Allstars compilation, following on from notable mixes by, among others, Kode9, Appleblim, Ramadanman and Youngsta. If there's one man who can give a snapshot of the core of dubstep as such in 2011 it's Distance. He's been there in the scene from the beginning, from way back when the sound's aficionados could be numbered in the hundreds worldwide. And from then 'til now, his DJ sets, his own productions and his Chestplate label have always stayed true to the deep, heavy and immersive style from which sprung everything else we hear today. What he plays, and what he's put on this CD, is dubstep from the heartlands: the biggest and best dubplates from the people who have made the scene what it is. “People need to appreciate that a DJ is a 'selector' too, because it's easy to pick a dozen crowd-pleasers and bang them together, but it's something else to select carefully and make the sequence and mixing turn them into something else, a mix that draws you in.” — Distance For this mix Distance returned to the source. What you get on Dubstep Allstars Vol.08 is the music that has always formed the backbone of Distance's DJ sets: the artists he's retained solid links to over the years. It's packed with Distance's own productions, and those of his closest associates in the scene Cyrus and Tunnidge, but also with others he's collaborated with over the years. Benga is here with the fearsomely dark “Chemical Compound”, a slap across the face for those who think he's all about pop-step or jump-around wobblers nowadays. And Bristol's DJ Pinch appears, teamed up with Distance in their Deleted Scenes guise, demonstrating his continued mastery of exquisite detail in production and showing just why he is still a lynchpin of the scene and still rattling chests some eight years on from his conversion to the sound.