Audiopile Review: After selling out our initial batch on pre-order weeks before our copies even landed in the shop, Dregs’ self-titled LP, initially a CD-only release in 2023, gets a quick repress via Purely Physical. Following a similar route as fellow Melbourne/Naarm artists like Carla dal Forno and CS + Kreme, the four-piece look to the UK’s rich musical history for direct inspiration, mainlining the classic Bristolian trip-hop aesthetic for this richly textured fever dream induction. While they’ve clearly done their homework—the darkened essence of prime era Massive Attack and Tricky will not be lost on many of you—Dregs don’t arrive empty-handed, imbuing the hallowed era with their own allure and fortifying the steadily building sound that’s been emanating from their home base. Sure, you’ll hear the tried and true stoned breakbeats and the incandescent male/female vocal interchange, but its how they fill in the gaps that makes this so compelling. Somewhat akin to CS + Kreme’s somnambulant wanderings on their triumphant album, Orange, Dregs thicken the atmosphere with an overdose of pressurized bass, creeping guitar lines, syrupy drum breaks, and a head-spinning murk of dubby FX. Not quite as straight forward as recent trip-hop-inspired efforts from a.s.o. or Hysterical Love Project, but this comes strongly recommended for those who fell hard for those two albums. You’ve got your next fix.

***

“Superb debut suite of dankest trip hop by Naarm collective Dregs, properly homing in/zoning out on a mix of hazed dub basslines, etheric vox, creeping guitars and crepuscular synths webbed with FX in a way right between the eyes of early Massive Attack, that a.s.o pearl from last year, classic HTRK,Tarquin Manek & YL Hooi, CS + Kreme, Hysterical Love Project.

Absolute manna for moody buggers, Dregs’ eponymous venture pushes off into familiar waters where they nevertheless leave their mark with a modern approximation of the classic ‘90s sound that reads the room’s need for this sort of poised, downbeat, amniotic envelopment. You would have to have maxed out hard on OG trip hop not to be snagged by Dregs slant on the sound, which goes down effortlessly with the finest measures of sensuous and hypnotic, club-derived (but not club-ready) groove momentum and hypnotic, plaintive melodies.

This release on Purely Physical Teeny Tapes is technically a reissue of their 2023 CD for Mud Records, and at the very least serves it purpose in introducing new ears to Dregs, opening new obsessions with intoxicatingly vaporous sludge. ‘Inertia Creeps’ era Massive Attack is felt keenly from the thrumming basslines and stoned vocal to ‘Sofj’ thru echoes of Mad Professor’s ‘Protection’ dubs in ‘Underwater (Dub)’, and the dead sexy, wraithlike sway of ‘Keyed’ with its deliciously lagging drums and bass grunt.

The CS + Kreme comparison is perhaps most apt in the modal downbeat bliss out ‘Swampy’, especially in the contemplative vocals and its dusted swoon, whilst ‘Guilt Garden’ recalls the Tarquin Meek & Jonnine pearl on the label before them, and the smudged D&B stepper ‘Uneasy’ feels like it was discovered lurking in an auld bass cab unused since the mid ‘90s. Chef’s kiss, all of it.” -Boomkat