[Tempa]

Skream might have one of the most visceral names in dubstep, but he’s hardly a menacing producer. In fact, his output over the last couple of years has made a strong case for melody in the genre. Skream is a populist at heart; he’s a producer not afraid to craft accessible tracks that humanize the calcified sound of dubstep. The approach has not only resulted in dubstep’s defining track and melody — “Midnight Request Line” — but a discogs page as long as any. “Skreamizm Vol. 4” is a tried-and-tested collection. For those who closely followed the producer through 2007, little of the EP is new, but the six tracks still hold up and hold their own after a year of rinsing. The key might be that Volume 4 starts large – the opener is almost as big and dumb as its title. You might need to say “Oskilatah” out loud to understand the awful pun birthed in mispronunciation, but the track has all the elements primed for the dance floor: an op-art wobble, a popping bass drum, and an acid quack of a hook.

Even the controversy surrounding the bleep and bass homage “2D” sounds like an artist proudly misusing a soft-synth preset. Like an open-tuned guitar, Skream lets the synths ring through the track, sharpening its impact. The result manages to both nod to “Midnight Request Line” and sound like shockingly new direction for dubstep. While both”Oskilatah” and “2D” play up Skream’s populist strengths, the rest of the EP stays wide-ranging. Skream keeps the pace of the front half of Vol. 4 with the rattle & jitter of “Tech-Appeal” only to compliment it on the back side with foreboding bob “Nemesis” and the splayed slo-mo melody of “Wobble that Gut.” Tempa has always made sure that the Skreamizm series is a fetish item — a fact reflected in their pop-comic covers of horror movie screams — but with their fourth volume, they’ve finally got their money shot.