Credit: Noxious Recordings
Noise To Dance To
[By: LYNY]
Genre: UK dubstep
Rating: 80
Cohesiveness: 65
Track quality: 74
Beginner-friendly? if you're looking for a nasty deep bassline
Written 2025/11/21
The modern renaissance of UK dubstep has brought producers like LYNY to the forefront of the bass music scene, and his debut album "Noise To Dance To" proves why.
UK dubstep's revival could feasibly be something to do with the domineering American tropes that constantly herald the scene, with their maximalist trends like briddim and freeform bass built for the festival. I suppose this is less a revival of a style, and more of a cultural reawakening, one that razes the club floor and diffuses through the murky underground of music.
Here in the underground, hidden from the overstimulation of the festival lasers, LYNY's approach to beatmaking slots right in. Scrappy basslines clash with brazen leads in a monstrous cage fight, surrounded by the mist that is his minimal mixdown and punctuated by the crisp beat of the dubstep drum. This particular cage fight, though, doesn't need to clamour for attention, no, it doesn't need to have rowdy callouts and excessive light shows and mobs of drunken spectators. "Noise To Dance To" operates on pure rhythmic quality, and its basslines are intimidating enough to induce a rapt silence broken only by the shuffling of footwork to its various infectious beats. LYNY's sampling provides a particular complement to the album's rhythms, guiding his various production ideas by providing something a listener can attach themselves to, something a listener can ground themselves by.
Sampling often has the added benefit of brashness, especially in an album styled like this, and when it comes to brashness, LYNY truly excels. You can look at "Noise To Dance To" in whatever way - underground, minimal, hard-hitting - and yet it will inevitably have the word 'brash' attached to it. In their vaguely hip-hop-influenced methods, the vocal soundbites LYNY employs are timed uncannily well to match and bolster whatever flow the record is currently executing. At the end of the day, "Noise To Dance To" is exactly what the title claims it is - no cohesion, no pressure of narration, only the unified head-lolling to the rolling basslines of the soundstage, hidden away from above ground.
It's intense, it's fun, it's a blast and a banger all in one. Part of me does wish this record had a little more diversity, but another part of me is glad it doesn't, because "Noise To Dance To" maintains a signature mood throughout. It's a little short, and sometimes the sound design can get somewhat repetitive, but nonetheless this is an album that simultaneously provides an immersive and pumping experience.
Listen on Spotify here.
Section [Standout] | (/100)
LYNY uses quite a repetitive, persistent sampling style that would typically be kind of annoying, but it works really here. The atonal main bassline gives the track a whirring atmosphere in which the robotic sampling shines, and it still manages to slap even after that.
Step 2 It [Intense] | (/100)
The abrasive sustained bassline contrasts the somewhat bright stabs and the equally bright vocal samples for a pretty interesting listening experience. At first they're mostly separate elements, but by the second drop they all begin to bleed into each other.
Fire [Intense] | (/100)
Big fan of the more brash sampling here, it pushes the track along quite forcefully until the disgustingly meaty basslines muscle their way in and crush the soundstage. LYNY picks a couple of leads that are not necessaily unique per se, but his sound design and sampling give them a fantastically standout quality.
King [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Elohim
Garagey cut spearheaded by a strong bassline, but what really powers this track is Elohim's vocal performance. The trouble is, her vocal seems to drown in the mix a little, and LYNY doesn't quite bring it out of the style in a memorable way.
Breaker [Upbeat] | (/100)
Generally feels a little abrupt - in the context of the album, "Breaker" fails to really standout, since most of the sampling and production tropes are done better in other places on this project. The short length also doesn't help, and neither does the rather sudden end. But still, a well-produced track.
Remember [Standout] | (/100)
A sharp beat backs up quite a dynamic lead and complementing sound design to bring out "Remember" as a surprisingly fiery track, one that doesn't need to change up much and still garners plenty of engagement over its runtime.
Rude [Switchup] | (/100)
LYNY brings out some swaggering bass house that sweeps through the speaker with all the rhythmic arrogance of a track that knows it hits. The sound design isn't afraid to change, but the groove is never sacrificed, not with that jumpy lead.
Money [Fun] | (/100)
With that especially loud, digitised lead, "Money" doesn't mess around trying to set the tone, but it just sort of walks in. The two-faced vocal sampling feels very well-executed, and the lead leaps through both the bass-oriented first drop and the techno switch for the second.
Heard U [Melodic] | (/100)
Somehow LYNY performs a mood switch perfectly, bringing in a more emotive sample and a rich, full, evocative lead that complements the flow and dominates the track with its melody. The sound design switch for the second drop feels just as tasteful as its introduction in the first.
Sellout [Switchup] | (/100)
LYNY unveils another surprise by trying his hand at jump-up DnB for "Sellout", and whilst it's nothing particularly crazy for the genre, he makes it work uncannily well in the album. The revving lead fires constantly over the drums - which feel a little loud, but technically sound nonetheless - giving this track a lot of energy, but still with that underground feel.
Triumph [Standout] | (/100)
w/ Cozy Kev
Genuinely a really fun track - the wubby, arrogant lead sound throws itself through twists and turns, and really steps up the flow of this album. The songwriting surely must be highlighted here, too, in the sampling and how it interacts with the builds and the rest of the composition.
Digital Runaway [Atmospheric] | (/100)
The atmosphere of this track is a fantastic way to finish off this album, with its skittering drums and progression into a triumphant final garage movment - but I do feel that "Digital Runaway" doesn't hold its own against some of the other melodic tracks on the album (in an isolated context) like "Heard U" or even "Money".
- Triumph w/ Cozy Kev (/100)
- Section (/100)
- Heard U (/100)
- Rude (/100)
- Fire (/100)
- Money (/100)
- Remember (/100)
- Step 2 It (/100)
- Sellout (/100)
- Digital Runaway (/100)
- King w/ Elohim (/100)
- Breaker (/100)