Bend It Like Benga

South London dubstep veteran Benga operates on several (next) levels when he plants himself in front of a synthesizer keyboard and a hard drive of edited drum patterns. The producer's collected works, Diary of an Afro Warrior, speaks to how far this key player has come in the years since establishing a celebrated dubstep sound. His 2006 track "Music Box" displayed bass wobbles, chopped strings, and organ mingling tastefully in a web of delay effects. It's one of Diary's strongest entries, while another standout, 2007's "Night," is a cascade of stuttering synth tones and shuffling beats. Benga works jazzy elements into "Zero M2" and "Light Bulb" — paranoid, ambient sequences that, like the rest of Diary, display a lot of emotional resonance for being created by a guy and a keyboard.