Darkside Sophistication :: January

Label Showcase: Clandestine Cultivations

Artwork: Letty Fox

This is a new label set up by a group of individuals from both Brighton & London. They put on the Red Star Sessions in Camberwell and the Dubpressure night in Brighton. I won’t give too much away as I’ll have an inteview with them at some point.
Hyperlinks aren’t working so you can find the url for anything underlined at the bottom of the post.

Clandestine Cultivations- First Offensive EP (Clandestine Cultivations 001)

Putting out a big 4 track EP as a debut release is usually a dodgy marketing tactic, but this twelve from July seems to have had a good response from the punters. It’s probably running out of copies round about now though so if you want it then you should act quick. You can purchase direct off the Clandestine website as well as from your usual retailers.

Kion- ‘Yard Music’

Ever wondered how hard it is to describe how an instrumental track sounds? Over the last 3 weeks of writing reviews I’ve had to conquer this problem time and again, but I suppose this is familiar to anyone who’s went to a record shop and said to the confused man behind the counter: “have you got that tune that goes der der dah, um ummm?”. Kion makes my life a bit easier here by naming his tune around the sample he uses (“Strictly Yard Music”). If only most producers would do this, it would save people like me a lot of trouble.

But enough of my rants. ‘Yard Music’ has a kind of breakbeat/ 2-Steppy style of drum pattern, although I have to put my hand on my heart and admit that sometimes I find it hard to determine whether a tune is half-step or not. Regardless of tags, it has the familiar Dubstep hard snare. The bassline is also typical Dubstep fare, at times sounding a bit like a Benga or Skream track in the way it wobbles. And come the end of the tune the extended outro emphasizes the quality of the beats, which sound quite nice in isolation; definitely a good track for a DJ to mix out of.

Dom- ‘Tube Amp’

This next one is straight-up unashamed Grime. But then Clandestine aren’t claiming to be a solely Dubstep label, so ‘Tube Amp’ shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Like ‘Yard Music’ Dom’s contribution to the EP has some quite hard & punchy sounding drums, but throughout the track there are lots of different variations on the drum template to spice things up. Halfway through it drops into a tight bit of experimentation, you’d think it was a drum solo in a 70’s funk tune. The Grimey melody stroke bassline (don’t be expecting much sub) is pretty constant throughout the track, but there’s no doubt that a lot of thought has went into those drums. It reminds me a bit of the change in Skreams’ ‘I’, even though it shouldn’t as in every other way they are totally different records.

Clockwork- ‘Combat’

The flipside is definitely the more interesting part of this EP. With ‘Combat’ Clockwork comes on with a more than slightly Grimey flex, basically with a very, very loud 8-bit videogame sounding melody. Very in your face, but memorable because of it. With the drop you basically have a relatively mid range (for Dubstep anyway) bassline, which is then followed, answered even, by the melody. Computers talking to each other sort of thing.

In the breakdown there’s an extended vocal sample: “This is combat, from land to sky”. For a period the bassline gets lower in pitch, maybe trying to win the melody over to its’ way of thought, but the latters’ ‘response’ is the same. Like ‘Tube Amp’, ‘Combat’ has a drum solo of sorts. Both Dom & Clockwork have strived to add variation to their tracks. Clockworks piece is in a similar vein to some of Professor J-S’s tunes (I’m thinking along the lines of ‘Can’t Sleep’ here) in that it’s a bit of a boundary crosser. I’m not sure how well received this one was in the Dubstep scene, but it’s the kind of tune that can’t really be avoided, its’ that bold with it’s keys. And it grows on you over time.

Unlikely- ‘Magicite’

Last but definitely not least, Unlikelys’ cut is the best one here. ‘Magicite’ has computer game samples too (Bowser from Super Mario 64, if I’m not mistaken). What’s funny is that the drum pattern used in the intro is completely different to the one in the main part of the track. Like Toastys’ ‘One Life’ below, this track has such a strong bassline. And it’s all powered along by quite a strange set of drum sounds. On the one hand you have a very distinctive snare clap, but the kicks are barely audible at all (I don’t even know if there are any). But it makes for quite an interesting arrangement. It’s especially good at the end where the snares double up. But as great as this track is, to be honest I’m finding it very hard to describe how it sounds. Go to the Clandestine site and listen to it yourself, because this is one of those undiscovered gems that needs to be revived by the scene.

Toasty- ‘Cold Blooded’/ ‘One Life’ (Clandestine Cultivations 002)

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered why Toasty dropped the ‘boy’ from his name? Surely it can’t be down to copyright issues like it was with Plasticman & Mark One. First 20 searches in Google with the words ‘Toasty Boy’ are all Dubstep related, it’s not as if someone’s patented the trademark for their high tech cheese sandwich toasting machine. Maybe as he gets older he’s finding the name inappropriate. Possibly Youngsta feels it’s time for a change as well. Who knows?

Whatever the name, Toasty has been known for making rough tunes like ‘The Knowledge’, while at the same time being one of the more ‘softer’ producers in the Storming & Destructive camp, as proven by the recent ‘Skinny’ which has quite rightly been described as Bukem esque. ‘Skinny’ was a bit of a slowed down D&B roller in terms of the beats, and with this release we see him eschew that sound for more experimental drum patterns.

‘Cold Blooded’ is a bit like 2004’s ‘Like Sun’, having a lot of contemplative space to it. But while the latter was a relaxed and virtually drum less concoction that implied at the possibility of potential tear outs that only materialized a handful of times, this one is driven by a big booming bassline that is central to the track, and it’s pretty unique when stacked next to the hundreds of other b-lines you’ve heard over the last year. It still has those moments of calm while you wait for the low end to return, but you’re not given much time to pause before the speakers start to reverberate again.

Throughout the main part of the track the kicks and other drum sounds are slightly muted, almost completely dominated by the bass, and it can be hard to appreciate their intricate & tribal nature. Very much in the background, you have to pay attention to them when the drop is in full effect, although it could just be that I’ve EQ’d them badly. In the quieter moments they become more audible, especially a toneless sounding steel drum that pops up now and again. Also throughout the tune the bassline is peppered with the plinky plonky keyboard ditties that Clandestine seem to have taken to heart, although they seem to be there to add some variation to the track more than anything.

‘Cold Blooded’ finishes off with one of Toastys’ familiar movie styled melodies, the kind of thing that would soundtrack a 1980’s big budget film turned straight to video B-movie flop, destined for late night viewings on Channel 5. You know, that single key pressed down on the synthesizer for ages to heighten the dramatic effect, possibly during one of the obligatory cheesy sex scenes or in a sad moment, like when the action heros’ comrade dies; cut to a mid shot of sunrise. I don’t know, it seems a few of the releases I’ve been reviewing lately have had sounds like these. Maybe it’s just my deeply rooted but until now firmly submerged passion for things like ‘Delta Force’ or ‘Escape From New York’ that’s coming out and drawing me towards these types of tunes!

With my love of ‘Top Gun’ now firmly out of the closet I can get back to focusing at the task at hand. As good as the A-side was, ‘One Life’ is much more obvious as a floor filler. Continuing on with the motion picture theme, Toasty starts the tune off with the sound of a theremin, a strange instrument that was responsible for much of the eerie music in 1950’s Sci-Fi movies. Designed by Russian Leon Theremin, the device had radio sensors in it that detected the movement of the players’ hand, creating different key sounds without the need to actually touch the machine itself (beating the Nintendo Wii by around 80 years). Despite the theremins’ Soviet origins (Lenin was a big fan), Hollywood loved to use the instrument to score its Sci-Fi & Horror pictures, which were often metaphorical portrayals of the terrors of Communism.

Toasty reinforces this spooky ‘50’s vibe (a lot like how Danny Breaks used to sound) with some nice tribal drums and an obscure vocal sample: “We stand in the face of a new age. The Future is one world, one,” with the last word echoed: “one one one…”. As the intro comes to a close the vox are played again, but before the drop one last word is added: “Behold”.

The ensuing bassline is very, very good, and not really what you’re expecting from a man like Toastyboy. He seems to be trying to ape the dubby sound that dominates so much of Dubsteps’ current release output, but instead of coming up with ‘just another b-line’ he has created something with real impact. Compared to most of the tunes floating around on dubplate or clogging up the Internet this one is pretty special, despite the fact that it isn’t really very original in its’ nature. But you can tell that Toastys’ years of production experience have combined to bring us a tune so effective.

The bassline itself seems to be a variation on the classic bass sound that was popular in Jungle and the certain kind of ‘Speed’ Garage tunes that were coming out circa ’97 (the type which the majority of the Garage scene scorned with distaste). ‘One Life’ has got a real driving sound, whereas ‘Cold Blooded’ is more stops and starts. The bouncy hi hats and cymbals that underline the track chug along like the quantized belching of a steam train. I’d have to say that the tune does have an air of Digital Mystikzs’ ‘Stuck’ about it, but sounding much better.

In terms of drum patterns Toasty shows with these two tracks that there is a middle ground between ever so slow half-step and the cluttered sounds that are prominent among producers like Dubchild or Search & Destroy.

Shackleton- ‘In the Next World’ (Clandestine 003)

Which could just as easily be said of this man here, who seems to be on a bit of a roll at the moment what with Skull Disco 005’s ‘Hamas Rule’, and the insane ‘I Want To Eat You’ on Mordant Music. He doesn’t disappoint here, which is in a similar vein to the latter track, at least in terms of bass pressure.

’In The Next World’ starts off with quite an urgent sounding drum pattern, with the kicks riding along speedily with an echoey thud, interspersed with Shackletons’ familiar wood drums. The track surprises when a lingering church organ tune breaks in, and to begin with it sounds completely out of place. Broken Beat supremo IG Culture (under his Son of Scientist pseudonym) gave the much-maligned instrument a great service when he made it the hook of his 2005 production ‘Solution’ and showed it was capable of producing funky rhythms as well as Songs of Praise monstrosities, but when you first hear these keys it just doesn’t feel right; it doesn’t have that ‘dutty church’ vibe.

Your doubts are alleviated slightly by the rudebwoy vocal sample: “Come on with sub b heavy loaded with dynamite”, a premonition of bassline damage if ever there was one. When you think about the amount of reggae type samples used in dance music in the past 15 or 20 years, it’s almost as if half of Jamaica’s GDP in the 60’s & 70’s consisted of a cottage industry of people speaking patois jabber into microphones for the benefit of the future rave scene and the ‘hardcore continuum’. I’d love to know where producers get their samples from.

When the track does actually kick off it’s quite impressive. If Wikipedia had an article termed ‘big fuck off bassline’, ‘In the Next World’ would probably be listed in the references section. Like ‘I Want To Eat You’ before it, this track has probably blown a speaker or two in its’ time. The sub is very intense, and the tribal drum rolls that we have come to expect from Shackleton tunes only heighten the feeling of excitement that the bass generates.

The bassline just goes on and on but Shackleton soon introduces more elements into the cooking pot. Brass keys are brought into the mix; not sure if these have much Caribbean heritage, but they certainly feel like they do in this context. And that organ melody comes back, but it makes sense once you’re enveloped by the bassline. There are no breakdowns in this track. The bassline goes through different variations but essentially there is no respite once it starts. The producer is showing us again that he has the confidence to do things differently from the rest.

Unlikely- ‘Hollow’ (Clandestine 003)

As Unlikelys’ cut for Clandestines’ debut release would suggest, this isn’t going to be no B-side filler (if you pardon my double negative). And he shows off a unique take on the echoey half-step drum kit on ‘Hollow. Very grainy sounding, in parts sounding almost like there’s an egg timer in the background slowly draining sand, in others like an ever so slightly vexed rattle snake, the technical work gone into achieving this soundscape must have been pretty difficult.

Starting off with a bass guitar as the main guts of the bassline, it’s quite a while before the sub emerges. It’s sort of like the kind of thing Scuba would produce if he watched more (I’ve mentioned it again) horror movies. But when the lower end kicks in the sound of the guitar and the electronics fuse to make an effective bassline.

After a while a grimey high-pitched melody is introduced, and it matches Toastyboys’ theremin efforts to achieve that retro-space age sound. It’s fitting that on his Myspace Unlikely describes his music as sounding like ‘what your Gameboy dreams of after too much cheese before bed’. The tune takes an even more haunting path in the second segment when the guitar disappears and the sub bass alters in tone. The melody changes to suit the mood, slowing down a little. This part of the track lasts for a long period, until it returns to the first bassline for the last section before it draws to a close.

All in all this is a very tightly produced record, and I especially like the strange drum breaks that are dropped in now and again, turntablist style, sounding similar to the effect used in Timblinds’ ‘Copy Copy’ (on Soot Recordings, B-side to Ontological). When this twelve arrived through the door I was expecting this side to be overshadowed by ‘In the Next World’, but ‘Hollow’ proves to be the better cut. If this were a Storming Productions ‘Vs’ release then Unlikely would have won the clash.
Review by Owen Griffiths

Hyperlinks:

Things to be Cheerful About in 2007: Part 2

Request Line onwards, Tempa in '06

After last weeks pretty long post this one is more concise. Hyperlinks aren’t working so the urls for anything underlined can be found at the bottom of the page
by Owen Griffiths

The Revival of Tempa: The picture above says it all really. Discounting Skreams’ ‘Midnight Request Line’, which came out at the end of 2005, Tempa Records released eleven 12” records and three CD’s in the course of 2006. ‘Midnight Request Line’ was the labels’ first single after a ten-month lull. In 2004 the imprint had lost its’ way as it scratched its’ head pondering a future without Horsepower Productions and their extended network of friends, Hatcha & Goldspot. Perhaps this quiet period was due to the departure of Neil Jolliffe from Ammunition Promotions, meaning Sarah Lockhart was one man down on what used to be a two-person team.

Other Ammunition labels, Soulja & Road kept the dream alive in 2005, but they were never meant to be as productive as the mighty Tempa. But come 2006/07 and Tempa had/ has reinvented itself as the Tamla Motown of Dubstep, churning out quality releases at Ford motor factory production line speeds. Maybe this coinciced with the arrival of Youngsta as A&R man for the imprint, but it was probably more to do with the fact that Dubstep was taking off and Tempa took it upon itself to be the big daddy of Dubstep record labels.

The Revival of Dubstep Labels in General: DMZ and the rest of the label gang weren’t that far behind Tempa in 2006, and they put out plenty of stuff that meant that a trip to a record shop ensured in you discovering lots of new tracks that you hadn’t seen there the month before. Another thing that was really important was that big producers Digital Mystikz, Skream, Benga, and to a lesser extent Loefah, started to finally get their unreleased dubs off their hard drives and into the shops.

Skream was most notable for this. Along with his two 6 track Skreamizm EP’s and one double A-sided single for Tempa, he also released two 4 track EP’s for Southside Dubstars, and of course, an album. Digital Mystikz managed to pop out three releases on DMZ and a track for the Tectonic Plates series, as did Skream & Loefah. Another big event for Mala & Coki was their signing (for 4 tracks at least) to Soul Jazz Records, representing one of the few times when respected labels from outside the scene had taken an interest in Dubstep (in recent months Digital Mystikz were commissioned to remix a Fat Freddy’s Drop tune, ‘Cay’s Cray’). And more importantly for us, we could actually buy the likes of ‘Conference’ & ‘Misty Winter’ a ‘mere’ two years after they were first aired on dubplate.

Out of all these big producers, no one needed to get tunes out on road more than Benga, who had seemed to have disapeared off the face of the earth release wise, even though he had never actually stopped producing. In 2006 he hit the ground running with a CD album, a Southside Dubstars EP, a collaboration with fellow Croydonian Walsh on a new Bristol label, four tunes for Planet Mu (including a partnership with Hatcha), a 7 track EP for Big Apple Records, and another Walsh collab for Hotflush. Lets just say that the man was busy.

What this shows is that the most prolific producers are starting to take things more seriously, realising that in the words of Quiet Storm: ‘[they needed] to put out quality music for people to actually buy rather than listen to on ‘dub’ for three years.’ As founder of 2nd generation dubstep label Storming Productions, along with the likes of DMZ, Hot Flush, Tectonic & BOKA, he saw that ‘you can’t have a scene without record releases and sales, it’s as simple as that’. Maybe there wasn’t a market for Dubstep 2 or 3 years ago, maybe there was, but clearly the pioneers of the Dubstep sound were all too often playing the safe option and pressing up their tunes in tiny quantities. Which leads me on nicely to my next point.

Decent Print Runs of Dubstep Tunes and Loads of Represses: The loads of represses part applies equally to tunes from a few years ago to those of recent months. We’ve been treated to a fair few old classics from the Ammunition stable recently, and DMZ represses are that much of an event that they are advertised on websites 2 months before they’re actually released. It’s nice to see people on the forums who have only recently discovered the sound and who want to trace it back to its roots, because the renewal of classics such as DJ Abstracts’ ‘Touch’ are helping them do that.

There is still the problem of certain tunes selling out within three months and there being little prospect of ever being able to purchase them after that cut off date (for the rest of your life); that hasn’t seemed to gone away, and maybe it’ll stay that way. I can’t see there being many 2006 Dubstep tunes on Ebay in 10 years time, or at least none for under £30 (whereas big early 90’s Dance classics can be found for as little as a fiver). But the fact remains that there are so many labels right about now, that the possibility that many of them will have folded in 12 months time is almost irrelivant. Their very existence is proof in itself that Dubstep is becoming a much bigger genre. The days of knowing every face in the scene are over, and it’s look set to grow even more in 2007. In effect, it’s starting to progress now at the rate that a lot of the other Dance genres did.

Dubstep Mix CD’s and Albums: Mix CD’s were always thin on the ground, but the idea of there being loads of Dubstep albums in one year was unthinkable a while back (it still shocks me now!). And the ones I’ve heard have been pretty good. Also the work of Search & Destroy, Tectonic, Grim FM, and a few more soldiers meant that it wasn’t Tempas’ sole responsibility to be the only maker of Dubstep mix CD’s.

Bristol Blows Up: As the soon to come review of the Living Inside the Speaker DVD will show, the iron curtain of the M25 isn’t holding the sound back like it used to. And it’s not just Bristol. It seems like the Americans (who were pretty slow to pick up on Dance music in general even though they originally founded it) and the Canadians are developing an addiction for Dubstep too.

The Rest of Garage Show an Interest: Whether it’s the revelation of 4/4 dons Qualifide & Jason H making Dubstep, or the blazing performances of MC’s Viper & Mighty Moe (HLC) on Hatchas and Crazy D’s show, or the more obvious crossover with Grime, there seems to be an air of respect now shown to the scene that just wasn’t there when its’ fanbase was smaller. DJ Darkside has had a road to Damascus type experience like no other, dismissing Dubstep in Deuce magazine in 2003 by saying ‘I can’t relate to any Dubstep tracks that get battered over the airwaves’, and yet now promoting the sound heavily on his Rinse FM show & Get Darker website.

EL-B, Benny Ill, and Darqwan are back: Well Oris Jay had never really went away, but he’s definitely higher profile now than he was a year ago. And the return of Horsepower frontman Benny Ill and Ghost Trax badboy EL-B is a very exciting development indeed for those with long memory spans, and when these two start putting out tracks again the newcomers to the scene will be in for a real treat.

More Shops Stock Dubstep: Gone are the days of Blackmarket & Big Apple being the sole distributors of the sound, upfront Dubstep tunes are coming to a store near you, even if that is Toronto (heavy import tax regardless).

Tunes Are Mastered a LOT Better Nowadays: Don’t know why, they just are. It’s not often anymore that you buy a record that sounds terrible on your hi-fi at home, whereas once it was a common risk that you just had to take.

Dubplate.net is back: It’s not driven by the same concept that it once was, focusing more on MP3’s for sale rather than actual unreleased material, but it’s nice to see one of Ammunitions’ main concerns back on its’ feet again.

Loads of Clubnights Around the Country (Even Scotland!): I can’t even be bothered to list them, check out the Dubstepforum.com events section.

The Quiet Storm quote comes from the Back to the Underground Mix CD sleevenotes: http://www.discogs.com/release/570646
The DJ Darkside quote comes from Deuce Magazine, September 2003 issue

Hyperlinks:

Label Showcase: Earwax Records

Earwax 1-2

New Dubstep labels seem to be spreading up like daffodils in spring, which seems all good and well until you realise how many more good tunes are getting released and in affect, how large your overdraft will become when you’re forced to buy them all. Earwax was launched in summertime with the S.N.O double A-side, and they’re third release has just arrived in shops now. It’s a 4 track EP by Bristolian Joker (who had a bit of a showcase on the Plasticians’ first Radio1 show), and it’s on a much more of a Grime flex than these two reviewed below. Earwax itself is run by the Bristol don DJ Pinch, presumably to release records that can’t fit on the Tectonic schedule, or because he’s trying to pursue a different style with the sister label. Come to think of it, all of the producers who’ve done bits for it so far have had some connection to the Grime scene, even when they’re making tunes in a Dubstep style.

Clue Kid- ‘Halogen’/ ‘Down & Dirty’ (Earwax 002)

I’ll start with this twelve because this was the first one I bought. It’s Clue Kids’ first solo release, and he’s clearly been reading up on Kromestars’ guide to breaking it into the scene. ‘Chapter 1: Put out a blinding tune with a bassline so massive and unforgiving that people can’t help but take notice’. That’s what Krome did with ‘Kalawanji’/ ‘Surgery’ (on Deep Medi 001), and Clue Kids’ done the same with A-side track ‘Halogen’. Be prepared for some serious wobbly bassline business with this one, and probably a reload as soon as it kicks off in any venue.

It’s impact is due to the fact that the b-line hook is the main part of the track really, with not much else going on except the breakdowns, which I’ll get to later. The drop just hits you in the chest with a swift right hook, what with the bassline being so fast and unrelenting, only for it to mutate into an even faster sound at the end of every 16 bars or so, bringing on a real rush. Make no mistakes, subtlety doesn’t play a part in this one. At the end of the day this tune uses brute force & ignorance- it’s not big and it’s not clever, but it gets the job done anyway!

Which is kinda strange considering the Reggae chords making up the intro feel like they could have been designed for another song entirely. It’s like Clue Kid was saying to himself, ‘let’s make a piano loop’ like the one Coki did for his refix of Sizzlas’ ‘One Of Those Days’, but once he had finished his work he saved it to the hard drive and then left it for a bit. I recall hearing how Wookies’ 2001 Garage tune ‘Storm’ was made (under the Exemen alias). Basically the man like Jason Chue had had a really bad day, and so he went into the studio at night and took out his frustrations by producing a really dark tune (for the time at least), but like ‘Halogen’, ‘Storm’ was complimented by more melancholic instrumentation alongside the dirty sounds.

I think a similar thing has happened with Clue Kid, because he probably went back to his bedroom maybe hours, days, or weeks after first making the reggae sounds and he loaded them up on his PC. Only problem is that in this intervening period of time some bad things have happened to him; maybe he broke up with his girlfriend, lost a job, missed his bus and had to walk home in the rain, anything really. The point being is that when he got home he was in the frame of mind where he was thinking ‘I WANT TO KILL SOME CUNT!’. But instead he channeled his anger into his beat making. Three glasses of absinthe, a few tabs of pro plus and 2 packets of sherbet later and he knocks up the brutal bassline of ‘Halogen’ after a few hours. But isn’t that what Dubstep producers do so well, managing to make their tracks dark as fuck but without resorting to the aggressive sounds of D&B?

It’s not as if those echoey reggae keys don’t fit in with the track- they do (and they’re importance is emphasized by the fact that they last a full 16 bars minus any drums). But even though they hint at the forthcoming darkness, the warning just isn’t strong enough to prepare you for the devastating drop that occurs after a vocal sample shouts “Oinka!”. It’s sort of like the New Orleans Councils’ advice to residents in the run up to Katrina, telling everyone to leave the city but then shutting down the public transport system (“don’t worry, the flood dams will work fine”)! I’ve never heard this tune in the mix, but it’s the kind of thing I reckon a DJ will drop in at peak time with just the bassline for maximum affect, then promptly pull it back before the bass causes serious damage to the venue on account of the hectic shape throwing going on!

Unlike Kromestar’s debut, the b-side to Clue Kids’ first release isn’t as big and bashy as ‘Halogen’ would lead you to believe. ‘Down & Dirty’ is more of a builder that just doesn’t quite reach the high parts that you want it too, or at least, not until you turn the volume up really loud. This one possesses the current Dubstep trademarks of echoey snare and the ever-present half step drum pattern (as does ‘Halogen’). The structure of the tune is a lot more complex than the A-side, although the hook isn’t as original sounding as it could have been.

Despite the fact that this is clearly identifiable as a recent production, the bass tone harks back to the pre Dubstep (at least in terms of being a distinct & viable genre) days of 8 Bar. I’m not quite talking ‘Pulse X’ here, nothing that obvious, but the b-line does have a slightly ‘old’ sound to it. In parts it feels like it’s crying out for a DJ Narrows style makeover! Just swap that snare for an offbeat ‘tst’ ‘tst’ hi hat and a constant kick and I think you could gain a new sense of urgency that this track currently lacks. What do you say Narrows? It’s slightly off topic, but I’ve seen represses of 2nd II Nones’ ‘Signal’ (an early release on Road Records) which is on a similar flex to Narrows and the fantasy ‘Down & Dirty’ four to the floor remix I have playing in my head at the moment.

Anyway, ‘Down & Dirty’ is effectively made up of a bassline that goes through three variations, and it’s the third one that is the most exciting. Problem is is that this is the part that is played the least. Clue Kids’ basically teasing us too much by making us wait for this section to arrive, and he only further clarifies his intent to tease when he ends the track abruptly when it’s played for the second time, out of time and everything. I think a re-edit is in order here.

Another thing of note in the tune is the appearance of Techy style keys in the background now and again, sort of like the intro of Loefahs’ ‘Ruffage’ (oops, shouldn’t mention any DMZ 009 analogies again, I did that last week with the Benga review). All in all I rate ‘Down & Dirty’ on a production level, and would play it out if I had the chance. But what with it being a cluttered marketplace for this style of tune, it’s not something I would personally buy without having the superior ‘Halogen’ on the flipside. So on reflection, this twelve makes for a pretty nice debut for Clue Kid, and I’ll look forward to what comes next from this boy.

S.N.O- ‘Disturbance’/ ‘Back Yard Dub’ (Earwax 001)

Despite this being released over the summer, I didn’t hear of it until after ‘Halogen’ came through my door and I started to do some research into this mysterious Earwax label. Despite the initials S.N.O is meant to be pronounced the same way that you would the fluffy white stuff (and that’s snow, not cocaine). The Manchester producer had an EP out on N-Types’ Terrain label at the start of 2006, but this release is an improvement on that one. First off you have ‘Disturbance’, so called because of the walkie-talkie spoken word sample used: “This is radio control, we got a problem downtown, backup requested, over”. Lines like this will be familiar to those of you Dubsteppas who belong to the criminal classes and have access to police scanners, but for the rest of us we can remember what the Grand Theft Auto soundtrack went like when you stole a cop car.

Having established the cops vs. crims theme in the first few bars, S.N.O introduces the sounds of police sirens, but loops them in such a way that they become almost instruments themselves. All the while you have the almost mandatory stuttered Reggae type melody that you get in loads of tracks nowadays, but the elements all blend in nicely, especially what with the crisp drum kit he uses. For some reason there’s an air of mystery to the intro, almost scary even. When it builds to the breakdown before the drop the police vocals are repeated, but with a patrol car filth responding to the female operators’ request for backup. “This is Forty Seven Fifty Four, I got contact”. Cue a sound effect of tyres screeching. Then the drop touches down.

Woah… As anyone who has heard this tune before can attest, the bass is heavy. It’s not as if it’s the most memorable bassline in the world, but it is so loud. And I’m not talking about the sub that might sound great on a club sound system but be silent on your hi-fi, this is a warm bass sound that will fill your room even at low volume. It’s not a million miles away from Coki’s ‘Officer’, but it’s more dancefloor friendly and distinctly harder.

To show the tune’s not a one trick pony, halfway through the bassline changes in key, and it’s a real head turner as well, sounding spooky as fuck. It’s not quite Goldies’ ‘Terminator’ for the Dubstep generation (when the time stretching technique used in it freaked out early 90’s ravers), but it’s a pretty neat trick nonetheless. The whole Halloween horror show vibe S.N.O’s got going on after the key change is reinforced by the sinister movie style melodies in the various breakdowns throughout the track.

What’s crazy though is that this track only lasts a paltry 4 minutes, although in truth it doesn’t seem so short. It’s crying out for an extension though, maybe with a 3rd bassline that’ll be even more extreme than the first. We can only hope.

On the flipside we have ‘Back Yard Dub’, which starts off with the kind of simplistic two or three note melody that characterises a lot of grime tunes (by the way S.N.O used to be an MC. Check his interview on the Get Darker website). This punctuates most of the track, and it comes close to being irritating I have to say, but you can live with it. The main part of the track isn’t the bassline as such, which is quite muted, although this may not be the case on a full rig. Instead the ‘hook’ is a lingering key; I’m not musically astute enough to know what kind of instrument it is, but at a guess I’d say it’s some kind of Middle Eastern flute. If I was a Guardian journalist I’d probably describe the sound as ‘mournful’, but I’m not so I wont stoop to that kind of low level. After all, how many people have considered slitting their wrists after listening to the Burial album?

The whole Oriental/ Middle Eastern soundscape is built upon with the odd dash of tribal bongo drums, but it would be easy to overemphasise this aspect of ‘Back Yard Dub’. After all, it’s no ‘Sholay’, but still, it does have a mystical air about it. One of the strange things about these tunes is that they seem like perfect cannon fodder for Hatchas’ sets on Kiss, but I’ve never heard him play them, not even the epic ‘Disturbance’.

Remember these tunes will probably sell out pretty quickly, so grab them while they’re still hot.

For the S.N.O interview check: http://getdarker.com/index.php?id=28

Things To Be Cheerful About in 2007: Part 1

Continuing on with the premise that Dubstep Warz ushered in a new era for Dubstep, this post will look at the positive things that recently happened in the scene while the memories of 2006 are still fresh in our minds. This week we look at how other musical genres discovered Dubstep. by Owen Griffiths

In the early days few in the mainstream dance music world supported ‘the Forward sound’. Andy Weatherall was perhaps the most enthusiastic (as he still is), with Carl Cox, Pete Tong and Tall Paul in particular being big fans of DJ Zinc’s ‘138 Trek’ but presumably little else. Fair enough, but come a year or two later even more obvious bedfellows like the Breaks scene seemed to be turning their back on the sound, what with bridge builder DJ Deeklines’ record box containing fewer and fewer Ammunition dubs as time went on. The fact that the likes of DJ Zinc & Hype stopped producing 140bpm stuff may not be unrelated to the breakbeat crowds’ loss of interest, as the slower more dubby sound (Croydon Techno, as one hack termed it!) was perceived to be less compatible with the likes of Rennie Pilgrem et al. But soon after the demise of Bingo Beats as we know it we had the great Dubstep takeover of Rinse FM in late ‘03, and more people started to take note. Anyway… let’s fast forward a bit and look at this scene by scene.

Electronica: The Rephlex boys may have laid the foundation stone for Dubsteps’ links with the Electronica scene when they released their Grime compilations in 2004, but they can’t be held solely responsible for the massive crossover that there was last year between the two camps that helped culminate in the scenes’ phenomenal growth in terms of popularity. Sure, Planet Mu stepped up to the table early by signing Mark One & Vex’d at a time when the prospects of Dubstep albums selling well were a big fat zero, but Mary Anne Hobbs and a host of other players in the Electronica world played a big part in this progression. And, although I don’t know this for sure, I suspect online record shop Boomkats’ tendency to place their Dubstep tunes in their Electronica section may have had some small encouraging affect in the fusion of the two scenes.

By 2006 we had people like Luke Vibert (working under the name Spac Hand Luke) & Milanese working on Dubstep inspired tracks, along with a few other Planet Mu affiliates including Neil Landstrumm and most successfully, Boxcutter/ Barry Lynn. Nowadays Dubstep makes up for around a third of their prolific release schedule. Other converts to the sound include Various (aka Various Productions), Minimal Techno prodigy Andy Stott (with his excellent track ‘For The Love’), Geiom, and a host of other producers that I don’t know the real names of because I can’t be bothered researching into what style every ‘new’ producer used to make under a pseudonym in years gone by.

Werk Disks, more known for their IDM (what a shit name!) than urban music, shocked, and in some cases offended people when they released their series of Grim Dubs. Werk as a label probably associate the letter ‘I’ of IDM with Insane Dance Music more than they do ‘Intelligent’, and the five 12’s put out under the Grim name were pretty experimental (in a bad way) to say the least. With no tracking titles, the elusive identities of those who tooled the beats only added to the novelty mystique of the project, and probably ensured a couple hundred more sales than would have been the case if the buying public were aware of the fact that the names of the contributors were later leaked onto Discogs. All in all, most of the Grim Dubs were mediocre, so it was a massive shock when they released the excellent mix CD Grim FM. A mixture of Electronica, Dubstep, and Grime, Grim Fm was a crazy record laced with humorous skits that, (shock horror) weren’t irritating on repeated listening. More importantly this CD gave Bass Clef, Atki2, and Philadelphia’s Starkey a foot on the ladder.

What was it about Dubstep that the Electronica lot found so enticing? The decline of the latter scene in terms of the quality of releases was certainly a factor, but if I was to stick my neck out I’d say that for them it was the realisation that Dubstep represented new experimental music in a sensible, dancefloor friendly context. And there must have been something very appealing about the space offered by the half-step drum template after listening to umpteem Aphex Twin style cluttered madness, that and the joy of becoming reacquainted with thunderous basslines.

Broken Beat & Grime: Grime MC’s love affair with ‘Midnight Request Line’ strengthened the links between their scene & Dubstep. But Skreams’ debut for Tempa turned heads in a lot of other places too. Gilles Peterson was pretty quick to pick up on the tune, and made it the opening track to his winter 2005 Worldwide Winners award ceremony, effectively his most important show of the year. Fellow Nu Jazz pioneers like Patrick Forge on Kiss100 & Benji B of 1Xtra soon followed suit in their recognition of Dubstep, the former opening his show with various Digital Mystikz tracks four weeks in a row! With the latter DJ it didn’t make for much of a surprise, what with his friendship with J Da Flex and his support for releases like Artworks’ ‘Red’ EP in the past. Cokis’ ‘Tortured’ happens to be a favourite of his at the moment, along with numerous Skream cuts. Domu & Bugz in the Attic are also keen on the sound.

Unfortunately though it appears that that’s where the allegiance between Dubstep & Nu Jazz/ Broken Beat ends. Old luminaries like EL-B & Benny Ill may have returned to the decks at FWD, but Zed Bias, Injekta, and Landslide have been notable by their absence (and come to think of it so is J Da Flex, the man who introduced a lot of dubstep people to Broken and a CoOp resident to boot). ‘Splirt’, Landslide’s down tempo collaboration with the Slaughter Mob’s MC’s from 2005 is now floating around on dubplate, but with all of the original elements of the track bar the vocals replaced with dark side beats courtesy of Skream. Landslide did release ptential crossover track and J Da Flex favourite ‘Conundrum’ (which had a suitably dirty bassline, hence the ‘Grimey mix’ on the B side) on Broken label Sick Trumpet, but it’s arguable whether it would have attracted attention among the Dubstep heads even if it had appeared on the likes of Tectonic or Hot Flush. As for Phuturistix, yes they’re busy putting the finishing touches to their second album and running a record label (Phuture Lounge), but it would be nice to hear a darker cut from them now and again, as it was something they did so well (check 2000’s ’The Matrix’).

The cross-pollenisation of the Grime & Dubstep scenes has been facilitated by a number of factors. First in my mind was the fact that once Dubstep grew in popularity it became much more noticeable to the Grime crowd, whereas there was a time when it would have been quite plausible for a Grime head to be oblivious of Dubsteps’ existence. After all, Uptown is the best shop for Grime (that’s when Cameo isn’t trying to re-classify it as Sublow or R&G!), and it’s only recently that they started to stock Dubstep in significant numbers. Further down D’Arblay St, Blackmarket was doing the same thing in reverse, concentrating more on Dubstep to the detriment of their Grime section. So Dubstep people (like me) weren’t making much of an effort to search out the quality Grime instrumentals that didn’t belong to the tried & tested Plasticman (now Plastician), Mark One, and Dumpvalve axis (although you could always rely on Jon E Cash to come up with something special).

But the growth of Dubstep (in popularity) corresponded with a decline of sorts in Grime. Weakly produced and overpriced MC tracks dominated the market, and the era of minimal & experimental tunes that categorised the scene before the rise of the MC was long gone. If you craved for the quality Grime instrumentals of old then it made perfect sense to jump on the Dubstep train, where the tracks were stripped bare, uninterrupted by MC jabber. I’m not criticising MC’s as a group here, it’s just that I think it was a mistake to adapt the notion that Grime is Britains’ answer to Rap, cos it had a detrimental affect in that it hindered the exposure of bass heavy instrumentals. This whole ‘Grime isn’t Grime without MC’s’ ethos (sort of similar to mainstream US Rap’s sidelining of the more adventurous beatmakers) was enforced when DJ’s decided to play the instrumental flipside of tunes like ‘The Forward Riddim (Pow)’ to allow their crew to spit their own lyrics over well known vocal tracks instead of using ‘proper’ instrumentals that were designed for that purpose.

At the same time the Grime scene was stifled in a big way due to the lack of club nights, but this in turn helped to spur an alliance with Dubstep. If the Grime dance you wanted to go to got cancelled by the promoters/ & or the police, why not go to FWD instead. And that’s what did happen in the case of Skepta, Jammer, Wiley and a whole heap of others. Of course this process was assisted in a massive way by the melting pot that is the mighty Rinse FM. From the Dubstep end of things Kode 9 amongst others helped to disdain the scene’s snobbish opinion of Grime. Likewise people from the other crowd like Tubby, Footsy & Slimzee would have turned a fair few heads onto Dubstep.

It’s not as if the state of things (this alliance of sorts) at the moment isn’t completely rosy. There are still Grime producers who know shit about Dubstep & have no intention of learning, and this is the same vice versa for people in Dubstep. And it’s not as if all the London stations have embraced the sound either. But it’s nice to see tunes like Wileys’ ‘Flat Derik’ and Tubbys’ ‘Tiger Style’ achieve the crossover success they deserve. After all, Grime & Dubstep progressed from Garage; it’s just that they went off in slightly different directions. But at times people have been too keen to overstress those differences, and thankfully this seems to be less the case nowadays.

Other genres: A lot of excitement has been generated (among the dance media at least) by Ricardo Villalobos’s (don of the Micro House scene) discovery of Skream tracks, and about how he has made remixes of ‘Midnight Request Line’ and, more recently, a Shackleton tune. Now I can’t confess to knowing what Micro House actually sounds like, or from what continent the hard to spell Villalobos resides in, but from what I’ve heard about his stuff (the Shackleton mix in particular) this seems to be a pretty exciting development. Oh and Kode 9 favourite Timeblind who had a good EP out on Soot Records originally hails from the Techno scene, if you must know. Much has been made of the many D&B producers who have made the jump to Dubstep. Some have welcomed the move, others have derided it. Whatever the case, many in the Dubstep scene see D&B as a tired and formulaic genre, and that it’s unsurprising that they (the D&B clique) are on the look out for a new style. I’m not quite sure if this is a mass migration like the way it was in the 2-step garage era, as it seems like relatively few of these tracks from the Jungle producers have left the studio and been pressed up onto vinyl, but there has been some pretty solid stuff from Hijak, Tech Itch & Juju.

More surprising has been the reaction from the Breaks scene, which has been muted to say the least. ~~Old Deekline collaborator Quest has made the switch~~ (I’ve since found out that there are two Quests, and the Dubstep one, known also as Conquest, is not the Rat Records one), and Tayo plays the odd dubstep tune but… is that it? (see the postscript)

I suspect that a lot of the new producers who are coming into the scene haven’t appeared ‘from nowhere’. There’s probably dozens of ‘new’ names who have been making stuff under different tags for years, whether in the bedroom or on road.

And lastly, what is the whole point of this post? Well bar the history lesson it’s meant to espouse the viewpoint that Dubstep’s exposure to the outside world has been very, very good for the scene. It has brought a lot of new people in, and it’s bound to have some effect on how the sound progresses. Roll on 2007.

postscript: Just recently Tayo did an interview for TrustTheDJ.com where he goes into detail about his discovery of Dubstep and his frustration with the blandness of a lot of breaks tracks. Check it out here: http://www.trustthedj.com/news_article.php?news_id=6100 It was uploaded on the 24th of January but I don’t know how long the link will last.

Interview With Venez

NYC

(Hyperlinks aren’t working on this weeks’ articles, so the addresses for anything you see underlined will be at the bottom of the post)

Following on from last weeks’ review of “Hot Bitches/ Pankration Dub”, I managed to secure an AOL Instant Messenger interview with the mysterious Venez. I learnt many things. I discovered that Resist is a sublabel of Ohm Resistance, one of America’s longest running D&B labels, that Resist & Ohm have managed to seduce the likes of critically acclaimed avant-garde Jazz musicians to contribute to their projects, and that labelmate Scorn is none other than Mick Harris, drummer for 80’s hardcore thrash/punk band Napalm Death. The quality of the discussion was impeded by AIM’s refusal to allow us to post anything larger than two sentences at a time, and the fact that the production duo were on their lunch break and needed some grub. I too was hungry, what with international clock differences meaning it was teatime in the UK, but we persisted on. Incidentally no mention was made of the Ipswich murders, but then a suspected criminals’ first line of defence is usually to deny knowledge of the crime that took place. Somehow I get the feeling that Easyjet didn’t realise the beast they were unleashing when they offered cheap flights from JFK airport to Stansted….
I give you Venez:

The Haitian Sensation: Hi.
Zandor: Que tal amigos.
The Haitian Sensation: I am “The Haitian sensation”. Pleased to meet you. (The Haitian Sensation used a AIM username throughout the interview)
Zandor: I am Zandor, which is incidentally the name of my great great great grandfather who was a stage magician in Budapest. And that’s seriously true- you can’t really make shit like that up. (Zandor used a AIM username as well)
Darkside Sophistication: All right then, that clears that up (the identity of the Venez partnership), so who are the elusive Dr Israel & Kondo who appear on the tracks of Resist 001 (the former on ‘Pankration Fat Dub’, and the latter on ‘Hot Bitches’).
Zandor: Dr. Israel is a famous reggae singer. Kondo is Toshinori Kondo, the trumpet player. He plays with John Zorn, Bill Laswell, NYC crew etc… (Check the word Praxis at the bottom of the post for more info on these guys).
Darkside Sophistication: There was me thinking that you were getting into dodgy illegal sampling business, that stuff isn’t meant to go down too well in the States, what with major labels being pretty zealous in their persecution of copyright infringers.
The Haitian Sensation: Naw, totally original content here.
Zandor: We share a studio with Dr. Israel. And Kondo is heavily involved in live shows with Ohm Resistance Crew. (Authors note: Dr. Israel is also affiliated with Bill Laswell and his various projects)
Zandor: We just have cool friends.
Darkside Sophistication: I was thinking though, I’ve got a few questions I want to ask, how ‘bout you guys answer back, no one word answers please!
The Haitian Sensation: Shoot.
Zandor: Shoot.
Zandor: (five seconds later) Ah fuck beat me to it.
Darkside Sophistication: Question number 1: You’re obviously connected to the Ohm Resistance label; do you two produce under different names for that label?
Zandor: Yes but we’d enjoy it if it remained unclear who was who. There are clues on the vinyl itself.
Darkside Sophistication: Fair enough, bit of a dance music cliché if truth were told though- the unknown producer in his bedroom, possibly bald and of a moody persuasion.
Zandor: Nah actually we’re a black dude and an ex professional fighter, quite the opposite of that cliché.
Darkside Sophistication: All right, having established that, how did you guys discover Dubstep?
The Haitian Sensation: Well, me being from Tinidad, I’ve known Dubstep for years under real Reggae. Now it is just implemented as a genre or sub genre if you will. [I was] born into it sort of.
Zandor: Yeah I always made slow music by myself, now it has a name at 70/140 and slower.
Darkside Sophistication: Ah, so you obviously subscribe to the viewpoint that Dubstep is a bit like Dub Reggae for the noughties. PS. isn’t Trinidad miles away from Hispaniola?
The Haitian Sensation: Yeah my roots are actually from by there as my other half is Haitian; it’s [Trinidad] close to the Dominican Republic, sharing an island.
Zandor: I’m a Brooklyn mutt.
Darkside Sophistication: The Big Apple being the big melting pot, nice. But when was it that you were first exposed to the sounds from the UK that is often referred to as ‘Dubstep’.
Zandor: For me it was because my good friend is Ennis, Moldy. That was when it was codified for me as that specific genre name.
Darkside Sophistication: About what year was this then?
Zandor: Early last year for me. But I was a tour DJ for Scorn for a few tours also. The earliest was around 2000 for that.
The Haitian Sensation: Actual UK sound Dubstep for me was about 96-97. 2-step and Garage… but to get to the actual genre [as a name] not much more than last year. Running into D&B DJ’s at shows who kind of dropped the D&B mentality to go straight Dubstep.
Darkside Sophistication: I seem to remember Garage circa 2001-3 reaching places like Chicago, Minneapolis, a few other cities I can’t remember, but New York didn’t seem to play a big part in that, strange considering it’s prominence in the Dance music world.
The Haitian Sensation: In ‘96 I was in Germany when Techno and odd stuff like The Prodigy was hitting hard.
Zandor: Reid Speed used to play Garage a bunch in NYC; she had her own night, another buddy of ours.
Darkside Sophistication: What’s she doing now? It’s just that in the UK most of the old Garage set have moved over to House or R&B, but from what I could tell the American 2-Step pioneers seemed to have discovered the sound from just getting bored of D&B (authors note: a legion of UK producers took the same route a few years earlier in the mid 90’s), but they firmly preferred the bassline sound to the vocal stuff.
Zandor: She [Reid Speed] is actually doing her first artist album for Ohm Resistance. Which I am helping mix down in a week or so. [As for US DJ’s preferring the darker stuff]. I can’t really agree all the way with that. Reid as my best example, she just loved to play whatever rocked a dancefloor, and vocals did that, but I never break shit down into detail like that. I just do some music, it’s up to someone else to pay attention to it like that much.
Darkside Sophistication: More to the point, would you say that those American Garage pioneers have caught the Dubstep bug, or have they like the UK lot sort of went elsewhere.
Zandor: Actually I can agree with that. I don’t think there has been much crossover. I mean, I look at Dubstep like it’s 70 BPM, and not 140.
Darkside Sophistication: So the ones who were doing it in 2002 are the ones putting on the likes of Dubwar? Or has the darkness turned them off, i.e. like Casper, a groundbreaking Garage DJ stateside what with his Heavyweight Sound website, but now a convert to House?
Zandor: Dubwar is our buddy Cliff, you ever go to one of those shows? He also does Direct Drive.
Darkside Sophistication: Just to clear things up a bit, I see Dubstep as the 140bpm stuff and the slow half-step stuff as well, I know there’s a difference but it’s all the same genre really. It’s just the progression from UK Garage.
The Haitian Sensation: I think that in many ways Dubstep has become that “different” new thing that people grab onto.
Darkside Sophistication: For example, there would be people in the UK who would classify ‘Hot Bitches’ as Breakstep. We can be very anal over here when it comes to classifying things; supposedly it’s not as bad as that in mainland Europe.
The Haitian Sensation: Yeah, I can see that, like D&B in the early 90’s.
Zandor: Well, I mean, I don’t really care, nor have I ever thought of what anyone’s response would be when I make music, I just make what I like.
The Haitian Sensation: Hot Bitches is just music, whether it be Dubstep, Grime, Ambient, The more concentrated “Dub” tune is the flip. Darkside Sophistication: So what’s Dubwar like then, is it in a big club?
Zandor: Dubwar has done boat parties; they’ve done the chapel in Avalon. Decent size venues.
Darkside Sophistication: Also, are there any other nights that will put on Dubstep DJ’s, not necessarily Dubstep the whole night, maybe a mixture of different styles?
The Haitian Sensation: Camouflage here in NYC, Konkrete Jungle as well.
Zandor: (20 seconds later). Also Konkrete Jungle has been doing Dubstep parties sometimes also…fucker beat me again.
The Haitian Sensation: Dubstep is becoming accepted at a way faster rate than it took for D&B here.
Zandor: I was just shooting whipped cream into my mouth for lunch.
Darkside Sophistication: Sounds like it’s not too bad then. NYC is legendary for it’s territoriality (5 separate boroughs and all that), but are people willing to commute long distances to go to these nights? After all it can’t be too hard to travel, you have 24hr subways and everything!
Zandor: Fuck a borough, that shit is in the movies, you seen The Warriors too many times. Man, if there is a party people wanna go to they go to it.
The Haitian Sensation: Totally, the NYC scene isn’t really dependant on what genre, event, or where it is located here.
Zandor: Damn this whipped cream is good.
The Haitian Sensation: Shows fill up here because people want to party in Manhattan.
Darkside Sophistication: Never actually seen it [The Warriors], I’m just sitting here staring at a map of New York, looking at all these mad islands, must be irritating with all those toll bridges.
The Haitian Sensation: But the bulk of the parties exist in Manhattan, or Brooklyn.
Zandor: I rarely drive; I usually take a car service to and from the airport. I can’t stand cars.
The Haitian Sensation: He he, the trains go through the bridges here, barely anyone drives that I know. Subway is like where it’s at.
Zandor: Man if cars kept up with technology like computers did, shit would be like the Jetsons, but instead we’re too busy finding ways to blow shit up instead of making a quality vehicle that I can drive and not think ‘SHIT, FUCK THIS CAR’.
Darkside Sophistication: I’m asking this question really because when DMZ put on a monthly in Leeds you get people from London travelling up there just to see them even though they can see Mala and Loefah in their own town. Leeds is quite far away, about 200 miles.
Zandor: People go where the party is at, same here.
The Haitian Sensation: Oh I see.
Zandor: Kids travel, kids from outside the city.
Darkside Sophistication: Just out of curiosity, how seriously is Dubstep taken by the rest of the dance music scene in NYC. Is it a buzzword they would know about?
Zandor: Yeah it’s actually something that is starting to become almost like a genre on the level of everything else. I just hope the scene doesn’t gas out and then in 2 years later it comes back with a different name. That seems to be a pattern.
Darkside Sophistication: Because in the UK, even though there has been some coverage in the Dance music mags, even in some newspapers, it hasn’t really ‘blown up’ in a big way outside of London & Bristol. Everywhere else is just small parties really (perhaps with the exception of Leeds).
Zandor: Well these things take time.
Darkside Sophistication: Would Louis Vega know what Dubstep is!?
Zandor: Possibly. I’d say he might have heard of it.
The Haitian Sensation: I know the people in the hip hop world like Pharrell of the Neptunes and guys like Outcast know what Dubstep is.
Darkside Sophistication: So do you guys ever play out Dubstep stuff, under pseudonyms perhaps?
Zandor: Nah we’re doing a Venez live show at Bembe in the coming month with our other compatriot who could not be here, the Pakistani Chill.
Darkside Sophistication: What’s Bembe then?
Zandor: Bembe is a club in Brooklyn that hosts live musicians playing and reverse engineering dance music. It’s run by a really good drummer who I’ve played with a bunch before named Guy Licata (who’s also worked with Laswell).
Darkside Sophistication: You got a definite date for that event, or a website or something?
Zandor: No definite date yet [but] I can find the myspace for that party [called No Selector]. The live DEBUT of Venez. The outfits will be unmanageable.
Darkside Sophistication: So did your connection with Ohm Resistance make it easier for you to come up with the Resist label?
The Haitian Sensation: I’d say so.
Zandor: The Ohm guys are totally into new shit.
The Haitian Sensation: We dont persay run Resist either, the good guys at Ohm kinda took our idea by surprise. They dig music for what it is.
Zandor: Plus they love the fights, so I was an easy in.
Darkside Sophistication: Was Resist 001 pressed up in the UK or the US, cause it was very cheap (i.e. same price as the UK stuff), no import tax.
Zandor: UK pressing through Nu Urban Music. Nu Urban has finally wrapped their heads around Dubstep thankfully.
Darkside Sophistication: It’s probably the same situation with Drop The Lime & Mathhead’s label TroubleandBass. How can people get hold of it in America then? NYC is noted for it’s record stores. How’s it like getting Dubstep stuff, and European tunes in general.
Zandor: Internet. Everyone buys vinyl online these days.
Darkside Sophistication: It’s not much different here to be honest; tons of shops are going bust because it’s that much easier to find what you want on the interweb. Perhaps not in London so much, but in all the smaller cities that’s the case. It’s funny though cause before garage went dark the biggest producer was Todd Edwards, who is from Belleville, New Jersey, and his 12”s were always about £9, as they were classed as imports and so warranted a higher price tag.
Zandor: Yeah we work directly with the UK cos I think more Venez shit gets sold in the UK/Europe than the US.
Darkside Sophistication: These Todd tunes were shrink-wrapped and all, that was an American trademark. Then you had London producers putting shrink-wrap on their tunes to pass it off as an import and charge you more fucking money!
Zandor: Ah damn man that’s fucking wack. And if you shrink-wrap you cant listen in the store.
Darkside Sophistication: Well in the shop there would be a wall mounted record rack, and the tune at the front would be unwrapped for the customers to listen to. Once all the shrink-wrapped ones at the back were sold out you’d have to buy the copy with loads of fingerprints and scratches that every fucker had put over it. Talking about Todd and NJ, there happens to be a Dubstep night on Saturday the 20th in New Brunswick (a southern suburb of urban New Jersey) with Joe Nice playing; can’t really see Todd Edwards showing up to be honest.
Zandor: Anyhow it’s about lunchtime for us clowns.
The Haitian Sensation: Fuck that.
Zandor: So I wanna tell u about our next record.
Darkside Sophistication: Ok, I’ll make this quick and you can tell me about your next record.
Zandor: The B side is ‘A Lumbering Beast’, with a serious distorted b line and us playing the better killer game with the new member of Venez, the Pakistani Chill. And the A is a work in progress. But we are working with Moldy to make the Salt n Pepa tune ‘Push It’ into a Dubstep track all mangled, wait till you hear. And that’s RSIS03.
Darkside Sophistication: One thing about Resist 001 was that it sounded like it could have come from the UK, but the tunes of Drop the Lime & Mathhead have a very American feel to them.
The Haitian Sensation: Zandor can’t tell the difference but I can, and I must say I aggree it does sound UKish.
Darkside Sophistication: Do you happen to know the likes of Joe Nice, Starkey, DTL & Mathhead.
Zandor: Joe is a supporter, the others I don’t know.
Darkside Sophistication: DTL & Mathhead are fellow Brooklyn boys, run the TroubleandBass label.
Zandor: Damn, does Moldy know them? Mathhead… I think I was on a Hymen (German Electronica label) comp under my real name with him. (Authors note: Drop The Lime did a remix for Hymen in 2005 so maybe Zandor’s getting them mixed up).
Darkside Sophistication: OK, one last question and I’ll let you guys have your lunch.
Zandor: I ate some whipped cream but the black man needs some chow.
Darkside Sophistication: How did you hook up with the UK producer, what’s he called, can’t remember… I know Lethal (a Londoner who has tracks forthcoming on Resist) does stuff for OHM so that’s where that connection came from but the other one, from Birmingham… Scorn, that’s it.
Zandor: OOOOO SCORN, I know Micky from a looooong time ago as I loved Napalm Death and used to go to ND shows when I was a kid, and Mick quit ND and did Scorn. I wrote to him when I first started DJing D&B, and he took me on a few tours with him! It was unreal for me; I used to have a poster of the guy on my wall when I was 14!
Darkside Sophistication: Fair enough. That’ll wrap it up then. Be sure to give me all the info about upcoming releases.
Darkside Sophistication: I’m off to have my dinner, bye.
Zandor: OK cool.
The Haitian Sensation: Cheers man. (rubs tummy)

Coincidentally the Moldy they talk about has already released a dubstep track on his own label, Heavy Pressure recordings. HPR001 features his own tracks ‘Windmill Dub’ & ‘Black Forest (Part 1)’, and I’m thinking of reviewing them when they finally arrive through my letterbox because they are quality tunes. Sadly few shops seem to have any copies left (this equally applies for ‘Hot Bitches’), so if you type in the word’s Moldy and “Windmill Dub” in Google you should find at least one dealer. Don’t sleep on this, get it while you still can. His collab with Venez should prove interesting.

Unfortunately my interview with Venez was shorter than I would have liked. I could have asked them a heap of other questions. They didn’t get the chance to describe their strange concept of music for insects: ‘If the lifespan of the insect is so short, the time it processes audio information must SEEM significantly faster. Human music must sound so slowed down to the short lifespan of a cricket or wasp. Unselfconsciously, this is our attempt to recreate to our own ears, what normal music sounds like to the insect’. Ummmmm… deep. Check their Resist Myspace for more info!
Interview by Owen Griffiths

Links:-

Resist: http://www.myspace.com/resistdub
Ohm Resistance: http://www.myspace.com/ohmresistance
Dr Israel: http://www.myspace.com/dreadtoneinternational
Kondo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshinori_Kondo
Scorn: http://www.myspace.com/mjhscorn
Lethal: http://www.myspace.com/lethal_injection_uk
Moldy: http://selectormoldy.com
Heavy Pressure Records: http://heavypressure.com

Reid Speed: Heavy Pressure: http://heavypressure.com/
Casper: http://www.heavyweightsound.com/

Dubwar: http://www.myspace.com/dubwarnyc
Camouflage: http://www.camonyc.com/
Konkrete Jungle: http://www.konkretejungle.com/

DMZ: http://www.dmzuk.com/
Mala: http://myspace.com/malamystikz
Loefah: http://myspace.com/loefah
‘Leeds’ refers to club night Subdub: http://www.myspace.com/subdub1

Bembe: http://brooklyn.citysearch.com/review/39315958
Guy Licata: http://www.myspace.com/guyborg
No Selector: www.myspace.com/noselector

New Urban Music: www.nu-urbanmusic.co.uk

Drop The Lime: http://www.dropthelime.com
Mathhead: http://www.myspace.com/mathhead
TroubleandBass: http://www.troubleandbass.com
Starkey: http://www.dropthelime.com
Joe Nice: http://www.myspace.com/joenice

Hymen Records: http://www.hymen-records.com

Bill Laswell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Laswell
Praxis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_%28band%29
John Zorn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_zorn

Back for another week

Issue two arrives, and our attempts to deal with technical difficulties have proven futile. For this week there will be no hyperlinks. Instead anything that can be linked to will be underlined, and at the bottom of the post there will be a list of the relevant web addresses. Also the track review I had planned will now appear early this evening (GMT).

More importantly, you may have noticed at the bottom of the posts there’s a sentence saying ‘posted by Darkside Sophistication’, and one next to it saying ‘0 comments’. If you want to say something about the article then click on this link and you can send us a message (this can then be viewed by any user). Ideally, you can contact us the more direct way by emailing: owen.griffiths@btinternet.com and as I keep on telling people, write the words ‘Dubstep Roughdown’ in the subject field, it makes it look less like spam. What is the significance of the word Roughdown, I hear you say? I was born in a street called Roughdown Avenue. Well actually I was born in a hospital but you know what I mean. I’m looking for some feedback, and advice, and if you disagree with any of the articles or feel that they have mistruths in them, then contact us and we’ll correct them as soon as we can. Humans make mistakes after all.

And in case you haven’t noticed, I use the words I & we interchangeably because I have a Jekkyl & Hyde thing going on, simple as that. If any of you people feel like sending in a story, then click on the ‘Want to contribute’ link on the right panel at the top of the page. We need more schizos onboard.

THIS SITE IS UPDATED EVERY MONDAY

Record Review: Venez- Hot Bitches/ Pankration (Resist)

As the constant search for sick movie samples in Dance music continues unabated (eg. “Mr Kirk. You’re son is dead”), New York Production duo Venez try to push the boundaries just that little bit further with their first single, ‘Hot Bitches’. Kicking off with the anxious voice of a woman shouting, “let go of me”, and repeated for the first few bars, the sense of impeding doom is heightened with the addition of Shackleton style tribal drums and a series of distorted hi hats. Unnerving to say the least, the intro reaches it’s climax with the woman screaming, the cue for a tear out bassline rampage. All very sinister given that Brooklyn natives Venez (made up of Zandor & the “Haitian Sensation”) chose to release this 12 around the time that the Ipswich Ripper was still on the rampage. Fair enough, the serial killer’s antics probably didn’t even make the back pages of the New York Times. But is it purely coincidence that one of the few stockists of this heavyweight tune are Red Eye Records, located in, of all places, the premier city of South East Anglia: Ipswich. The plot thickens…

One of the things that draws your attention to ‘Hot Bitches’ is the drum programming; really tough with the kicks bouncing along in an almost four to the floor fashion, until after the 3^rd beat when it falls into breakbeat mode. It almost brings back memories of some of EL-B’s early efforts at combining four to the floor rhythms with the 2-step style (a la Alley Cats ‘Cover Me’ on Locked On). However this track resides in firm (although I dislike the word) ‘Breakstep’ territory. Especially halfway through when it emerges out of a breakdown with a slowed down D&B style roll out. And before I get to mention it, underpinning the whole track is an aggressive, gnarly bassline that is instantly likeable, even to the cynical likes of me who slander Drum & Bass for using the same well-worn devices to get a crowd reaction.

On the flipside is ‘Pankration Fat Dub’, which features a certain Dr. Israel. I assume he’s on vocal duties, because there are some muted sounds of a Reggae toaster sprinkled throughout the track. Kind of how a live Kode 9 set would sound if the Space Ape’s mic was broken and his lyrics weren’t really audible over the bass bins. Like the A side, ‘Pankration’ has a breaky style of drum pattern, but not that there’s anything wrong with that. But otherwise it has little in common with ‘Hot Bitches’, with a much more melancholic air about it that would belie the fact that this tune was produced in BK as opposed to London or Bristol. It’s a pretty dubby affair, so you won’t be expecting the Detroit Techno tinged keyboard stabs that recur throughout the latter parts of the track. Surprisingly the distorted sounding bassline plays a rather minor part in the proceedings.

The two sides of this record compliment each other quite well, ‘Hot Bitches’ being the obvious track that probably prompted most people to buy it, but the subtlety of Pankration certainly grows on you. All in all, Venez are clearly very accomplished as producers technically, and the mastering on ‘Hot Bitches’ has been done really well, giving the bass & drums a warm analogue sound. Not sure how punchy ‘Pankration’ would sound on a proper rig, but I suppose there’s only one way to find out. I get the feeling that this, the debut release on the American label Resist will be out of stock soon, so snap it up while you can.
Review by Owen Griffiths

Record Review: Benga- The BAM 008/ Invasion EP (Big Apple Records 008)

We generally stick to reviewing less established artists and labels here at Darkside Sophistication, but a 7 track EP from Benga certainly warrants a look. Especially as it’s on the legendary, but until recently defunct, Big Apple Records imprint, which is rising from the ashes phoenix style from the charred remains of their old Croydon HQ.

It’s heartening to see the return of other fallen comrades like Texture and (if the rumours are true) Ghost Trax, but when you think about it a label in itself is little more than a brand name. What’s important is the quality of the tuneage, and the decision to bring back BAM with what is in effect a mini album is a bold step that could be mistaken by some for a quantity over quality marketing gimmick. But Benga manages to make the package work. If 2006 was the year that the boy with the big fro played catch-up with his old partner in crime Skream then 2007 will be the one where he reaffirms his seat among the Dubstep aristocracy.

I have to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of Bengas’ Newstep CD, released in March. From what I’ve read in interviews I get the feeling that the project was essentially a collection of unreleased tunes as opposed to a concept driven LP. At 70 minutes long it proved too taxing not to resort to skipping past tracks. As such it was easily eclipsed by the shorter work of Burial, whose album made for a much easier home listening experience. The tracks on Newstep, which sounded good on their own, seemed to be better suited for a series of 12’s, although part of the reasoning behind the project was to offer non vinyl buyers the chance to own Benga dubs. But also a problem for me was the more ‘musical’ direction he was going into with his tunes, which to my ears just weren’t as effective as the darker & more simplistic production style he had as a younger. But as the year went on he clawed his way back up the ladder release by release with essential tunes such as ‘Spooksville’ (a collaboration with Walsh on Immerse records), ‘Combs 70’, and the untitled cuts on his Southside Dubstars EP. For me, BAM008 has eased my niggling doubts that Benga had lost his Midas touch. He hasn’t.

So it makes perfect sense that with the first tune of the EP he jumps straight into the deep end with ‘Flame’. Initially the track seems like a return of his CD’s penchant for orchestral sweeps, but my fears are soon cleared when I hear the drop. The badman bassline may be accompanied by the odd unnecessary strings now and again, but it never succumbs to the grimesque excesses of the likes of Newsteps’ closing track ‘Dubstep Dreams’. I don’t know why, but it seems like ‘Flame’ is crying out for some kind of movie sample from a cheesy 80’s action movie. And I mean that in a good “fucking voodoo magic man” way. Just something to emphasise the driving, uncompromising nature of the bassline. This is one of the highlights of the EP, and the only riddim to have a whole side of plastic to itself.

Turning over to side B we are greeted with ‘Live Drumz’ & ‘Wobblers’. Funnily enough a lot of this EP reads like a playlist of Hatchas’ show on Kiss. This is certainly the case for the former of the two, a relatively recent dub that the FWD resident will usually slot into a set to calm things down a little bit. That’s until Crazy D starts spitting 16 bars of his familiar lyrics over it! The tune itself isn’t particularly heavy on sub, allowing Bengas’ appealing keyboard melodies to shine through the foreground, before they alternate to a heavier bassline solo later on. I’m assuming the name of the track refers to the rolling nature of the drum pattern, which eschews half-steps’ penchant for echoey snares by utilising a crisp drum kit.

‘Wobblers’ is self-explanatory really. After all, circa 2003-4 Benga & Skream (when the two names were seldom spoken apart) were kings of the Fruity Loops tooled wobbling bassline. This one starts off with a fairy tale type melody that hints at sinisterism- the kind of music John Carpenter might produce to soundtrack his adaptation of Peter & The Wolf or the Brothers Grimm. At first the ‘wobbles’ sound monotonous until you realise Benga has penned in a lot of changes to keep the hook interesting. The aggressive Techno style bleeps that form the peak of the bassline evokes to my mind kind of what Loefah’s ‘Mud’ would have sounded like if it was more midrange, and I suppose you can’t get a much better recommendation than that. In terms of speed the leisurely pace of the drums are overridden by the sense of urgency from the energetic bassline.

The second slab starts of with ‘Still Rockin’, another current Hatcha fave. But it’s far exceeded in quality by the tune alongside it. ‘Middle Man’ is just on a completely different flex from what you’ve heard before. It seems like Benga has took Blackdown & Dusk’s concept of key sounds to heart with this one, as the tune is underpinned by an off kilter clockwork type of quiet clatter. Impossible to describe, it’s the kind of sound that is in parts highly irritating but also strangely satisfying. For some reason it makes me think of insects, like a plague of mosquitoes, probably due to the buzzing noise. The hook is paired off with a subtle slant on the type of horror show basslines that Benga used to churn out in his thousands several years ago. Of all the tracks on the EP this is the most minimal, but it’s the weightiest in terms of bass action. Definitely a love it or loathe it tune, but one that should be recognised for breaking boundaries regardless of your opinion of it.

‘Evolution’ on side D starts off with a full 32 bars of intricate keyboard melodies before the bass makes an appearance. But far from being a self-indulgent attempt on the part of Benga to claim chin stroking jazzman sensibilities, this is one of the most danceable tracks on the EP, and that’s even without taking the basslines into account. The drum programming is similar to that of ‘Live Drumz’ but possess more of a jump up quality. Add those keys and a cheeky bassline and you’re on to a winner.

Last track ‘Dual’ is a whole different kettle of fish, being the kind of dark half-steppa that has become the staple diet of many Dubstep DJ’s record boxes, and comes complete with echo effects and moments of contemplative silence. Not that that’s a bad thing of course, cause this is still easily recognisable as a Benga production. It’s pretty haunting when I come to think of it, but it is one of the EP’s highlights and a Hatcha percy to boot.

Probably the most important thing about this release is that it shows that there’s still vitality in the humble breakbeat. With Benga on production duties he manages to come up with some wicked drum patterns that don’t degenerate into a slowed down imitation of Drum & Bass. Die-hard half-steppas unsure of making tracks at a higher tempo should take note.

PS: BAM 007 was an EP by Skream that had only a dozen copies pressed up, that’s why you’ve never heard of it.
Review by Owen Griffiths

Dubstep: 1 Year AD

Not so much a blow by blow account of how Mary Anne Hobbs single-handedly revived Dubstep (which wouldn’t really be true now would it), but more of an illustration of my frustration with the way that in the past the genre never really took off, and how the Radio1 show ushered in a new era for the scene. It also gives an ‘outsiders’ perspective on events. Because although I’d been into Dubstep for quite a while, the show had a big impact on me as well as those from far flung countries who had never heard the sound before. And in case you haven’t noticed, the main theme of this article is insecurity. Cheerful,hum?                  by Owen Griffiths

In his January Pitchfork article Martin Clark/Blackdown was concerned about Mary Anne’s zealous enthusiasm for the Dubstep scene, or at least concerned about her insistence that the genre would be the ‘next big thing’. I think it was a few weeks prior to the airing of the Dubstep Warz show that she had made comments to the same effect in one of the broadsheets (The Guardian or The Independent; think it was the latter). Certainly her rantings on the show itself, when she spraffed out lines like “This could be the greatest night of my entire life” seemed to suggest that she had let the sense of occasion go to her head. Blackdown was understandably wary that her aura of idealistic positivity might lead people to believe that the scene was in a much healthier state than it really was. Forthright in his fears was that “the scene really does not need over-hyping”.

And in a way he had a point. It would’ve been a double-edged sword if the excitement prompted by the show would in time just prove to be another false dawn for the scene; or even worse, start a major label gold rush scenario leading to an inevitable musical recession once the cash dried up after Skream’s debut album failed to win the Mercury Prize. But I think it’s probably safe to say that now Blackdown is on a similar wavelength with the hostess of the Breezeblock. After all, the over-hyping doesn’t seem to have done the scene any harm. It’s not as if the genre’s new found success has made people lose the plot, but then the big cash injection that fuels those sort of things hasn’t materialised. Neither has the critical acclaim for longplayers, such as Burial’s self titled CD, resulted in photos of Dubstep producers spreading all over the dance music mags like a rash (‘Minimal’ remains flavour of the moment).

So I reckon it’s time for some reflection of a positive nature. 2006 was a massive year for Dubstep, and Dubstep Warz played a significant part in that success. If nothing else, the show provides a convenient milestone in the evolution of the genre from minuscule London centric scene (more of a clique of likeminded producers than a viable entity independent of Garage) to the point where people are putting on nights in Toronto and, shock horror, ‘up North’. It’s sort of like the timeline of BC & AD, the calendars changed and little else. Mary Anne is no Christ figure (after all, wasn’t Jesus meant to be black), but in the BC period of Dubstep, well… it wasn’t always so rosy. And that is where our history lesson begins.

No matter how many fond ‘back in the day’ type memories people have of the past, there’s no point playing silly buggers when it comes to Dubstep because when it started it was fucking tiny. So small in fact that when they christened the term for the release of the groundbreaking Hatcha CD it sounded absurd when people involved in what was often described as the ‘forward sound’ actually started to use the word freely. It has to be remembered that around this time the garage magazine Deuce were throwing around terms like ‘sublow’, ‘east beat’ and even ‘devil mixes’, as if the tracks of a sole producer were enough to warrant being deigned a genre in themselves. It seemed like the Garage scene was on a path to self-destruction, and as much as I loved the dark sounds coming from Croydon (such an unfashionable place, and yet Ammunition Promotions and the media embraced the concept with straight faces at all times), it just seemed like the scene needed to break off into twenty different directions like it needed a whole in the head. But over time I would learn to live with these musical developments

Now this essay isn’t really about me per se, but it uses my experiences to illustrate the state the scene was in before Dubstep gained the attention it has today. Lets just say that I’m from Northern Ireland and I’ve only heard Dubstep on a full rig a handful of times, but that hardly makes this article less relevant than one written by some poor bastard with burst eardrums and a queasy stomach. Think about it, if all Dubstep tunes sounded shit on your hi-fi then CD sales and radio shows would be nonexistent. Anyway, I had been following Garage for a few years, keeping up to date with the scene’s developments in Deuce Magazine, and when that became defunct I bought myself a DAB radio and started listening to J Da Flex’s show on 1Xtra.

I have family in London. Without that London connection I would’ve probably never heard about garage in the first place, as the appearance of the cheesier section of the genre in the Top 20 circa Y2K turned off serious Dance music fans residing outside the M25 in their droves. Although admittedly not all the chart bound stuff was overtly commercial, there were few opportunities for people far from the Garridge heartlands to discover the credible underground stuff. It would have required a lot of effort, and the fact that the full spectrum of the media, from clueless journos in The Sun to streetwise Mixmag writers insisted on labelling Craig David’s & Mis-Teeqs’ R&B back catalogue’s as Garage helped not one jot. This was probably one of the reasons why the fledgling Dubstep scene tried so hard to distance itself from its’ embarassing Garage parents.

So… I was going to the Smoke a few times a year. On several of those occasions the timing of my stay coincided with that of the Forward (monthly, then fortnightly) nights. I can remember getting handed flyers to me by Youngsta in Blackmarket, but I always declined to attend, feeling that I would stand out like a right nob if I showed up on my todd amongst an empty dance floor. So ultimately I missed out on the whole FWD thing in it’s pre weekly days, even though the opportunity was available to me.

So my main reference point for Dubstep was buying the tunes and listening to J Da’s show, but I was never getting the reassurance that the scene was building in terms of popularity. Trips to Blackmarket and the rest of Soho ensured that I was always risking exceeding the hand baggage weight limits when I went home. But when I came back 3 or 4 months later a good third of the stuff I had bought the last time remained on the shelves, and given how pitiful the press runs were back then it was a bit disheartening. This was ‘shelf life’ of the worst kind. The situation naturally left a sour taste in my mouth, especially as some of the tunes I really wanted to buy were sold out, destined to never be repressed. The thriving dubplate culture in the clubs and on the pirates meant little to me; after all I’d never seen 200 odd people skanking to this stuff in The Velvet Rooms or Plastic People. It’s understandable then that I had come to the decision that Dubstep remained static in terms of popularity, as this was what the retail end of things were suggesting.

Incidentally though there was one interesting blip on my record buying radar, circa 2004. Coming across the early tracks of Digital Mystikz & Loefah (even though I had heard their Big Apple tunes being broken on J Da’s Show) was enlightening. Listening to the Twis Up E.P., I thought to myself, these guys are doing something really different. Too different in fact, and I wrote them off as unlikely to ever make a name for themselves because not enough people would have the good taste to appreciate their distinctive sound (how wrong was I?).

When I think back on it, it was great to have J Da Flex’s show on air, and even though they unceremoniously booted him off in the summer of ‘05, the station had given him a good innings. I mean Christ, for a period he even had the Saturday 9:00pm primetime slot. With the right techy equipment (DABs, Digiboxes, Broadband) J Da Flex could (and did) attract a worldwide audience, and from the emails that flooded into the show you could tell it wasn’t only Brits that were locked in. London pirates can defensively cite their online websites and their live stream options, but lets face it- it’s only recently that they have started to take those things seriously (how many times were the international crew denied the chance to hear this kind of stuff due to websites having technical difficulties). J Da’s show provided a massive service to the scene, and it’s funny because now we have uncompromising Dubstep on a profit driven station (Kiss) but not ‘the home of black music’. Well, that sort of leaves runny egg all over 1Xtra’s ugly boat race.

One problem I had with the Underground Knowledge show though was that it focused too much on the faster, more breaky side of the scene, to the detriment of the slower dubby style that was in truth the more popular of the two in London, but I suppose you can’t blame him for playing the tunes he rated most. As you can imagine though, when I heard some of these strange ‘half-step’ tunes on websites (and through my weak PC speakers) I thought, what the fuck is this, minimal to the point of nothing?

The new breed of labels & producers

Anyway, back to Blighty. I may have still been drying my eyes over the loss of my weekly dose of J Da, but I was witnessing other developments that anaesthetised the pain. Proper record labels were springing up, seemingly from nowhere, Hot Flush & Storming being the first ones that come to mind. The interesting thing was that they were independent of Ammunition Promotions, who were almost the sole distributors of the sound in earlier years. Indeed, that’s what initially binded the ‘scene’ together. But the imprints of El-B, Zed Bias and J Da Flex had run their course as early 2002, Oris Jay’s Texture being one of the few to last it out until the dawn of a second generation of Dubstep producers, it’s release of a track of new boys Search & Destroy standing testament to that.

All in all, Ammunition seemed to be very quiet on the release front. Following the release of Horsepower’s second album the mighty Tempa label seemed to founder. Much like sister labels Road & Soulja, it was in a constant state of semi retirement, to the point where every release prompted a collective exhalation of breath. But the Tempa Allstars 2 double pack proved that the imprint was far from dead. Ironically though (despite the lack of releases) Ammunitions’ other chief concern, the FWD night, was going from strength to strength. Other things that (slightly) alleviated my sense of doom & gloom were the fact that DMZ finally gained the courage to put stickers on their releases. Tracks like Loefah’s Horror Show meant that the Norwood trio were getting the attention they deserved. Apparently they were also hosting nights in a small venue in Croydon, but hearsay claimed they were attended by few. Geeneus’s Dumpvalve recordings was also a name to watch, putting out quality tracks that managed to blur the boundaries between Grime & Dubstep so well that you’d have to be pretty anal to disregard them out of hand. And then in the end of 2005 we were treated to Dubstep Allstars Vol.2.

Now I hate to piss on Ammunition Promotions parade here, but I think it was pretty unhealthy for the scene that it took well over a year for the sequel to the original Dubstep Allstars to touch down (originally slated for a first half of ‘04 release). I know there was Bingo Beats Vol.3 & the Horsepower album and even the (slightly boring) Grime compilations and everything, but the long wait for Tempa CD 004 did little for my mental stability. As my split personality kept telling me at the time: ‘you’re the only one buying this stuff Owen; sure it’s just a flash in a pan. Only the act of taking another’s life will ease your pain and suffering’.

But as it turned out Youngsta’s mix was a real eye opener. Starting the CD with the untitled Skream cut was bang on the mark. If your memories of the boy who is known to his mother as Olly reach back to his Big Apple Records phase, or even the more recent ITAL release ‘Traitor’, Skream’s new sci-fi tinged direction may have come as a bit of a shock. But if one thing was certain, that CD definitely put half-step on the map for me personally. Because although Wonder’s ‘What’ was a brilliantly unique tune, I hardly expected it to inspire other producers to go off on a similar tangent. And I also realised on reflection that I could count most of the half-step tunes I had heard on Underground Knowledge on two hands. To think that I had missed an era of blinding Hatcha & Youngsta sets was depressing (the former’s 2 hour special for the 1Xtra Garage weekend was amazing). But it was great to know that the DMZ gang were now scene stalwarts as opposed to obscure producers lurking in the background. So yeah, the CD was great and all that, but it made me realise that I had been overlooking something. Dubstep was changing and presumably, hopefully, just maybe, it was growing in popularity.

But with even with these new developments (eg. the Youngsta CD, the Tempa Allstars 2 Doublepack, DMZ’s Dubsessions), Dubstep wasn’t, or at least to me, didn’t seem to be growing at the pace it should have, especially in terms of record shop sales and media coverage. It’s always been a (unconfirmed) suspicion of mine that Grime & Dubstep people can be a bit small minded when it comes to releasing stuff. I thought that they misguidedly lacked confidence in the potential the sound had to appeal to others, it was almost as if they were their own worst enemies. The whole idea that a tune selling out in one week was a benchmark for success meant nothing if they were only pressing up 50 or 100 copies. Things hadn’t seemed to move on much from the days of Ghost Trax, where a label built up a reputation just as much for the rarity of their vinyl as they did for the quality of it. Key to this problem in my mind was the inevitable London centric outlook of people in the scene. Lets face it, in terms of distribution Horsepower’s ‘To The Rescue’ album was probably available in Blackmarket, Big Apple, HMV Oxford St, Amazon and little else- a dire situation (given the good press it received), but one that was deemed acceptable by Horsepower themselves. But then distribution was and still is a big problem for the scene…

As I was later to find out, a lot of the exciting stuff was happening online (a point that was made very apparent in the recent ‘Living Inside the Speaker’ DVD). My history of looking for Dubstep related stuff on the Interweb was minimal. Dubplate.net was a hard pleasure to indulge in if you didn’t have broadband, but the fact that it was offline for over a year hardly helped either. I was blissfully unaware of Gutterbreakz, Blackdownsoundboy, DrumzoftheSouth, the Dubstepforum, and also oblivious to Rinse FM’s emergence on the net as an international big boy. I never knew that Shackleton & Appleblim were putting on the exciting Skull Disco parties, and in doing so encouraging other promoters to turn their hands at booking Dubstep DJ’s. Incidentally it was also around this time (late ‘05) that I learnt that the reason why the Big Apple Records site was always ‘under maintenance’ was because the shop had shut down for good. Hardly encouraging that the legendary tune emporium was closed; no doubt Hatcha was forced to get a ‘real’ job! But anyway, 2005 was coming to a close and I was entering the new year with mixed feelings about the future of Dubstep.

It was just by chance that on the 10^th of January I was listening to Radio1 at work. Steve Lamacq was giving a rundown of the rest of the shows that were on that night and he mentioned that if you didn’t know what the word Dubstep meant then you should check out the Breezeblock at 1:00am. It was a shock to say the least. I knew there was a Radio1 DJ who had shown a token amount of solidarity with the bassline Garage side of things in the past, but had always thought that (what with John Peel’s death) it was Annie Nightingale who had filled that role, not Mary Anne Hobbs. My shift finished at midnight so I went home with the intention of taping the show but ended up listening to the whole thing live.

What got me first was the introductory segment where there were monologues from Joe Nice et al; just the fact that DJ’s from other continents had set up successful club nights blew me away. And the realisation that a full 2 hours were being donated to the guest DJ’s was a cause for celebration. It wasn’t just that Radio1 had the faith to do this that surprised me, but the confidence implicit in the words of those who took part when they said their spiel before they took to the decks. It seemed to bear little reality to my knowledge of the scene, as I was under the impression that it was fairly unhealthy. Surely they were hyping this up to fuck. Did these producers really have enough unreleased material on dub to play their sets (and if they did, why was only X% of it ever getting pressed to vinyl)? And when Loefah talked about the crowd of the DMZ night it was obvious they had switched from Croydon’s Black Sheep bar to the more sensible Brixton, but the notion that their audiences had multiplied astonishingly didn’t quite sit right with me. But when the DJ’s started playing banger after banger it was implicit in their speeches and their selection that Dubstep had attracted a new audience. The play list in itself was an insight into what would be the best-selling tracks of 2006, though it wasn’t clear at the time how much of an impact the show would have.

But as much as I enjoyed listening to it, I just couldn’t dispel my doubts that Mary Anne had got it seriously wrong when she said: “I promised this show would change your life, didn’t I?” Surely the whole music changed my life premise is the biggest cliché dance, truly applying only to those who can say things like “I met my future spouse at a rave, without drugs we would never have met each other”. As is often the case when I listen to Mary Anne’s show her enthusiasm for the tunes she plays leads me to suspect that she is drunk! Do they actually let tins of beer into the legendary Maida Vale studios, or do you have to smuggle it in your underwear like you do for football matches? All jokes side though, if you were to listen to her show the week after Dubstep Warz you would learn that the response to it was phenomenal, especially from the North American listeners. It seemed like the last laugh was on Mary Anne after all.

And in subsequent months that faith she had shown in the genre proved to be well founded. Barefiles was launched to archive radio shows from the London pirates. Kode9 came out with his mix for the Dubstep Allstars series in March, a paltry 2 years later than expected! DMZ had their legendary 1^st anniversary bash where the venue was road blocked, and finally things started to be looking up on the release front. Tempa and new signing Skream spearheaded this new era in sizeable record distribution, closely followed by the mighty DMZ. Electronica labels Planet MU, who like Rephlex had taken an interest in the scene long before the media hype, also stepped up their game, signing Distance and Pinch for regular 12”s. That was another thing that surprised me when listening to Dubstep Warz, that Mary Anne ended the show with Qawwali and made reference to the Bristol scene. I mean, I knew Dubstep had travelled to the States what with Joe Nice being a scene player and all that, but I’d always expected the other English cities to sneer at the arrival of another upstart genre from London. As it would turn out, a few prominent D&B producers were putting their hands to producing Dubstep, including Brizzle boy Tech Itch but also people from further a field like San Francisco’s Juju.

I have no evidence to back it up but I get the impression that Dubstep Warz had a more seminal influence on people from outside the UK than it did on those within. The British scene, although bolstered by the airing of the show, presumably would have continued at a similar pace had it been without the radio showcase. After all, 1:00am is a bit of a graveyard slot. But for the international element it turned a lot of people’s head in the way that the Breezeblock’s previous playlists hadn’t. The bizarre thing for me though was that I could emphasise with these people from abroad. I might have amassed quite a collection of Dubstep 12”’s over the years, but listening to that show made me feel like I was new to the scene as well. That’s why I feel that Dubstep is so indebted to Mary Anne Hobbs. It might not have changed lives like she claimed it would (“fuck Gothenburg, I’m moving to the home of Nestle UK!”). But it was an event of seismic importance nonetheless.

Label Showcase: Clandestine Cultivations

Things to be Cheerful About in 2007: Part 2

Label Showcase: Earwax Records

Things To Be Cheerful About in 2007: Part 1

Interview With Venez

Back for another week

THIS SITE IS UPDATED EVERY MONDAY

Record Review: Venez- Hot Bitches/ Pankration (Resist)

Record Review: Benga- The BAM 008/ Invasion EP (Big Apple Records 008)

Dubstep: 1 Year AD

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