I've spent the last few minutes trying to figure out how to write this. I don't know how else to do it but to do it: Claw passed away. I doubt many of you knew Claw; he wasn't killing it with SoundCloud followers on his personal page, but many of you might not know him as Claw. Alan Letko (aka Claw) was probably most known as being one-half of Hulk, a duo that spent the last five years applying their unique take on the dubstep scene.

It's weird, though, because all I originally knew Claw for was his drum & bass. He's one of the stateside producer/DJs that I knew from my days on Dogs On Acid. He had a handful of releases back in 2008 as Claw (including "Rest In Peace" on Zardonic), but it was when he got bit by the dubstep bug that he truly took off. Claw started out with material on Play Me, Shift, and Suicide Dubs, and soon linked up with the Trillbass crew (helping push the "thugstep" sound) for a spell before linking up with Richie August as Hulk in 2009. They ended up getting loads of acclaim, with releases on Rottun, BroTown, Betamorph, Demon Dub, and other imprints. They were known for their stellar mixes and liveshows, and had a loyal fanbase.

One crew we weren't even aware of was Numbergame, which formed in September of 2013, finding Claw bringing an even nastier dubstep with influences in industrial and metal. It's said that the Numbergame material was getting noticed by Technical Itch, Dieselboy, Excision, and Borgore.

As of right now, we don't have any word on the cause of death, and aside from the social media rumblings, the only official word is from BroTown's Facebook page. For right now, all we can do is reflect on a good guy and revel in where he helped take bass music. Check out their statement, and below check out a 21-track salute to Claw via a SoundCloud playlist.