the genre known as dubstep - search and destroy

I could see Cooly G doing a good album.

Here's hoping any Joker album gets a load of vocalists on it. I'd be happy for any of the others to release 100% instrumental records and I think vocals would actively get in the way on an Ikonika record.

Martyn's best moment(s) by far were the remixes of Efdemin, although one side was technically ambient, and the other was UK Funky Euro-style.

Didn't really feel the Fever Ray remix.

Best tracks on the album were 'Right Star', 'Elden St' and 'Far Away'.

oh yeah the efdemin mixes were awesome.

was just listening to the Martyn album yesterday and after time the big standouts for me are "Right, Star", "Vancouver" and "Bridge" (beatless, but so nice - it's all about the piano). I wrote off the Efdemin remixes initially, but yeah, those are very good.

I would love to go to a night that mixed up dubstep + techno + house in a seamless flowing way. It's not like there aren't a shortage of tracks that bridge the genre divides coming from all sides. It would probably be the best thing for dancers as well, because IMO you shouldn't have to think when you are dancing and sometimes when faced with a wall of dubstep bass if you don't connect and orient yourself immediately it is hard to find the groove.

I also really like the Martyn track from the Aus Music comp from earlier this year. The standout genre-hybrid on that comp though is Appleblim and Ramadanman's "Sous Le Sable".

i'm surprised at the tepid response to silkie's album here - really, it's anything but dry, absolutely the best dubstep full length out (mild praise as that is)! i can see issues with its flow, the section from cats eyes to mattaz is a little samey, but how many great tracks can you ask for? i think tim f nailed it when he said (i might be misremembering) that silkie (/anti social) ties together a lot of dubstep's disparity, how he transplants a lot of what's great about wonky into these otherwise more dubstep-compatible tracks is so much more than the sum of its parts. even the 'heavy' tracks with boring names like 'techno 22' have these awesome playful bits (like when it drops to just some frisky bongo before throwing in the happy "youve beat the level!" synth or whatever that sound is) that, instead of cheekily undermining the track, just give it some fun perspective

album's fully fledged classics, imo - the horizon, headbutt da deck, beauty, turvy, purple love, sty, spark, concrete jungle

this right here is the most monstrous and revolting piece of dubstep i have yet to hear. i admit there's a strange allure to its frankenstein basslines, and it's got plenty of that build-wobble that you guys don't like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDajn8_3qc

man it would be next level if i could go to a club & listen to that auditory migraine for a couple hours

wow it's like techstep all over again.

t/f dubstep has fragmented in a way similar to what occurred with drum and bass?

That track seems like a parody.

Except it probably isn't.

I'd say false, but mostly cuz I'm not dubstep was ever coherent enough to be a good parallel with dnb/jungle in the first place.

Lucas I'm glad someone agrees with me about the Silkie album. In overall feel (though only partly in specific sound) it reminds me a lot of the second disc of Roni Size/Reprazent's first album, which is one of my favourite ever jungle albums but tends to be... damned with faint praise by a lot of people for very similar reasons - samey, too "straight" in its underlying adherence to the rhythmic approaches of the broader style to seem avant, but not actually straight enough to be dancefloor bangers. And, similarly, refined and jazzy and "musical" in ways that strike people as boring and obviously "insipid" oh noes. And yet... with both the grooves just seem so perfectly judged.

even the 'heavy' tracks with boring names like 'techno 22' have these awesome playful bits (like when it drops to just some frisky bongo before throwing in the happy "youve beat the level!" synth or whatever that sound is) that, instead of cheekily undermining the track, just give it some fun perspective

This bit is amazing - I agree with your description but specifically it's like completing a level in a game hosted by Stevie Wonder.

no problems with that wobble track that got posted earlier on. it does its job and does it a lot better than most. lots of fun!

it goes on a bit though, dunnit?

I'd say false, but mostly cuz I'm not dubstep was ever coherent enough to be a good parallel with dnb/jungle in the first place.

― We call them "meat hemorrhoids" (Alex in SF), Friday, 30 October 2009 22:29

You used to be able to move from Pinch to Loefah to Distance to Skream in the mix without changing the vibe at all. It was actually starting to splinter right as it first got big in 2007.

Skream used to be part of the experimental side, Pinch made some bangers. And Distance made Fallen, which is very eerie and beautiful. Its shocking how much things have changed, says the whiny 2004-8 head.

Tim was here before all of us really. I can see how Sully would look like an obvious endpoint if you started out listening to 2-step. Its just that that kind of really intricate style (Toasty does it too) is time consuming to produce. Toasty only puts out one single every couple years, whereas the Wobble crew crank them out.

Yeah I love Toasty as well, though haven't heard any of his for a while (has he even done anything recently)?

"You used to be able to move from Pinch to Loefah to Distance to Skream in the mix without changing the vibe at all."

And that vibe was for the most part. . . . yawnsome. I'm not going to lament that fracturing at all.

For me 2-step is also the point where this kind of breaks-based music was at its most compelling/exciting. I like some broken beat and the bleepier broken downtempo stuff as well. Still totally blown away by Mala and by association Deep Medi I suppose, but I don't know actual tracks. I like what I've heard from Rustie and some Hyperdub stuff like that recent Darkstar single is very very good. Really like Shackleton and I've been meaning to check the Mordant Music lp. <-- it's hard to say what genre those are, which is pretty rad. I asked about the similarities to dnb because it seems like all of these steppy sub-genres have fragmented along similar lines: tuff electro, avant-jazz, populist anthems, etc.

I am listening to that Keepers of the Light mix right now Siah (the one you linked to in the funky thread) and it reminds me of FlyLo more than anything else. Pretty good! I like how the pressure is achieved through rhythm and weirdness instead of distorto-wobble.

Last thing Toasty released was early last year, On Something was the track.

He's pulled down his Myspace and I can't find his VIRB.

He could have retired for all I know. Shame that.

2562 really really owns that broken beat / 2-step connection these days.

Which makes sense, considering he used to make bruk as Dogdaze.

Still need to check out his new album.

The stuff I've listened to (very, very briefly/preliminarily) of the 2562 and the Silkie album both sounds really great.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Harmonia__Eno_76/track/Sometimes_In_Autumn_Shackleton_Remix

Those of you who haven't heard this, you really should.

Shackleton's remix of Eno working with Harmonia. A dubstep remix of a synth based Kraut tune.

Between this and Mountain of Ashes on the new 3 EPs I'm pretty psyched to see where he's going right now. It sounds like he's learned a lot from remixing Villalobos, the tunes are happier and more linear. As Lex noted way way back there. When that first curtain of static drops its just spine tingling. People just don't get the man because his sound palette is in apocalyptic shades of gray, but these tracks contain an almost Dionysian throb to them. He uses dubstep's spatial sense with a hard edged minimal influence, think pissed off Luciano, like Peverelist without the techno superstructure.

These are deejay tools for a genre that doesn't exist yet.

enough with the fucking timbales or finger cymbals or whatever though, right? just program 1 track with completely new sounds plz.

i like your Luciano/Peveralist equation though. i can def. hear that.

So Untold's new EP got a fairly ecstatic review on FACT. Anyone heard it yet?

It's all on his myspace. Some interesting parts (with excellent use of cheeky scratching samples), some parts not as interesting. Need to give a more proper listen.

And yes, Shackelton, I love you, but even a few new sounds would be nice.

remember when photek started using new sounds?

Yeah I like the same ol' sounds just fine.

Well, I don't want him to do a total about-face, it'd just be nice to hear a track or two where he diverged a bit, y'know, just for yucks.

from blackdowns blog -

Geeneus has said in interview to me that he and Slimzee (an early champion of Benga), when they weren’t busy smashing up raves as proto grime godfathers Pay As U Go used to refer to dubstep as "safe grime."

Second half of that Harmonia mix is stunguns.

feeeling that falty dl album.

also, that emelkay track. people seem to be down on it for being another boring identikit wobbler but i think it goes beyond wobbledom just cos of those arching melodic joker like synths and female vocal sample. it feels a bit more sensual. not bludgeoning or itchy synth-riffy.

yo dubsteppers! should i go see

SUKH KNIGHT
KARL HAZE
KOMODO
SHARIVARI

this saturday?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/551eq6

Damn this is good, Ben UFO back to back with Bok Bok.

Belongs on the Funky thread too really, but I'm trying to not annoy them.

Dub chords over Funky = Future. Scuba + Roska + Cooly G.

I don't know the other 3, but I wouldn't bother with Komodo.

Yeah i enjoy those b2b sessions. Bok Bok did a great show with Oneman last year too.

Big big fan of Ramadanman & Appleblim's "Justify". Reminds me of Hidden Agenda. So beautiful yet ominous.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7204/websitecover.jpg

Lol omg is that real deej.

Shoulda called it "Enter The Bedsit".

very real -- more reactions on the original wu tang meets indie culture thread

much as i like hatchas shows as of late isnt it a bit sad/depressing that he *Seems* to be playing so much old material? not too into djs mixing it up too much between past and present personally as it confuses my sense of time (and love of new shit) but im guessing he isnt too into the various strands of modern dubstep?

saying that though, just found the tracklisting for the oneman and hatcha set that im listening to and it seems back to back classics.

I still like dubstep but only because I can shut everything out when I listen to it. I am tired of searching for all of this dubstep. It is for listening to in a dark room, and then you go and hunt down some new tracks and they have all this distracting crap on top of them. Like, it shouldn't sound weak and wishy-washy.

Oneman to mix Rinse 11! This can only be a good thing.

I should listen to his Rinse show more but I can't get past the abominable sound quality of their podcasts.

xxxp - I think a DJ like Oneman mixes up the old with the new very effectively. But it's not like he's exclusively playing dubstep. He comes into his own with his epic UK garage / dubstep blends. Haven't heard any Hatcha sets recently.

onemans amazing. maybe the best dj on the roster, next to brackles. though its arguably easier when you have all diff eras and styles to mix from rather than just new stuff like marcus nasty or youngsta or whoever.

not sure about untold myself, even though i liked anaconda. heard some samples from his new doublepack and when it didnt just sound like older genres (house, eski), it just sounded a bit soft.