Disrupt – Jah Bit Invasion [2005; iD.EOLOGY]

Operating in pretty much the same style he would use to define his Jahtari netlabel, Disrupt fills this EP with dub rendered in chiptune, with echoing bloops and skewed beeps rolling around slow-moving rhythms. A few treated samples are pulled in for extra effect, like the title of “Grave Robbers from Outer Space”, but the wide majority of it is instrumental. Some loose endings are the lowest point, with music just trailing off into dissipation, but apart from that, the EP serves up some enjoyable spaciness.

Blue Vitriol – The Beach [1999; Xiphoid Process Records]

Downtempo dub with a light chiptune dusting opens this EP in its title track, firm but mellow percussion jiving with light-touch keyboard echoes and sinuous tone-holds. After a hard break, it carries on the chill atmosphere, but puts phasing to play in a prominent way, while a bass loop rolls about and things come undone in an organized fashion.

“Slab” speeds things up by way of hi-hat shakes, drilled drum samples, and more, while dropping in vocal samples about coming to terms with being dead, and “Pomponio” keeps the acceleration moving while lacing in jittered speech and ethereal string. Quick but very solid, and one of the higher-consistency entries in the duo’s too-short catalog; also notable for being (apparently) the only release on the Xiphoid Process Records label.

Blue Vitriol – The Bad Sleep Well [2006; self-released]

In the four tracks of this EP, Blue Vitriol put their usual chiptune dub style to work with some tunes that, while chill on the surface, move some heavy bass about in their depths. Solid grooves and burbling synths come together in a tasty blend, and with one fast-moving piece (”Buried Alive Dub”), the group packs enough variety into the EP to keep it from falling into predictability.