Magnetic Man - 'Magnetic Man' (Columbia) Released: 11/10/10

It could have gone so wrong. Magnetic Man formed in 2007 as a collective trio of three, up to that point, separate artists, Skream, Benga and Artwork, all of whom had been making dubstep and electronic beats for most of the decade. First, a possibly unexpected Arts Council grant allowed them to invest in new equipment and gave them the funds to take the fledgling Magnetic Man project on tour. Then, following a sell-out gig at Cargo and a packed show at Roskilde Festival, the trio were signed to major label Columbia. The label then put the band up in a huge mansion house in Cornwall and asked them to start writing an album.

The recognition, signing to a major, the trappings...the outcome must have been inevitable, and sure enough, the three decided that their mission would be to bring dubstep to a mass market. Here, the serious music world took a deep breath...
What wasn’t inevitable was that the resulting self-titled debut album would be such an accomplished mixture of penning interesting material, staying true to their dubstep roots, but providing the little hooks here and there that might pull in an audience as yet new to underground sounds. If selling out is the devil, then this is the good-spirited flip side of the coin; staying authentic, but trying to attract and then educate a new audience.

As if to set their stall out early to show this is no cynical attempt at unit-shifting, the album opens with ‘Flying Into Tokyo’, a hypnotic instrumental featuring a gentle African thumb piano over a soothing string section, with not a beat or bassline in sight.
Statement of intent made, they allow in the vocals, with Ms. Dynamite featuring on second track ‘Fire’ (and self-aggrandisement on the part of the vocalist strictly off limits), followed by previous debut single ‘I Need Air’, the first real crossover track of the record, in that it could easily be spun in both an underground beats den and at a commercial club night without seeming out of place at either.

Part of the reason this album works is its even mix of low-down and dirty instrumentals with pop-leaning vocal-led tracks. ‘Anthemic’ and the sinister ‘The Bug’ would have any sweaty cavern dancefloor heaving, and then along comes ‘Perfect Stranger’ led by Katy B on vocals, or later, ‘Boiling Water’,  both of which could easily have veered a little too close to chart dance music were it not for the pounding breakbeat keeping things in check along the way.

From there, there are enough pulsating basslines and brain-melting beats to keep the purists happy, while there is still plenty more to keep the newcomer interested. It’s probably no accident that track 11 is called ‘Crossover’, while the album’s finale sees electronica go soulful, with the John Legend-led ‘Getting Nowhere’.

With this debut, Magnetic Man have successfully created a record that will be both an essential presence in any self-respecting dubstep DJ’s record box, and one that has the potential to educate the consumers of daytime radio airwaves.  It’s a feat that occurred more often in times and genres past, and a credit to Magnetic Man that it can still happen in the present.