While Dubstep is often portrayed in the media as being very slow, even the most relaxed tunes have an energetic drive to them that belittles their low bpm count. Years before the emergence of half-step, people were quick to see the new non- 4 to the floor sound in Garage as being pretty sluggish, despite the fact that most 2-step tunes were either the same speed as the House flavoured stuff or faster. It seems that when a scene switches up the kick drums to make them less constant it can leave people scratching their heads. 

But on a few occasions I’ve come across recent tracks that actually are slower than what Dubstep is typically used to. Some of these tunes are near impossible to mix in with the current crop, which begs the question- what is their purpose? While the scene is fairly open to DJ’s playing sets with clear starts and stops, it’s debateable whether an audience would appreciate the tempo to be slowed down for several tracks in a row. And not all of these records make for suitable warm up fodder either. For something more ‘fluffy’ a DJ could just as easily draw for a Broken Beat tune or (like Mala and some others) an old Dub Reggae cut.    

The first slow tune I can find is an untitled Uberdog track from the 2nd release in the Grim Dubs series. Released in 2005 before the Dubstep boom, the five Grim Dubs 12’s were basically Electronica producers messing around in the studio. As such they probably didn’t have the same yearning to conform that people more involved in the Dubstep scene would.

Most of the Grim Dubs stuff was too extreme for repeated listening, but the 120bpm (or thereabouts) Uberdog cut was a lot more accessible. Fleshed out with some seriously dirty bass and some Hip Hop style vocal snippets, it had the potential to be a hit in the Dubstep scene. But it didn’t really go anywhere, and I think that when a tune is this slow it can be hard to get away with something really minimal.

In mid ‘06 Andy Stott released ‘For the Love’ on the Modern Love label. By day he was a respected Techno producer, but for this limited 10” he went in more of a Dubstep direction. Like some of the Burial tracks, this has quite a creative drum pattern. And yet on the flipside track ‘Choke’ he explores how half-step would sound in slow motion. Although being of a similar speed to ‘For the Love’, without the additional drum sounds ‘Choke’ sounds like 45 rpm played at 33 (I’ll admit that I played it at the wrong speed for weeks).

Stott seems to be comfortable with doing leisurely tunes anyway. He might not reach the lazy lows of Detroit artist Theo Parrish, but he is capable of building some very measured tracks. The reason why ‘For the Love’ and ‘Choke’ were so shocking was that breakbeat styles sound that little bit stranger at slow speeds than four to the flour does. My guess is that the producer had heard a little Dubstep and was interested in the scene enough to make something similar. But he clearly didn’t see the necessity to change his production technique to match the requirements of the Dubstep market.

On to more familiar territory, BOKA Record’s Soundproof Productions collective produced a 120bpm remix for their Ruggard EP. I haven’t heard the original version of ‘Beyond the Milkyway’, but this one is everything you would expect from a slow tune. The bassline is recognisably Dubstep, although the drums are not quite what we are used to, sounding a bit like an underground Hip Hop beat.

Indeed, the vocals and laid-back sonics of ‘Beyond the Milkyway’ bring to mind the mid ‘90’s Trip Hop scene. It’s not a genre that is often associated with the Garage styles, but perhaps with this slow track the producers were aiming to emulate the more or less dead sound.

Another track that has a similar vibe is ‘Isolate’, the work of Brighton born but Philly residing Skynet. This tune is an instrumental with the ever-present half-step drum template, but the bassline goes for more of a melodic feel rather than out and out tear out. The Trip Hop comparisons are supported by the relative slowness of the record, which has to be played at about plus five to be in synch with most Dubstep tracks.

The flipside track ‘Swamp’ is at a familiar Dubstep tempo, so you can probably deduce that ‘Isolate’ is an experimental track shoehorned onto the B-side where no one is looking. But it seems a bit odd that someone more known for Drum & Bass would turn their hands to something as slow as ‘Isolate’. Not that I’m complaining though, as I don’t know if this track would sound as unique if it was at 140bpm.

Another stateside producer, Albert Joseph in San Francisco, has flirted with downtempo Dubstep. Not surprising seeming as he specialises in the slower end of things anyway. And some of his drum patterns do have a hip hop feel to them, but the basslines that feature in the tracks are clearly too sub low for that genre. However for his forthcoming Afterourz album Joseph will reprogram his tunes at 140bpm to satisfy his Dubstep fan base.

One producer who didn’t compromise when it came to slow tempos was Bass Clef, whose album ‘A Smile is a Curve That Straightens Most Things’ featured several slow tracks. However he never went out of his way to claim that his long player was out and out Dubstep from start to finish. As such he could get away with anything he liked. Albert Joseph is in a similar boat to Bass Clef in that he isn’t going solely after the Dubstep dollar, but it seems that he is reluctant to alienate this market with too many sub 130pbm beats.

In a way it’s sad that producers should have to do this. But what with shrinking record sales it’s not surprising that labels are finding it harder to make a buck. With an album you would expect that most of the customers wouldn’t be DJ’s (Afterourz will be sold mainly through MP3 websites, not the most DJ friendly of formats in the Dubstep world) and so would be less pernickety about tempos that admittedly don’t stray all that far from the norm. But even for those who don’t DJ, if a track is recognisably slower (like the stuttered snare of ‘Isolate’) it can be a little unsettling to some.

It seems that downtempo Dubstep’s days may be numbered. Perhaps until a tune is so unbelievably good that it’s sluggish speed becomes irrelevant the style will always be considered as a charming oddity at best, or at worst an irrelevancy. But clearly some beat makers are interested in the idea otherwise the sound wouldn’t exist. In my opinion it’s interesting that people are doing something different full stop.

PS: I have no intention for the words ‘Downtempo Dubstep’ to be recognised as a sub genre in itself; that would be ridiculous given how few tunes like this have been released. If I wanted to go down that route I would have called the article ‘Slowstep Vs Thugstep’!
                                                                  Article by Owen Griffiths

Hyperlinks:

Mala: http://www.myspace.com/malamystikz
Grim Dubs were released on the Werk Discs label:
http://www.werk-it.com
Andy Stott: http://www.myspace.com/andystott_modernlove
Burial: http://www.myspace.com/burialuk
Theo Parrish: http://www.myspace.com/soundsignature
Boka Records: http://www.bokarecords.co.uk
Skynet: http://www.myspace.com/skynet   Swamp/Isolate is released on Argon Records: http://www.argonrecords.com/   Both Matty G & Nick Argon will be DJing at Camberwell’s Redstar (check www.dubstepforum.com for up to date listings) on the 8th of March. http://www.myspace.com/mattygbeatz
Albert Joseph: http://www.myspace.com/therealalbertjoseph & http://www.bouncereflex.com/albertjoseph/minimassivewebsite/index.html Bass Clef: http://www.bass-clef.blogspot.com