BVDub

1. Although his music is often beatless, the tracks created by San Francisco-based Brock van Wey, better known as BVDub, are nothing if not intense.

2. There's a certain attachment to the lineage of deep Detroit house and techno here, but rather than entrance the listener with melody as artists like Carl Craig might do, BVDub overwhelms them with gorgeous, heavy waves of sound. Tracks like "Wish I Was Here" are as submersive a musical experience as one can hope to have, enveloping the listener in widescreen tones that in their own more muted way recall the most euphoric moments of trance.

3. Although his music is often beatless, the tracks created by San Francisco-based Brock van Wey, better known as BVDub, are nothing if not intense.

4. In that sense, his music has parallels in both modern ambient, with its tendency towards epic, drone-based sounds, and the dub-fueled intensity of artists like Echospace's Steve Hitchell. Indeed, Hitchell became a fan early of the BVDub sound early on and has released some of van Wey's music on his label.

5. It's to BVDub's credit that whether in a traditionally percussive or beatless context, he manages to recreate much of the power and intensity of traditional dub techno while pushing the actual sound palette into uncharted, abstract forms. This is music that is utterly essential for fans of deep techno and modern ambient - a great way to lose yourself in waves of synth-based sound for an hour or five.

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