Dubstep pioneers Skream and Benga excited dub fans worldwide by announcing that they are to join forces once more in the coming year. For the first time in over two decades, the two artists are to collaborate to create new music, their last collaborative effort being ‘The Judgement’ all the way back in 2003.

The announcement came on Twitter, with Skream, real name Oliver Jones, saying “The boys are back in town…. Skream X / 2.0….. 2022 we’re having it.” This announcement came to the delight of many a dubstep fan, as these two are formidable pioneering forces within the scene whose solo careers have exploded since the duos last venture.

However, Skream has made it clear that this is no walk down memory lane, or a revivification of dubstep’s golden years. Skream explicitly stated on his Instagram, “No throw back, brand new music only”. 

Skream is set to have a busy year, with a New Zealand tour on the way, as well as dropping a new Soundcloud mix titled ‘Skream Plastic People mix’ that can be listened to below. The mix, seemingly unlike the new project with Benga, revels in the happy memories of old school dub, featuring absolute classics such as Mala’s “Anti War Dub”, Burial’s “Archangel”, and Benga’s very own “Amnesia”, among other classic Skream tracks tossed into the mix.

Benga, real name Benga Adejumo, on the otherhand, has had a relatively quiet one in recent years. His last single was in 2018, now approaching four years ago, and his last full-length album was released in 2013, with nothing on his Soundcloud in the way of tracks or mixes. We can only hope that this new collaboration will provide fertile ground for Benga to come back into the popular consciousness, which Skream has enjoyed the privilege of being part of for what is close to two decades.

Skream has expanded into a more mainstream dance audience, with his remix of La Roux’s ‘Going in for the Kill’ becoming a basic standard for any student club DJ in the UK for the last half-decade or so. Even La Roux herself was highly appreciative of the rework: “It showed that people don’t want mindless happy crap,” she told NME in 2010. “They want something that makes them feel and that remix really does. Skream did an amazing job, thank you again and again.”

No dates have been set for the release of any material but Skream has already said on his Twitter that two tracks have presently been recorded.