the genre known as dubstep - search and destroy

like most (all) that goes under then name of grime.

most overrated genre of 2004!

like most (all) that goes under then name of grime.

most overrated genre of 2004!"

nah, it is overrated but theres some good stuff there. dubstep is generally the superior thing.

right or wrong?

I think that's the one, I'll hook you up later today. It's all about the "Dub Plate remix".

It is!

Toasty "the Knowledge" (Hot Flush)
Search and Destroy "Food Chain" (Texture)
Slaughter Mob vs. Search and Destroy "Saddam" (Soul Ja)

Check out the Search and Destroy pirate radio shows if you are in London, a friend hooked me up with a CDR of Dj Prior's set on there and it's really heavy, super cool stuff.

ps: people seem to be calling the above records/scene "breaks" (yeah, dumb name, I know) rather than dubstep proper, but anyway to my ears it sounds like slowed down (to 120 bpm) jungle purged of its breakbeats but with those heavy heavy basslines, ecstatic/dark strings, and vocal/percussive tidbits getting tossed into ominous delays and reverbs. In other words, menacing and rad.

destroy:
horsepower productions, zed bias and any other lightweight wine bar shit.

I don't think I've ever been to a wine bar.

It's very Horsepower Productions also obv.

I have to disagree. The arrangement is much more whacked out whereas Horsepower is almost nu-jazzy - although maybe it's because I only listen to the dub (can't remember the a-side mix at all).

dubstep... money... don't make me laugh!

This is was the beginning of dark swing. As the Groove Chronicles' "1999" and El-B/Ghost's "2000" suggest, these predate the Pay As U Go /Musical Mob strains of dark garage that grime evolved out of in 2001.

February - Scientist, Youngsta, J Da Flex & mc Crazy D
March - Plasticman, Kode9, Wonder & mc Crazy D

72 results found:

dj younsta - dubstep allstars volume 2 - features the massive neverland coming to vinyl on DMZ005 soon - also includes a variety of forthcoming hotness

DMZ004 - Coki - officer &

N-Type - Square Off

the new one from D1 (SOULJA008)

the utterly essential HYP003 - kode9's Kingstown

Benny Ill vs Dinesh & Mark One (VEHICLE5)

very old now but dub child's - voodoo tears it

plus many others - excellent period right now

check mr blackdown and mr dusk's keysound radio mix

And jed sent me Kingstown. Dusk and Blackdown's Keysound mix is REALLY good.

I guess....

We'd be remiss not to mention the Plasticman 1Extra mix as well (which I still haven't finished, but which is quite good so far.)

I've been accused of abandoning dubstep once grime came along and simply following the dictates of fashion. I'd someday like to write something long and torturous about the kernel of traumatic truth in this: the fact that changes in fashion of this type are sometimes the precise thing which opens up the space to stand back from a genre and perceive its limitations: by the end of 2002 you could make the retrospective argument that dubstep had been the "wrong" microstrand to watch, that "Pulse X" was what was important, but right through the preceding year it had felt like there was a properly dialectical tension b/w dubstep and proto-grime, that the next thing was going to emerge from the interstices between the former's dazzling fluidity and the latter's blocky rigidity.

And this is actually what happened, if you squint: the blocky rigidity simply intensified and mutated itself into something else which on the one hand worked according to entirely different rules and on the other rhythmically pre-empted anything that dubstep might bring to the table (you could say that "I Luv U" was the paradigmatic tune here but I think a better example might be J Sweet, Cameo and Gemma Fox's "Baby" - a pop-grime 8-bar beloved of Femme Fatale which nonetheless contains within it the same sort of razzle-dazzle snare action dealt by Horsepower, Bias or DJ Hatcha at their respective bests). And it really was as-against-this that dubstep began to strike me as somehow insufficient.

There's a sense in which grime actually "ate" dubstep - or at least the bits that I love, that I would insist housed the largest part of its potential - and all of dubstep's developments since then - whether it be mirroring grime or drifting towards broken beat or simply intensifying its "pure" strain in which rhythmic invention is increasingly downplayed in favour of other, less immediately tangible principles (see how dubstep increasingly transplants the "House is a feeling!" catch-cry as its own) - feel like attempts to distance itself from that traumatic experience of cannibalism. The fashionable switch from dubstep to grime was responding to something quite real that was going on in the music i think.

NB. This may be interpreted as a rant against post-02 dubstep but it's not meant in that spirit. There is a lot of stuff in the genre that I really like. Just wanted to give an example (from my own experience) of what might be behind a lot of people preferring grime to dubstep.

The Plasticman mix is good. Release an album, Plasticman!

xp

I think it's actually partly because I do like individual dubstep tracks so much that it really frustrates me that I don't like more of the genre, and it makes me harsher on it than I should be. Dubstep wears it's "I bring you the FUTURE! THE FUTURE! THE FUTURE!" inclinations on its sleeve, so it's easy for it to feel like it's underperforming. The obvious corrolary is techstep/neurofunk '97, where there's a handful of stuff that is among my favourite music ever, and most of the rest I could probably take or leave.

And in the spirit of forgiveness I should make a gratuitous shout-out to my favourite "mid-period" dubstep track, DJ Abstract's "Touch" - which is thoroughly awesome, but maybe I like it so much because it's almost a "proper" 2-step track. Female vocals! And gorgeously syncopated breakbeats, like a mutant hybrid of The Wideboys "Something's Got Me Started (Dub)" with the Zed Bias remix of 2 Banks of Four's "Hook and a Line". And squiggly keyboards!

Dubstep lovers, this week's Breezeblock was a dubstep special (programme is streamed for a week), with Mala (Digital Mystikz), Skream, Kode 9 and Space Ape, Vex'd, Hatcha, Loefah and Sgt. Pokes, and Distance.

Tracklisting here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/dance/breezeblock/breezeblock_archive.shtml?20060110

vexd.blogspot.com

and their mix from 11th November at Adverse Camber is also worth a listen (but is very quiet)
http://spannered.org/mixes/vexd/vexd_nov11_2005.mp3

Really??? To me says "I am 1978! 1978! 1978!!!!"

and that's bad why? 8)

oh http://www.garagepressure.com/ has some podcasts available. it seems that grime has made it to australia.

i think this really means that the discourse is a self-sustaining thing which doesn't actually need the music input at all.

OK maybe that was hasty, though - i just listen to youngsta's mix and it's a lot more than that. veering dangerously close to tranquility bass at times, however.

pls message me if you'd like to part w/ a copy for a reasonable sum.

who's going to be mixing 3?

what's the dirt over at dissensus about these releases?

Burial on the Breezeblock

In session, Cinematic sounds from Burial a rising producer within the dubstep scene. Burial is a 26 year old from South London. This music is so far out, cool, fresh, haunting, eerie, atmospheric - INNOVATIVE and demands a listen.

Tracklisting info: Radio 1 - Mary Anne Hobbs [Now on Listen Again]

Burial music reminds me of Coil, dub, Omni Trio, Massive Attack, Eno & Byrne, Tricky, artcore drum n bass and the dubby side of early prog house circa 1992 ala Leftfield.

Deep aquatic spacey, eerie, haunting, dreamy, drifting, spatial music.

Leading dubstep music critic/writer: Martin Clark interviews Burial on the blog Blackdown

Plus free MP3 samples

Burial “Burial” is out on Hyperdub in May. Album of the year anyone? asks Martin Clark

Hyperdub: Burial

BURIAL: BURIAL - HDBCD001
OUT MAY 15th 2006

This first album on Kode9’s Hyperdub label comes from the mysterious Burial. On this self-titled CD debut, Burial carves out a sound which sends the dormant slinky syncopations of uk garage, via radio interference, into a padded cell of cushioned, muffled bass, passing through the best of Pole’s Berlin crackle dub.

Burial explores a tangential, parallel dimension of the growing sound of dubstep. Burial’s parallel dimension sounds set in a near future South London underwater. You can never tell if the crackle is the burning static off pirate radio transmissions, or the tropical downpour of the submerged city outside the window. In their sometimes suffocating melancholy, most of these tracks seem to yearn for drowned lovers. The smouldering desire of ‘Distant Lights’ is cooled only by the percussive ice sharp slicing of blades and jets of hot air blowing from the bass. Listen also for a fleeting appearance from Hyperdub’s resident vocalist, the Spaceape unravelling his crypto-biography. In its loud quietness, Burial takes his kitchen crackle aesthetic neither from the digital glitch nor merely a nostalgia for vinyl’s materiality. Instead, as ‘Pirates’ suggests, Burial crackle mutates the tactile surplus value of pirate radio transmissions. Burial’s mix is haunted. Echoed voices breeze in and out, on road to another time. Pirate signal from other frequencies steams in. A tidal wave of noise submerging all but the crispest syncopations. The noise is not violent, but caressing, tickling, exciting the ends of your nerves. Seducing you in.

He's just being upfront about his roots.

And I think the album cover is very appropriate to his sound- the city at night, glistening pools of collected rainwater, its evocative music and this art locks in well to the ethos he/she/they are creating.

And beats-wise its fucking great- proper steppy music with lots of off centre snares and kinetic hi hat action. Its a bit removed from the way most dubstep has evolved tho, not really halfstep and grinding sub bass, more swung beats and distant pulsings... its much more emotional too... and waaay better produced (engineering wise) than almost all other dubstep (notable exception- Pinche's Qawalli- a stonka of a tune) which in the main is a bit plasticy and obviously constructed in a soft-studio environment...

ala matrix

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-5522-001.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?what=R&obid=5522

no i haven't but i'm looking forward to it! i actually really enjoyed dubstep vol 1, wasn't so big on the youngsta mix (started out too slow, but it's cool once it warms up about halfway through). vol 03 though ... 30 tracks? AWESOME! loads more digital mystikz / loefah / skream? AWESOME! i think this one's going to be great!

It's quite good. It might be my favorite dubstep thing.

And its a shame the last track Burial -"Prayer" only gets about a minute and a half...

The best Dubstep Mix I've heard so far has to be Mark One's Three Deck Mix, lots of decent tracks, not too boring, plus the extra deck means that half the time there's multiple tracks playing at once...

(I know, I know, I shouldn't judge from tiny clips...I'm sure they're very atmospheric in long form, but the sound was consistent across all of them)

(and I guess since dude's name is Burial, I shouldn't even be questioning this)

In the main dubstep is a synthetic sound built around immense sub bass, often only fuly comprehensible in a club format (ie DMZ). The drums are now usually whats become known as "half-step" 138 bpm (give or take) with aprox one snare per bar rather than 2.. takes the feel of 2 step and removes most of the drums, but still with fast hi hats... Musically it aims for either a dub war-inna-di-babylon vibe or cold futurism... yer basic dubstep might be thought of as say Loefah/Digital Myztiks, if you spice it up a little with dub and lee scratch perry you get Kode 9, or take a more cinematic minimalist twist you get Pinch, more goth and you get Distance, etc etc...

BBC collective present the sound of dubstep

Dubstep! feature includes mp3 samples

Bass in the place. We bring you the lowdown on the UK's newest sound, Dubstep. Plus video feature, images and tracks. [via BBC Collective email]

SHOOBY_-_DUBBY_-_20060307 - Grime, Dubstep
SHOOBY_-_DUBBY_-_20060307
08:00-10:00 PM (CET) @ Töréspont Rádió >> http://torespont.hu / http://torespont.com
STUDIO: DST
Grime, Dubstep

Virus Syndicate - Clockwork [Planet Mu ZIQ120]
Virus Syndicate - On The Run [Planet Mu ZIQ120]
Virus Syndicate - Major List MC's [Planet Mu ZIQ120]
Mark One - Blow [Planet Mu ZIQ112]
Virgo ft. N.A.S.T.Y Crew & Guests - Down [A.R.M.Y. Bullet 004]
Mark One - Random [Southside Recordings SS056]
Virgo ft. N.A.S.T.Y Crew & Guests - March riddim [A.R.M.Y. Bullet 004]
Mark One - Airhead [Southside Recordings SS056]
Mark One - Anger management [Planet Mu ZIQ112]
Wizzbit - Breakdown VIP [Bingo 018]
Rossi B. & Luca ft. N.A.S.T.Y - In The Place [Relentless 001]
Dj Klassic - The Budz [Nexgen 001]
October - Dub junglism (Vex'D remix) [Z Audio Recordings 001]
Digital Mystikz - Neverland [DMZ005]
Dj Distance - Replicant [Boka 001]
Mark One - Zulu [Southside Dubstars 002]
Boxcutter - Brood [Hotflush 010]
Skream - Late night request line [Tempa 014]
Loefah - Goat stare [DMZ 006]
Loefah & Skream - 28g [Tectonic 003]
Digital Mystikz - Officer [DMZ004]
Mala - Jah fire [DMZ 002]
Digital Mystikz - Country man [Rephlex Grime2 LP CAT160]
Mala - Ten dread commandments [DMZ 002]
Skream - Smiling face [Tempa 016]
N-Type - Square off [Southside Dubstars 003]
Skream - Glamma [Tempa 016]
Skream - Lightning [Tempa 016]
Toasty - The knowledge [Hotflush 006]
Skream - Rottan [Tempa 016]
D1 - Degrees [Tempa 015]
D1 - I believe [SoulJa 008]
Digital Mystikz - Chainba [DMZ 001]
Loefah & Skream - Fearless [Tectonic 003]

http://torespont.hu/download.php?view.254
http://torespont.com/download.php?view.254

http://shoobydubby.blogspot.com/

SHOOBY_-_DUBBY_-_20060404 - Dubstep, Breakstep
SHOOBY_-_DUBBY_-_20060404
08:00-10:00 PM (CET) @ Töréspont Rádió >> http://torespont.hu / http://torespont.com
STUDIO: DST
Dubstep, Breakstep

Scientist - Step it up (Dan Donovan for Don Letts Dub) [Select Cuts 6004]
Digital Mystikz - Mawo dub [Big Apple 004]
Loefah - Horror show [DMZ 002]
Loefah & Skream - Fearless [Tectonic 003]
Deep Alpha - All think (Kode 9's Alphadub) [Voltage 008]
Plasticman - Shallow grave [Terrorhytm 002]
Plasticman - Be there of be square [Terrorhytm 003]
Plasticman - Cha [Terrorhytm 002]
Dj Hatcha - Conga therapy [Tempa 011]
Random Trio - Lost city [Random Trio Productions 001]
Hatcha - Dub express [Tempa 011]
Benny Ill & Kode 9 - Tales from the bass side [Tempa 007]
Benny Ill & Dj Dinesh - London [Tempa 009]
Skream - _ [Tempa 016]
Appleblim - Cheat I [Skull Disco 002]
N-Type - Square off [Southside Dubstars 003]
Dj Pinch & P Dutty - War dub [Tectonic 003]
Loefah & Skream - 28g [Tectonic 003]
Search & Destroy - Candyfloss (Loefah rmx) [HotFlush RMX001]
Digital Mystikz - Officer [DMZ004]
Digital Mystikz - Officer [DMZ004] (reload)
Digital Mystikz - Ten dread commandments [DMZ 002]
Digital Mystikz - Chainba [DMZ001]
Digital Mystikz - Pathwayz [Big Apple 004]
Plasticman - The search [Terrorhytm 002]
Toasty - Like sun [Hotflush 006]
Toasty - Take it personal [Hotflush 009]
Toasty - Guesswork [Storming Productions 003]
Dubchild - Voodoo [Storming Productions 002]
Darqwan - Said the spider VIP [Texture 006]
Mark One - Stargate 92 rmx [Storming Productions 006]
Zinc - Whoa [Runnin 002]
Darqwan - Metro [Texture Recordings 005]
Vex'D - Angels [Planet Mu 115LP]
Vex'D - Bombartment of saturn [Planet Mu ZIQ131]
Vex'D - Bombartment of saturn [Planet Mu ZIQ131] (reload)
Dj Pinch - Quwwali VIP [Planet Mu ZIQ133]

http://torespont.hu/download.php?view.271
http://torespont.com/download.php?view.271

new kode9 single, 9 samurai, is lovely*. video is stunning too.

(* this almost certainly isn't the right word to describe it, dark and heavy as it is, but i do find a lot of this dubstep stuff is actually quite pretty in its own peculiar way. skream's midnght request line for instance, despite having percussion based on the sound of guns being cocked, reminds me of isan)

whither?!?!? =(

anybody heard dj maxximus new mix? i know it's not as current as dubstep vol 3 but it looks mighty exciting.

The Maxximus mix is okay. It's similar to but not as good as the Shadetek mix, with weaker MCing and a slightly more off-kilter approach.

Vahid I just sent it today!!

Technical Itch sticks his oar in with 'Implant', which is great. been a fan for ages and this is a nice mix of the dubstep thing and his old style (deep bass, menacing vocal sample, trademark acid wibbling). other side not bad either.

did he ever go away? 8)

actually, this week there are 3 new Tech Itch related 12"s available for download from tunetribe - a new Tech Itch (the label) release (EBK & Danny Holdtight, TI047), a new Penetration release (TI himself, TIP021) and the Ascension 001 split 12" thing (above) which is him and Headhunter. i make that 7 releases so far this year, with probably only the Implant thing actually on topic here... 8)

http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_blackdownsoundboy_archive.html#114298266029581805

Label page here...

http://www.hyperdub.net/burial.html

i thought the exact same thing - it's like an audio book at times 8) and the 30 tracks under the vocals, you can't distinguish one from the other. nice that he launches into Ghost Town for a while there though.

http://www.voco-me.de/exchange/mix/dj_maxximus-blackboard_jungle_(24-02-06)_radio_fritz.mp3

Thank you Earplug for pointing it out!

BURIAL sounds just like ... wait for it ... URBAN TRIBE!

I'm looking for more Loefah mixes, the squishy darkness is great.

Scorn - Welcome to Birmingham presaging all this five years ago: Obvious or Unrecognized?

TOO BLACK! TOO STRONG!

Yeah -- Social Theorist, Genome Project, Cultural Nimrod...

over the last two days i've been moving house - from a 2nd story apartment to another 2nd story apartment. from about 4 pm when i get off work (which starts at 7 am) to about 10 pm i've been moving several hundred pounds of books and music, stereo equipment, clothes, etc. i didn't want to rent a truck, so i've been moving everything in my tiny hatchback, six or seven boxes at a time. lots of running up and down stairs.

last night, muscles aching, seeing trails and outlines around things from sugar and water loss and all the endorphins swirling around in my head, lying on blankets piled on the floor (bed gets moved when i can borrow a truck) "dubstep allstars vol 2" sounded like some of the greatest music i've ever heard in my life!

i'm not sure if i can understand how people dance to it or club to it but if i were sentenced to hard, slow sisyphean labor for the rest of my life i couldn't think of a better soundtrack than "dubstep vol 2".

the best part was the transition of out the slow uphill slog of the first four tracks into "request line". that track is amazing! not sure why i never noticed it before but it's like welding the fidgety beats of plaid to the sound palette of early early two lone swordsmen with the thick bass of dubstep. insane!

OTOH "vol 3" just sounded silly to me. i hope i warm up to it but right now it sounds like trying-too-hard-to-be-rootsy euro beat music. is this the leftfield or rockers hi-fi of the 2000s?

not sure why, but my growing fandom for dubstep makes me think i'm transforming from a carefree nightcrawler into a sad, sad little man.

sample clearance maybe?

You've only got yrself to blame if you do this Vahid.

OTOH, "Request Line" is awesome yes. I think that new Davinche/Sadie tune I like whose name I've forgotten is a blatant tribute. Also have you heard Pinch's "Qawalli" yet? I would totally have put it on 6:33am Eternal if I had it in unmixed form.

what's this?!

can't find DA Vol 1 anywhere 8(

"WSHT mix", not "heavy meckle" (which is killer) ... it's sort of a dj rupture-ish thing.

which thread should i do it on?

http://www.bingobeats.com/mixes/

my copy of Dubstep Allstars #1 turned up yesterday. can anyone confirm the unfinished look to the graphics? mine had a promo sticker on it and i wonder if the artwork got an update for the final release. cheers.

I mean really, this thing practically markets itself to people who still take Simon Reynolds and Kodwo Eshun as gospel truth. It's a symptom of how inward-looking and -thinking a certain strain of British music has become

we're talking about you now instead of the record, huh? that's not so interesting.

How is this any less hermetic than most music making going on everywhere right now? And why is its hermeticness necessarily a bad thing? :Preaching to the choir perhaps? (which is bad in general,. across an entire culture, yes....)

Where is this non-self referential music- pop? mired in po mo slow mo... metal? creating avant versions of past trends... Indie? Retro a gogo... Hip Hop? Improv? Norwegian Jazz? MOR?

To what leading edge would you direct us? (forgive the sarcasm- I would genuinely like to know...)

And it's hermetic because a) very few people other than music critics know or care about the hardcore continuum b) the hardcore continuum itself is hermetic. It's just a way of constructing the musical universe in order to continually place a small subset of British dance music at the center of everything that is radical. And there were a few years when that subset arguably was at the center of British culture, if not anyone else's. But those years are long long gone, and dance music--and especially dance music like Burial--isn't anywhere near the center of anything anymore.

So sure, all music is self-referential, but when the references are picked up by a tiny audience, they become hermetic. Arctic Monkeys are totally derivative, but a lot of people like them--regardless of whatever media conspiracies you might wish to spin--and that alone makes them matter.

No 'remedy' is necessary. I don't really care about the 'leading edge,' in fact I think the very concept is bogus--a form of marketing, basically--and I'm actively opposed to it.

Aside from all that, I just think the emotional register of the music is so timid (and one could have said this about Urban Tribe, or plenty of Mo' Wax stuff, in fact a lot of dance music that professes to be for something other than dancing. It's all this wistful fading synth wash crap, and you have to work so hard at projecting meaning into it... which is perhaps why people wind up over-reading...

I suspect Burial did not write this music with these references in mind somehow, these are post-justifications for the work of someone who works with samples, likes 2 step, and feels his production skills are sub par (wrongly) and therefore cloaks them in static (thats what he claims anyway).

Craetively speaking hermeticism is crushing to future developments of interest outside of an endless post modernist cycle thru past ideas, no matter how far said music reaches... (and I think innovation is more than a mere marketing strategy, although it is that as well)

I don't buy the whole Arctic Monkeys are big and therfore "important". Significant perhaps, as a guide to what people will buy, how marketing strategies work etc...

Whether something reaches to a big audience or not is not a guide to quality (either way) tho I suspect you would agree with me there. So therefore the AMs are just as hermetic, it just happens more people like it. That means little to me (personally). They are hardly reaching out in any way other than a market-defined one (ie- musically they are not bridging any gaps, they exist in an imaginative straight jacket even more limited than that imposed by the supposed hardcore continuum...). For me to enjoy the AMs would require just as much "projection" of meaning...

NO

OTOH i DO agree with this bit:

you have to be intimately familiar with the history and theory of the quote-unquote hardcore continuum. For instance, I happen to recognize those decaying mentasm stabs ... but if you don't, it's just another electronic noise

still, i don't think somebody HAS to be intimately familiar to at least get some aesthetic pleasure out of burial.

it sounds to me like you're somewhat over-familiar with those strategies - as is probably anybody who's been following basic channel since day 1! i could see that coming to grips with that might be much harderfor you than coming to grips with layers of strange electronic noise might be for an arctic monkeys fan!

And I don't buy the whole "people are sheep" thing. As Hollywood blockbusters prove every year, you cannot make something a hit unless people like it. Marketing will get you onto the radar, but it can't do any more than that.

So therefore the AMs are just as hermetic, it just happens more people like it. That means little to me (personally).

That's a sign of your solipsism, then. Artwork does not exist independent of the world, or the audience, either in its creation or its reception. How the audience reacts is an intrinsic part of the meaning of any piece of music. And one of the most interesting things to think about, too. Certainly more interesting than exhausting the dictionary of adjectives droning on about basslines that collapse in on themselves, etc.

That's just it! That's all it is. You just get the idea that there's some vague sense of sadness in the air. There's no dimension or nuance to the sadness. It's all so wan, so one-note.

Marketing does a bit more than get stuff on the radar, I think, although that is perhaps a large part of its functionality...

The AMs are hermetic CREATIVELY. They aren't building bridges ARTISTICALLY, merely COMMERCIALLY-- they sell more records. As this is not an indicator of quality (either way) they remain just as hermetic.

And how ARE the audience reacting to AMs then? Many (younger ones) say they are exciting, they say something about their lives, and they are good music to go out to etc. Many (older ones) perhaps say they are nothing special, but have some good tunes. Why is this interesting? Qualitatively?

No, it means it resonates in the kul-cha. It might not resonate in any particularly deep way. But why it does is worth teasing out, because it might tell us something about our society. (And that's what makes, say, Tom Ewing's Popular blog interesting.)

Aside from that, I find Arctic Monkeys far more vivid, entertaining, and complex on a straightforward musical level than Burial. I don't think you do need to know the references to enjoy them. But that's by the by.

Urban Tribe don't pick notes at all! Except maybe like one for every tune.

"THIS song has MORE emotions than THAT song"
"THIS song has BETTER emotions than THAT song"
"THIS song has MORE MEANINGFUL emotions than THAT song"

without actually being able to point at the emotions are in this song or that. you will probably fall back on "well, i just FEEL the emotions" - which is ironic, considering you're accusing people of solipsism. you can't have it both ways - implying overreading or overreaching in other's interpretive skills and then taking a strong subjectivist viewpoint.

also these miles davis vs arctic monkeys vs urban tribe vs burial arguments revolving around fanbase are just idiotic!

did urban tribe spend years touring and playing clubs as support for better-known bandleaders? has burial been relentlessly playing shows and making the press? i don't think it makes sense to compare arctic monkeys and urban tribe when they're working w/ two very different infrastructures - and surely you're not going to argue that the infrastructure just sprung up overnight around the monkeys because they connect that much better w/ the fans!

These are legitimate arguments... but need more clarity perhaps?

so i can't point out your wack use of rhetoric without being accused of indulging in "technical meta-debate"?

oh and AMs aesthetically=death in my mind, it is true (probably as death as Burial is in yrs...)

did urban tribe spend years touring and playing clubs as support for better-known bandleaders? has burial been relentlessly playing shows and making the press? i don't think it makes sense to compare arctic monkeys and urban tribe when they're working w/ two very different infrastructures - and surely you're not going to argue that the infrastructure just sprung up overnight around the monkeys because they connect that much better w/ the fans!

This adds up to the following: Any kind of qualitative comparison is impossible. Which is one big smokescreen that has been played out on a million threads before this one.

I don't think your dad 'proves' anything. I just think his assessment is correct.

so i can't point out your wack use of rhetoric without being accused of indulging in "technical meta-debate"?

But that's not what you're doing. Instead of responding to the specifics of what I say, you're just jumping straight into a really tedious objective vs. subjective debate that could be applied to anything at all as a way of cutting the legs out from under me.

you shouldn't compare burial and arctic monkeys

There's no shouldn't about it. I'll compare anything I like, thanks. It's a lot more fruitful than pretending that everything exists in it's own... hermetic... little universe.

And whilst examining their impact and what that means is interesting (I've done it- it was interesting yes) I don't see why this means that this impacts on the music. You yourself seem to like them for the music they make, whereas I don't...

I don't think they're culturally hermetic, because a lot of people like them. It's a pretty simple point, although one you seem to have trouble with. Formally, sure, they are--although I think an obsession with form is one of the most obvious blinkers worn by people who think from the dance music context. In terms of attitude/content, I don't think they are hermetic.

For the record, I don't think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread either. They were just a good... comparison... point with Burial in terms of the level of reference to a larger tradition in the music.

Of course, these things are not finally proveable. But the interesting thing is in attempting to argue about them, and thus attempting to articulate how and why a piece of music works.

What is not interesting is immediately jumping to the conclusion--this is not proveable! it's green eggs and ham! Because then what do we do? Stop talking and go home to our little universes.

i would not call this "articulate"

And on that note, I have to go to a meeting.

a lot of people like burial and urban tribe!

yeah, must be at least 10,000 worldwide. Lots.

Of course, articulating how and why a piece of music works is the really hard part that takes lots of time and thought and struggle... and thus rarely makes it onto internet message boards.

I don't exempt myself from this.

you have to compare "number of people who heard UT" vs "number of people who loved UT" - i'd say the number would be high, better maybe than even the arctic monkeys!

ah, there's always a conspiracy theory. poor urban tribe. if only they had the marketing, they would be topping the charts!

you have to compare "number of people who heard UT" vs "number of people who loved UT" - i'd say the number would be high, better maybe than even the arctic monkeys!

lol

And I would question whether examining music on the level of form is any more blinkered than yours...

"content"- is this lyrics to which you refer? "attitude"... well I guess my criticisms would again be along the lines of formalism there too! I get yr point, they reach a wide audience therefore they are non hermetic--- but why does this give them value on any level other than a socio-anthropological one?

I think this is the more relevant motivating factor behind any sense of disappointment with Burial's music: as per Junior Boys, it's tempting to assume that Burial is/are just being lauded for providing a neat composite of different music-crit strands of thinking popular within a certain bracket. The fact that it is a sonic composite makes me disinclined to argue that the music is hermetically sealed (surely it's less so than most of the dubstep it's played alongside?), or that this is the main issue at any rate.

Having said that, the novelty factor is much lower than for Junior Boys - almost certainly every person who'd be inclined to listen to Burial has already made the 2-step/dub-techno connection in their head. In fact the overwhelming majority discussion about Burial could all easily apply to Horsepower Productions' early work but for the historical developments of the past five years (the decline of 2-step, the rise of grime and its increasing drift towards hip hop, the increasing distance between 2-step and 90% of dubstep)allows people to add this whole elegiac "ghost of the hardcore continuum" dimension which didn't apply in 2001.

I don't think such a move is illegitimate: when you're deeply into a scene or group of inter-related scenes, then the shifting dynamics between different stylistic impulses can make certain approaches seem startlingly relevant even when they're effectively reiterations of what has come before. The "ghost of the hardcore continuum" dimension is something which people who are deep into jungle/2-step/dubstep/grime will pick up on a sensual level even if they've never read Reynolds. And it's not hard to see why people who've been slightly frustrated by dubstep's recent stiff-jointed grooves and inward-looking construction (the obsession with club-focused bass production mirroring precisely the same obsession which overtook drum & bass in the late 90s) might be overjoyed by the flickering reappearance of pre-dubstep sonic manoeuvres like vocal samples and 2-step beats.

(my private quibble with Burial, or at least Burial-type music, is that it uses these gestures-to-past-glories in the most obvious manner possible, they really are gestures rather than a meaningful engagement with the logic of 2-step, but there's other music that I like which does similar things vis-a-vis other past genres, so I'm aware that my issue here is partly motivated by my history as a 2-step lobbyist)

If Burial was being held up as particularly futurist or progressive, well, that would definitely be a step too far, but I don't think people like Reynolds/K-Punk etc. are actually doing this (in fact Reynolds noted on his blog that Burial's music was hardly surprising). If anything hauntology is a Dissensian crit-obssession explicitly designed to give people something to talk about while waiting for the next golden child of futurism to emerge.

(but I do think the "Omni Trio of the 00s" accolade is ridiculously off-base - surely this is based on a misreading of the media by people who haven't actually heard Burial (or Omni Trio, or both)?)

okay resume speaking eloquently (hell of rush post) :|

Boomkat called it "groundbreaking" but you know that's their style ;)

not. saying. much!

... allows people to add this whole elegiac "ghost of the hardcore continuum" dimension which didn't apply in 2001.
I don't think such a move is illegitimate

it's definitely not illegitimate. it's just the discourse itself is as exhausted as the music.

really, i'm just very tired of the hardcore continuum, and also constantly stunned at how tiny the musical world of Dissensus is, in contrast to the open-minded talk that's thrown around there. combine small world, grandiose rhetoric, and dead-end tradition...

ah, there's always a conspiracy theory. poor urban tribe. if only they had the marketing, they would be topping the charts!

but you say lots of stupid things.

If this is true it's only because of its specificity. One of the problems with talk of the hardcore continuum is that we know the origins of the idea, the inventors, the subject-matter, the music, the forums, the spruikers...

Most music crit discourse is no less exhausted except insofar as it's vaguer and less self-reflective, so we don't tend to notice it so sharply. Obviously most of the crit surrounding (them again) the Arctic Monkeys is much more tired insofar as it feeds off tired ideas about music which themselves fed off tired ideas etc. going back forty years. But because this forms so much of the general background of our lives we don't notice it so much.

In music crit terms perhaps ideas like "the hardcore continuum" are like the schaffel beat while more generalised music crit ideas (e.g. the tenants of rockism etc.) are like the house beat. Obviously the house beat has been "done to death" in the sense of sheer repetition much more blatantly, however the attention which the schaffel beat attracts to itself causes it to have a built in lifespan, beyond which it seems creatively exhausted.

Sorry, but the time when four square beats, some pianos and an exhortation to dance had the power to signify an incredibly deep, poignant, and moving meditation on alienation, sexuality and the feeling of being lost on the dancefloor is long gone for me.

I mean really, this thing practically markets itself to people who still idolise Larry Levan and David Mancuso. It's a symptom of how inward-looking and -thinking a certain strain of American music has become "

if burial is anything like omni trio, i need to hear this stuff now.

can someone do a dubstep POV or X? i've been listening to a lot of breaks music lately and i think i would like dubstep, but i live mostly in the hermetically sealed world of minimal and therefore don't hear much of this stuff. the breaks album i have been enjoying the most lately is calibre's second sun which is one of the best drum and bass albums i've ever heard.

I don't think this is true at all. There are plenty of great music critics writing about what's actually going on now as opposed to obsessively shoring up a tiny little corner of the past. Sasha Frere-Jones. Kelefa Sanneh. Jody Rosen. Frank Kogan. Just to pick really obvious names.

No idea what the schaffel beat vs. the house beat means. (Speaking of obscurantism, who the fuck cares about the schaffel beat?) Also not really sure what Jacob's point is supposed to be (although surely it muse rise above "you're stupid.") Christ there are some lame comebacks in this thread.

My point is basically that revivalism or even a hermetic obsession with a certain sound and scene does not reliably preclude an interesting musical development. House was purely the product of a scene which was in many ways "stuck in the past" and trying to revive a semi-mythical disco golden age, but ended up being very different and creative in its own right.

It's one thing to say that the Burial record is musically uninteresting, but it's an entirely different (and incorrect) thing to say that because it is heavily influenced by a particular, and nostalgic, view of dance music it therefore must be uninteresting...

It's not.

"I don't think this is true at all. There are plenty of great music critics writing about what's actually going on now as opposed to obsessively shoring up a tiny little corner of the past. Sasha Frere-Jones. Kelefa Sanneh. Jody Rosen. Frank Kogan. Just to pick really obvious names."

Since when does Sasha or Frank = "most music crit"?!?! Of course they are great writers. My point is that the wealth of mediocre and derivative writers with their recycled catchphrases ("incendiary live performance" etc.) are much less memorable than "hardcore continuum", and consequently are much easier to ignore.

And yr right, hardly anyone cares about the schaffel beat now - that was precisely my point! if you didn't just assume you needed to contradict and belittle every point made by anyone else in this thread you might understand what people are saying a bit better...

Skream: Midnight Request Line
Pinch: Qawwali (others swear by War Dub but i don't see it...)
Kode9: 9 Samurai (video is great, kode9.blogspot.com)
Technical Itch: Implant
Vex'd: Bombardment Of Saturn (or all of Degenerate)

try garagepressure.com's podcasts.

Tricky, if you haven't heard the Radio 1 - Breezeblock - Dubstep Warz session listen to that too.

cool, cos that's not what i said! my comments were entirely limited to the particulars of burial, despite the apparently widely-shared desire to make them into a general argument

no, never.

Radio Venn
http://www.vennfestival.com/radio/index.htm

copy / paste this link into your audio software such as winamp

http://live1.radiovague.com:8000/venn.ogg

today:
12.10pm Skulldisco Soundsystem
Feel it in your bones as Appleblim opens a portal to the world of Dubstep

until 2.pm

to quote Reynolds exactly:
"* well Burial i guess is unexpected... but in a way that's kinda context-dependent."

I look forward to a Finney post not mean spiritedly tinted through 2step spectacles.

Have I really upset you so much Brian? I can't seem to please anyone on this thread.

[PDF] PEOPLE WITH A SPINAL CORD INJURY AND BOWEL MANAGEMENT IN GENERAL ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Autonomic dysreflexia (severe hypertension) is a life threatening syndrome. unique to people with spinal cord lesions above the level of the sixth thoracic ...
www.npsa.nhs.uk/site/media/ documents/1224_Bowel_Report.pdf - Similar pages

ironic that people who spent the last several years moaning about techstep (dissensus folks) are now lining up to heap accolades on half-speed techstep.

if dubstep is the most exciting music of the moment (which it's not, it just can't be), does that make "ni ten ichi ryu" the greatest record of the 90s?

in the new issue of wax poetics, four tet says "everyone goes on about autechre and aphex, but i think photek ... [was] more ambitious than anything else going on; they were on a whole other level. [ni ten ichi ryu] is off the scale. what i love about it is not only was it trying to be the most innovative thing ever, it also tried to rock a club at the same time"

it seems to cement reynolds' now 10-year-old prediction that "hardcore continuum" was destined to become a nostalgia industry, like dub reggae and garage psych.

the new Sacred Symbols Of Mu compilation has new(?) tracks by vex'd, pinch, boxcutter and someone new to me but possibly my favourite track, distance. (along with 20 other tracks spanning the planet mu label's output. cheap enough that it doesn't matter that you don't like 50% of it!)

EXCLUSIVE: The Roots of Dubstep tracklist
Ammunition + Blackdown present... The Roots of Dubstep [Tempa?@CD]

1. Steve Gurley "Hotboys (dub)" [Allstars]
2. El-B "Express" [Ghost]
3. El-B ft. Juiceman "Buck + Bury [original mix]" [unreleased]
4. Roxy "Breakbeat Science" [Bison]
5. Phuturistix "551 Blues" [Locked On]
6. Horsepower "Gorgon Sound" [Tempa]
7. Horsepower "Classic Deluxe" [Tempa]
8. Benny Ill v DJ Hatcha "Highland Spring" [Tempa]
9. High Planes Drifter (aka Benny Ill) v Goldspot "Sholay" [Tempa]
10. Menta "Snake Charmer" [Road]
11. Artwork "Red" [Big Apple]
12. Benga v Skream "The Judgement" [Big Apple]
13. DJ Abstract "Touch" [Tempa]
14. Digital Mystikz "Pathwayz" [Big Apple]

http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_blackdownsoundboy_arc
hive.html#115081203524840322

it's the tune that comes in around 23:39, overlaid w/ a female vocal saying "oh, I get a rush..."

sounds a big like benga to me (what do i know), but judging from the setlist published at the link above, it must be geenneus, terror danjah, spyro, imperial, jammer...? no idea.

for release on 17/07/06:
dubstep allstars vol 4

I'm not amazed by the Burial album so far either, though it's o-kaaay, Nothing smacking me in the face with brilliance like Dizzee's singles or "wtf, is this it?"-ed me like M.I.A.

"hauntology" = sounds like ENIGMA

I guess I like Mezzanine though.

If you just mean the hype is a ridiculism taken to new levels, then yeah I understand.

In truth, both Shadow and Burial are mood muzak, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and I like the most overblown pop moments of the Burial album for largely the same reasons that I like the most overblown pop moments of The Private Press.

the 17th according to amazon, yes. according to boomkat it's out in two days (but that's got to be a mistake, right, nothing's ever released on a thursday). ordered mine yesterday but it says '4 to 6 weeks' for delivery, so maybe not. it's a double cd btw, hatcha and youngsta mix a disk each.

More thoughts to follow.

The Lex's review of same in The Guardian

Science Faction: Dubstep

01 - Scuba - Brown
02 - Pinch - Qawwali
03 - Gravious - Wormsign
04 - DJ Distance - Cyclops
05 - Hatcha & Benga - Progression
06 - Luke Envoy - Gamma
07 - Pinch - Punisher
08 - Scuba - Twista
09 - Vex'd - Killing Floor
10 - Scuba - Harpoon
11 - Search and Destroy - Candyfloss (Loefah Rmx)
12 - DJ Distance - Traffic
13 - DJ Distance - Nomad (Scuba Rmx)
14 - Mark One - Devil Boy
15 - Sileni - Twitchy Droid Leg (Vex'd Rmx)

(haven't heard this yet fwiw)

Badness!

Can some mod please change this thread's title? Makes me wince everytime I see it.

(or, is your point something about that tracklist being too old/familiar/too small a pool of producers vahid? it's hard to tell)

burial = "new forms"
science faction = "run the road"
dubstep allstars 4 = "platinum breakz 2"
spaceape = bad memories of talkin loud spoken word stuff circa 98 etc

The first truly exciting thing to happen in dance music since the turn of the millennium, dubstep appears to be reaching a kind of critical mass in terms of the feverish media coverage afforded to it. At the epicentre of this swirling hype tornado is Skream, whose eponymous debut album arrives this week looking like it could be just the thing to tip dubstep over into the mainstream.

The Lex's(!) review of MAH's Warrior Dubz compilation in today's Graun (N.B. he was calling dubstep boring like two months ago!):
This is a superb introduction to some of the most thrilling, forward-thinking music in the UK today.

Time-out:
A woofer-carried pandemic is on its way and frankly, resistance is futile

LOL he would! what a clown.

The other two are pretty silly, but that's pretty much par for the course on any music review anywhere. Most journo's don't try to make stuff they like sound boring.

I have this notion that DJ Clever's mix will be great, better probably than all the other dubstep mixes I have. This based on the fact that what Clever cherrypicks from drum & bass is pretty much exactly the same sort of stuff (once you slow it down a bit) that DJs should be cherrypicking from dubstep. That he includes "Qawwali" is a tentative empirical confirmation (yeah, I know, it's kind of an obvious inclusion at this point, and no way is "Punisher" nearly as good no matter what wack people say).

the pretension at dissensus can be choking but they do mention good tracks that don't get highlighted here.

By minimal though, are you meaning dubstep ?

ardkore>>jungle>>drum n bass>>nu skool breaks>>breakstep>>dubstep ??

Those were both by the same guy. I'd call him the Geir of breaks.

But I suppose it was worth it to read this from Blackdown:

a big name minimal artist has the parts to at least two different dubstep artists' tracks...

@Tim Finney--- yes, there is no way Punisher could be thought of as even a quarter as good as Qawalli, (tho the VIP mix had some tastily engineered percussion in a minimal house stylee). Allegedly Pinch has moved away from Qawalli's sound now, which is really pretty unfortunate.

I think maybe that whole masculine robot sharpness thing which defines so much dubstep (and which define both "Punisher" and the VIP against "Qawwali") is perhaps a very minor turn-off for me, it's quite astonishing how much I love "Qawwali" above and beyond all dubstep going right back to, like, mid-2002.

The Shackleton track that begins the Cassy mix (and is the best thing on there apart from the DJ Abstract track, can you believe this is me saying that??) is in a vaguely similar style, perhaps I should check out more Shackleton...?

You can find it at the forum

Vaccine's track to start off the mix is quite good.

And Tim, I take it back, I'm not sure if you'll like Shackleton's other stuff really, its got a kind of sterility to it.

Clean, precise, experimental definitely.

Some of its really, really good though.

-- gekoppel (inabeautifulplaceinthecountr...), October 17th, 2006."

there's a new one by Pinch called 'One Blood' that sugests this isn't quite true.

(vol 2 is my favourite by some distance fwiw. also, check out the garage pressure podcasts (garagepressure.com).)

plenty on bleep as well, check the ROAD section in the labels dropdown.

and pinch's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings
and all his friends (distance, headhunter, vexd...)

Shackleton - Skull Disco 3 (whole 12) / 'Tin Foil Sky' / 'Hamas Rule' / 'I Want To Eat You'
Toasty Boy - 'Splash'

I'd recommend it to people but I'm not sure that I even get it myself.

Shackleton - Mixed By DubSTa
01.Stalker
02.Fumes
03.Out of order
04.Qwack (Spell Shackleton remix)
05.In the next world
06.NDoki
07.Eat my word
08.Majestic visions
09.Make me cry
10.New dawn
11.Tala rasa
12.Blood in my hand
13.I want to eat you
14.Tin fail sky
15.Massacre
16.Language of the beast
17.Naked
18.Limb by limb

I'd grabbed something from there a while back, but I don't think this was it! It's really, really good this btw. And despite my enthusiasm for a lot of tunes here & there I haven't found a lot of longer dubstep-ish mixes impressing me much at all on a home/headphone listen. This one is definitely the more Qawwali-like end of things, maybe even a bit more interesting to my ears so far.

(Version with quite a lot of talking on, unfortunately)

i liked the freely downloadable 74min shackleton mix from here: http://www.skulldisco.com/tunes.html

On this mix MAH sounds like she's being handed little slips of paper written by the staff at Q magazine. I keep expecting her to interrupt a mix with "Wonderful - The Guardian *****".

the worst thing about it is she actually plays quite good music a lot of the time

yeah what a terrible thing, imagine if she was this enthusiastic about SHIT music i.e. Zane Lowe :-P

...
Skream - 'Request Line' Remix (white)
Benga - The Blues (Benga Beats)
Benga - Zombie Jig (Benga Beats)
Skream - Dutch Flowerz (Tempa)
Digital Mystikz - 'Ancient Memories' Skream remix (DMZ)
...

The Blues and Zombie Jig is on this (samples here too)
http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?Track=BENGABEATS1

Dutch Flowerz is on the skream lp and a single.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m115/adikaoates/normal_IMG_9883.jpg

if it was screwed & chopped.

I always think of halfstep as the half-time stuff with one snare per bar like Loefah's "Root" or whatever as opposed to anti-war dub or something. I think it's just some slap dash term.

I'm giving that and the Digital Mystikz Cay's Crays remix a lot of play at the moment. When I'm not listening to the Katamari Damacy soundtrack.

Its not all dubstep, some IDMish beat fuckery here and there.

Some really solid mournful tunes though.

Liking Youthman Dub and Tribute especially.

Burial on the Breezeblock

In session, Cinematic sounds from Burial a rising producer within the dubstep scene. Burial is a 26 year old from South London. This music is so far out, cool, fresh, haunting, eerie, atmospheric - INNOVATIVE and demands a listen.

-- Telephonething (ryanhup...), January 6th, 2007.

Check out 0800 if you like Midnight Request Line, its on Skreamizm 2 I think.

me too.

I'll bet you neither record sold a thousand copies here in the states.

no need for 'over here' there.

i seem to dig completely different stuff to them tho, this guy played me a bunch of tracks a while ago, and i wasn't very good at listening at the time (he was scary, had scary strong weed) he seemed to enjoy the low end if it was all over the place.... the dubstep i've liked is where its super controlled, where you can hear the actual tones in the bass, i also like the filtering/screwing to be suble rather than the sloppy listen to all this fx kind of stuff.

warning, bad stereotyping!

pretty boys with not much to say vs. dreadlocked stoners with a fuck-you/carefree attitude

Listening to the excellent Ammunition And Blackdown Present: The Roots Of Dubstep I couldn't help but lament the fact that the lively and inventive rhythmic side of this music is being increasingly cast aside for the instant gratification of the huge drop and the lfo'd sub-bass. I find myself more and more drawn to dubstep which steers away from the worship of the drop and takes a holistic approach to track building: Pinch's Qawwali, Shackleton's hand-percussion meditations, Burial's other-wordly productions, Skream's electro synths, Mala's upbeat dancefloor bombs, etc. Of course the halfstep wobbler is not something to be lamented wholesale ... My hope for 2007: balance.

March 3rd 2007 @ Fabric

Room1
RHYTHM & SOUND featuring TIKIMAN (45" session)
KODE 9 (Hyperdub)
LUCIANO (Cadenza)
CRAIG RICHARDS (Tyrant)
DOWNSHIFTER (Dublime)

Room2
Terry Francis, Anthony Rother LIVE more tbc

Room 3
HENRIK SCHWARZ live
TRICKSKI

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE MISPLACED MODIFIER IN 2ND PARA

also, shackleton, shackleton, shackleton!

"i doubt i'll have speakers big enough or smoke enough weed"

reads too close to

"i doubt i'll have speakers that are big enough or smoke enough weed"

which would be a badly misplaced modifier

I was listening to the instrumental for "Girlfight" and thought pretty the same thing about dubstep. I mean why would a crunk/snap fan even bother.

Check out TRG and Shonky, and Intoccabile.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BEZX25YI

Distance - Delight
Shackleton - New Dawn
Toasty - Cold Blooded
Forsaken - Sensei
Stormfield - Haiku (Blackmass VIP)
Forensics - Depth Charge
Gutterbreakz - Black Ice
Trae - D. Swang (138 ScrewDub)
Geeneus - Dark Boy
Lycaon - Lynched
Intoccabile - Meditation
Bass Clef - Opera
Mala - Blue Note
Forsaken - Call to War
Soundbox - Dungeon Waltz
Benga - Electro Musik
Cluekid - Down and Dirty
TRG - Broken Heart
Benga - Still Rockin
Zomby - Memories (Darkstar Remix)
Shonky - Warning
Benga - Break It
Forsaken feat. Ben J - Window Seat

This is the tightest mix I've ever managed to pull off.

Hope you all enjoy it, some older stuff, some promos.

100% Quality.

And some Houston Screw stuff, just cause.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VTEIJEHE

Amb - Neutrino
Bodycode - Hands Free Computer Interface (The Mole Remix)
Swag - Drum Hydraulics (Silicon Scally remix)
Andy Stott - Hi-Rise
Ils - Only Way To Survive
ScanOne - Kick It
Johnny Dark - Can't Wait
Melchior Productions - The Later the Evening
FanuSamurai - Mantra
Extrawelt - 8000
Business Man - Dubby Games
Booka Shade - Night Falls
Justice - Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan edit)
Daft Punk - Human After All (Justice remix)
Modeselektor - Dancingbox (Sleeparchive remix)
BLista - Shine (Extended SAT mix)
Linus Loves - Night Music (Sweetlight Rave Mix)
SebAstian - Smoking Kills

A buddy of mine specializes in the house and techno.

And breaks or whatever.

but what did you mean to draw my attention to w/ that one??

I thought you'd appreciate it.

Its very satisfying to know that you like it.

I'd like it to be genuinely techno inspired, as opposed to what drum and bass people think of when they say techy.

Back in the day Benga and Skream got called Croydon techno by grime Djs, thats how I first heard of them.

the really funny one was the drum and bass one, which advised "make sure your posse photos look like the christmas photo for the residential staff of a maximum security prison. NO SMILING! this is jungle warfare, blud"

I've met Mala and Joe Nice, I don't know, they dress like DJs I guess?

Yeah, unfortunately.

Keep your ears open for Apocalypse by Whiteboi and Kommonazmuk.

Its Tech Itch style dnb at 140.

Pisses me off.

Gotta love the stereotypes.

only thing i can think for dubstep = dreadlocks is a must

Check out TRG and Shonky, and Intoccabile.

To be fair you won't hear half of this shit out at a a dance! (in my experience).

But yeah I'm half a continent away from the nearest dubstep night, and across the world from the UK.

I'm going by 2nd hand testimony here.

I'm pissed that I spent money on it.

I always forget just how fantastic the best bits of the Kode9/Space Ape album, which are a lot of them! My favourite stuff is all the ominous hip hop - the slowly stomping "Backward", the constantly shifting "Portal" (this is prob. my favourite), the delicate "Addiction". the tense "Bodies"... If all of the tracks were in this vein! On a positive note the recent Soul Jazz track "Magnetic" is fairly close to this sound, though on moreo of ambient dancehall tip perhaps owing to no vocalist.

I love that a lot of the above tracks are more on this kind of Japan "Ghosts" meets early Mannie Fresh vibe rather than same old same old dub stuff - I've always really disliked "Sine" to be honest. I like how effortlessly musical and agile and widescreen Kode9's more recent work has been.

Ha perhaps the reason "Portal" knocks me out so much is that he sounds so similar to Target/Danny Weed.

http://media.sonar.es/alacarta07/lista1/kode9_160.mp3

Kode 9's mix for Sónar. File is tiny because it's streaming quality, 64kbps or some shit. Awesome selection though.

^^^
cosignatory

Barefiles (a huge archive of Dubstep pirate radio sets) is back online! Alas, without any of the RinseFM sets because they're trying to start their own podcasting thing. But w/e. Still lots of good shit to be found.

Search: (mixes on Barefiles)

Plastician - May 07 (mentioned up-thread)

Excision - Darkside Dubstep, a classic mix

Lucky Strike b2b The Others b2b Rusko, mainly Rusko/Others tracks which means it's excellent; nicely sequenced

Plastician - May 2006, older mix, still very good

I love love love the Vex'd/Distance Dubstep/Metal mix for the Breezeblock - is there anything else remotely like this?

I'm probably very much behind the 8-ball but Mala's Changes/Forgive 12 inch is great - so eerie! The harmonic synth chords! The cut-up choirs! I almost feel guilty for liking this kind of thing and not the bosh bosh stuff, like, my taste in dubstep is so boringly aristocratic. Or maybe i just like melodies?

Also Mala's stuff sounds fantastic pitched down to house tempos.

there was an older vex'd mix available - 'adverse camber'. was very quiet though.

and i know i keep mentioning it but garagepressure.com does a good job of 2 hours a week of dubstep largely uninterrupted by shout outs. they've started archiving things for more than a fortnight as well.

vex'd @ adverse camber: http://www.spannered.org/radio/1150/

Hi, just thought I'd add my two penneth' worth. I'm really glad I'm not alone in my thoughts on the Kode9/Spaceape album. I recently wrote a 1000 word review for Amazon as no-one had said anything despite it coming out last September or something and the bastards never uploaded it! Must have got lost in the ether. I basically spraffed how it was part of the freat linage of UK Dub going back Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mad Professor and even early Dreadzone i.e. stuff that's already been said about 8 million times regarding this album I 'spose. Stripped to the bones but arranged with startling originality and that's quite difficult to do.

"Sine" and "Backward" are the true stand-out's for me along with the very, very sinister "Correction". Had the pleasure of seeing both of them warm up for Rhythm & Sound at Fabric in March, which was blinding.

Has anyone heard the Cyrus from Random Trio album? Some people are comparing it to the Burial album but I've not heard it meself.

Cyrus LP pretty much all previewable here (use individual 12"s rather than the cd):

http://www.boomkat.com/artist.cfm?a=13472

Cheers, I never thought of checking Boomkat for some reason seeing as a sizable amount of my salary goes into their coffers on a monthly basis.

Yeah, impressed with what I hear from the outset. Sounds more fragmented and experimental than I thought it might, but I think Random Trio have that dynamic in places. Don't think you could compare this to Burial as from my perspective their influences are coming from different orbits. I can see how people would make that comparison tho.

i picked up n-type's "dubstep allstars vol 5" today, because i heard some liar say some lies about it being "intense" "big-room high-energy dance music".

LIES. it's the same old slow wobbly shit.

Did you expect hard house?

maybe something more along the lines of these kromestarr tracks

or is it tes la rok?

i dunno, anyway about 5% of this is new and interesting, the other 95% (all these benga tracks especially) is pretty wack.

maybe this music would sound better on a decent system if i was a pasty-faced weed-addicted shut-in

What's with the number of dubstep artists with names ending in 'a'? Is this some phonetic thing that sounds cool, because for some reason it's gotten on my nerves after reading enough dubstep articles and browsing releases. It might be a problem with selective attention, though.
-ga
-sta
-cha

ubetcha!

is the souljazz 'box of dub' thing any goood? i know next to nothing about what's what in dubstep but loved the burial album and a lot of the other stuff i've heard.

Received this email the other day, new Burial material out this week. Think it's available from Blackmarket today but for those of you outside the M25 it's online from Friday. After hearing 'Unite' on his myspace, I don't think it can be anything else but wicked.......
---------------------
HDB004 - Burial - Ghost Hardware E.P.
12" vinyl
A. Ghost Hardware
B1. Shutta
B2. Exit Woundz

Available in your usual on/offline retailers from Friday 15th June.

Available exclusively in Bm-Soho, London shop from Wednesday 13th June.

Watch out for HDB005 and HDB006 before the end of the summer.

---------------------

Catch kode9 & Spaceape live at Sonar (alongside Mary Ann Hobbs, Skream & Oris Jay), Barcelona this Friday night.

---------------------

Kode9 will also be playing at Fwd>>, Plastic People, London Friday 29th June

---------------------

'low end theory'
www.hyperdub.net

www.myspace.com/hyperdub

i dont know whats happening in dubstep anymore.

when does the plastician album come out?

anyone?

myspace.com...

The Debut Album From The Plastician - "Beg To Differ".....

Tracklisting:

1. Intensive Snare (feat. Skepta)
2. Symptomatic
3. Shallow Grave 2006
4. I Can't Believe Its Not Benny
5. Real Things (feat. Chronik, Skepta, Tempa T, Frisco, Esco)
6. Hocus Pocus
7. Vio-Lent
8. Walk In The Carpark
9. Badboy
10. Japan

Is now being released on June 18th on Terrorhythm Recordings on CD & Download, with vinyl singles following including remixes of the tracks.

Finally after lots of setbacks we can confirm a release date!

that intensive snare song has a crappy hook but its good otherwise. bit quick to release it isnt it? no promo or anything.

oh boy oh boy oh boy! yay!

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=37739

THE WORLD’S HEAVIEST DUBSTEP, GRIME & BASS TRACKLIST!

CD1 DUBSTEP

1. CASPA – Cockney Violin
2. CLUE KID - Halogen
3. DQ1 – Wear The Crown
4. LOEFAH – System
5. CASPA & RUSKO – Custard Chucker
6. N-TYPE – Way Of The Dub
7. WHITE BOI vs KOMONAZMUK – Shank Step
8. PINCH & P. DUTTY – War Dub
9. JOKER – Stuck In The System
10. JAMIE WOON - Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix)
11. GOTH-TRAD – Back To Chill
12. EKSTRAK – Mass Dampers
13. ELEMENTAL - Tribute
14. SKREAM – Bahl FWD
15. KOMONAZMUK – Love

CD2 GRIME

1. FAITH SFX Ft. HYPA FEN, MARCHIEPHONIX, FLIRTA D, BIG MIGHTY, EARZ, JAMMER, Y.O., & NARSTIE - Oh My
2. LADY SOVEREIGN - Chi Ching (Cheque 1 2)
3. SWAY – Baby Father
4. DOCTOR Ft. DESPERADO, JENDER & FRAMES – Play Around
5. ICEKID & SICKMAN Ft. STYLO-G, LITTLE DEE, LIONESS, DIZZMAN & YOUNG DOT - Don’t Talk
6. MAN LIKE ME - Oh My Gosh
7. YES BOSS - Meet The Boss
8. ESKIBOY Ft. JME & EARS - Grim
9. TEAM SHADETEK Ft. SKEPTA - Reign
10. VIRUS SYNDICATE – Neva Argue
11. ESKIBOY Ft. JME – Carry Out Orders
12. STYLO-G Ft. ICEKID & SICKMAN – My Yout
13. ROSSI B & LUCA Ft. GULLY GANG - Music Money
14. ROLL DEEP - Flame Grilled Whopper
15. DAVID E. SUGAR vs EARS – First OK

CD3 BASS

1. DEEKLINE & ED SOLO Ft. MC FLIPSIDE - Handz Up Right Now
2. AQUASKY Ft. ACAFOOL – Have A Good Time
3. NAPT Ft. SKIBADEE - Get Back
4. BACKDRAFT – Off The Wall
5. BASSROCK MEETS ANTI-SCIENCE - Locked On!
6. SHANE THE CUTTER – Blood Runs
7. ED SOLO & SKOOL OF THOUGHT - Babylon Breaks
8. SCAM - Killer (Deepcut Remix)
9. BAOBINGA & I.D. – Extravaganza Man
10. BACKDRAFT - Popcorn
11. THE BREAKFASTAZ - The Pressure (Aquasky Mix)
12. DEEKLINE & WIZARD Ft. TOP CAT - Special Dedication
13. FREESTYLERS Ft. PENDULUM & SIRREAL - Painkiller (Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought Remix)
14. DEEKLINE & WIZARD – Woah
15. AQUASKY, FRICTION AND SPYDA – Control Freek

I have no idea if it's any good or just a shameless cash-in but I sort of approve of shameless cash-ins when they spread the net a little wider than the usual...

nu burial yaaaaaaaaaooowwwww!

that third disc looks like the worst music in the world hands down

What a weird collection. I've been listening to the Skull Disco comp like crazy, but haven't had time for much of the rest (Box O' Dub kind of made me wonder why I was bothering.) Really nice interview with Shackleton by /rupture on WFMU Wednesday night btw.

Alex, search Mala's Changes/Forgive!!!!

Actually I do have that. It's good!

New Burial is very good btw.

God it's beautiful, I had it on repeat all last night.

"Stutta" is fascinating, like a warehouse full of speakers crammed into my headphones. I find myself chasing the groove, finding it for half a measure and then losing it, over and over.

I think I prefer "Unite" off the box of dub compilation to "Ghost Hardware" tbqh

also: skream - essential mix

that skream mix is pretty amazing, thx for the link!

From last year, but I love Pinch's remix of Monkey Steak's "Lighthouse Dub". The closest thing to "Qawwali" I've heard by him.

The Skream essential mix is sounding awesome - so bouncy!

When I think of my favourite dubstep of the past two years (which basically means my favourite stuff by Skream, Pinch, Burial, Kode9, Skull Disco and DMZ peeps) it makes me disbelieve the whole "you need to hear it over the right soundsystem" argument even more than usual - this sounds great in any setting! I refuse to believe that it's because these guys are like the blog house of dubstep... it's because they make dynamic tunes!

More and more I just feel like dread-ladened, bass-dominated halfstep tunes are basically indefensible. As is crash scrape crash scrape dirgestep.

# Klaxons-Not Over Yet(Skreamix)-EMI

!

Yeah, I haven't heard that yet but apparently Skream is a fan!

More and more I just feel like dread-ladened, bass-dominated halfstep tunes are basically indefensible. As is crash scrape crash scrape dirgestep

^^ who would this be??

I saw Vex'd the other night and it was a bit crash scrape crash.