South London Bass and Brimstone

Katy B had that specific 2011 UK sound figured out—her voice clean and light over bass-heavy production that owed as much to dubstep and UK funky as to anything you’d call straightforward R&B. Witches Brew carries the same dark-edged energy as everything on her debut On a Mission: late-night music, slightly menacing, somehow still pop. There was a moment that year when that whole corner of South London club music felt like the most interesting thing happening in pop anywhere, and Katy B was the clearest argument for it.