Back in 2013, Philly emcee Curly Castro released his stellar solo album, Fidel. Since that time, we’ve gotten a bunch of smaller projects like his crew album, Restroy & Debuild, or his Grift Company EP done in collaboration with Zilla Rocca, released earlier this year. While we still await his long-promised solo album, Tosh, Castro tides us over with a collection of unreleased tracks, Winston’s Dubplates.

This is a collection of unreleased material, and as such, it plays like a compilation. This is not good or bad, but it does mean that the tracks kind of jump around. The flip side to that is that you get a great cross section of all the different styles that Castro can rock. He moves from classic East Coast boom bap to dub to dancehall and jungle and beyond, with production from Larry E, C-Rock, Margel the Sophant, Zilla Rocca, and Steel Tipped Dove. The common thread, of course, is Castro, who brings a great combination of charisma, lyricism, and his trademark low, gravely voice to the proceedings. He’s able to adjust his delivery and make each song work, but of course some are going to stand out more than others. My personal favorite of the collection is “Flatbush & Church,” which combines a great dub beat with some great storytelling from Castro as he reflects on the neighborhood in New York that he grew up in. It’s got just the right combination of great hook, great rhythm, and really personal lyrcism.

Well, we’ve still got to wait for Curly Castro to officially follow up the work he did on Fidel with a proper solo album, but in the mean time he has given us some fun and varied material to tide us over. Winston’s Dubplate is fun, it covers a lot of ground, and makes the case for just how versatile Castro is as an artist.