the genre known as dubstep - search and destroy

D1 - I'm lovin' is the shit.

I know this thread is mainly just an airing ground for disgruntled nu-school breaks fans to talk smack on dubstep but someone needs to keep it ticking over. I'm fighting the good fight here.

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=70999

"Broken beat seems to have some potential"

it HAD some potential.

Oh wow, a moment ago boomkat alerted me to the work of boxcutter; first thought: this is like a ray from heaven coming down onto me.

I've got the Boxcutter disc -- Glyphic -- but it hasn't grabbed me yet. Is that what you're listening to?

Nah, just stuff from Oneiric. What I heard seemed more, errrm, Planet Mu of the 90s like Mu-Ziq etc. than contemporary dubstep, maybe. This sounded more rooted in IDM and well, I was also listening to it on laptop speakers, so the midtone melodies seemed more prominent, but engaging noenetheless. I think This might be me really needing a break from dance music, and kind of revisting more melodic IDM-ish music at the moment though.

I just got his new/old album - a bunch of unreleased stuff he did from 02-06 - which Planet Mu are putting out under his real name, Barry [forgot the surname but you can look it up]. Pretty good. Moves back and forth between wonky 2-step, breakcore, IDM and dubstep - I prolly wouldn't have bothered putting it on this thread otherwise but it sounds like you'd be into it based on the above post

Yeah, I just kind of threw it in here on a whim, it's really more breakcore/IDM than Dubstep, but nevertheless, thanks for the tip.

Boxcutter is pretty sick for what it is, but not really my thing.

Oneman is officially my new favourite dj. Playing now on http://www.react.fm/ I've not seen him out yet, but hopefully will soon. Lots of great 2step, grime, breakbeat garage and dubstep. Really hype selection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNStVlJWy88

Benga & Coki - night, music video! What is the world coming to?

Kode9 & Spaceape - 9 Samurai (december 2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaU-pnassYM

Yes, the Bug has a video too and I think there are probably other examples. I just meant that as part of Night's incredibly slow and inexorable rise there has now been a video slapped together in two minutes in order to promote it even further on MTV etc. I first heard it a year ago and I'm pretty sick of it by now but I suppose in a way it's interesting to see it getting radio play and a possible (if very low) chart position.

Benga album promos have came out and it is absolutely great. Leaked all over the shop if you're interested. Or pre-order it http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=72138

I think we may finally have the crossover potential + cohesiveness + massive tunes trifecta in a dubstep album.

speaking of benga:

"This week the current don of dubstep Benga is in the mix, he's recently stormed the clubs with Coki and their track 'Night.' Expect to hear the best new music, from an artist, hotly tipped for 2008."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/essentialmix/

yes, all those videos do look as though they were art students doing it as projects (and are all the better for it imo). i doubt that video was slapped together in two minutes though, probably took days to render 8)

Absolutely loving new Hyperdub act Ikonika. BLEEPSTEP madness.

oops:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Afro-Woman-Benga/dp/B0012U345K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1202991779&sr=8-1

"Diary of An Afro Woman"

more opinions on "box of dub 2"?

Oneman is officially my new favourite dj. Playing now on http://www.react.fm/ I've not seen him out yet, but hopefully will soon. Lots of great 2step, grime, breakbeat garage and dubstep. Really hype selection.

-- jim, Sunday, 27 January 2008 18:45 (4 weeks ago)

I'll second you on this. I was turned onto Oneman via Blackdown's blog on Pitchfork. The set he linked is fantastic(Here). Wall to wall dubstep is far too oppressive for me so Oneman's 2 Step / dubstep selections are a match made in heaven. This set includes an old Armand Van Helden remix of Kim English on Nervous that is just fantastic. Anyone who is prepared to mix the old and the new like this (and so expertly) deserves some props. Please get this guy to mix the next Dubstep Allstars comp!!

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/48501-the-month-in-grime-dubstep

Is the new Boxcutter disc -- Glyphic -- any good?

YES YES YES YES YES

is the new caspa & rusko mix the death knell of dubstep?

when the annoying posh girl I live with who mainly likes "hip hop and reggae and the Oxford indie scene" likes dubstep, it's pretty much where drum and bass was when roni size released his second album, right? yes, yes, straw man.

is the new caspa & rusko mix the death knell of dubstep?

I don't think so. It's a dead end, it's boring and one-dimensional, but there's plenty of interesting and broad-sweeping new stuff out there to get excited about at the moment (Benga LP being a case in point)

no, i think both of the above comments are fairly on point

the straw man comparison i was trying to draw was something like caspa & rusko = true playaz label circa 1996, or maybe even the urban takeover crew

(they even liberally pepper the mix w/ a version of the "super sharp shooter" chant!)

The True Playaz label was the death knell of jungle?

moreso than techstep, i think

why not?

Just seems random to me. I mean True Playaz just sort of continued doing what they always had been. It's like saying that the Wackies label was the death knell of reggae or something.

Admittedly the Wackies label >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> True Playaz label.

so how about geiom's "island noise" - is this the best IDM album of the last five years?

:-/

What are people's thoughts on Diary of an Afro Warrior? I'm enjoying getting into it, I thinkit'll prove to be a big grower. A lot of it is like a very much darker take on soca.

Just me then?

It' s enjoyable, but the grooves feel so constrained, like Benga has found this tiny plot of land that he's gotta work with because if he goes too far in any direction it becomes something else.

Really? I think it has a relatively loose and varied feel. It's less formulaic than Skream or Burial I'd say.

Actually I agree with both those statements. i mean more that the general core sound, that fitful, clomping, stuttery, almost 4/4 beat, just doesn't feel like the most obviously productive or interesting rhythmic matrix to work with, but it's the one he's decided to run with. He's a good producer so he makes it work, but it's an uphill struggle to make these grooves really compelling.

That's what makes the whole genre compelling to me - take this stripped-down, minimal and on paper rather uninteresting framework, and craft something exciting with it. Dubstep's something the listener really has to engage with to be rewarded, I for one thought it was boring when I first heard it.

Quest's "Seafront" (on his recent 12" for Deep Medi Musik) strikes me as a better version (because more lush, more expansive, more full-sounding) of the sound Benga's going. Same basic sound but it doesn't sound awkward or constrained at all.

hotflush have started doing high quality, free mixes for download. first one HFMX001 (along with some older podcasts) here:

http://www.hotflushrecordings.com/download.html

might be terrible, history would suggest not (46% and counting...)

Also really like Digital Mystikz's "Shake Your Demons" and Silkie's "I Sed" 12-inch (that one also on Deep Medi - best dubstep label ever ever ever? Assuming you don't count Ghost or early Tempa (I guess what with all the Skream EPs people will say late Tempa too).

To run with the jungle comparisons above it's totally the Metalheadz.

i'd take hyperdub, dmz (these two can't really be neglected surely!) then punch drunk, tectonic, skull disco/applepips, hessle audio over deep medi. probably more... i love the mala 12" they put out, and the two tracks you mentioned above are good, but i can easily leave the rest. especially the hijak 12", the goth trad 12" and that tundridge 12" they just put out. i realise this is a minority opinion but those three are the height of borestep to me.

Yeah I find most of the label's stuff pretty meh as well. Of course, I don't think Metalheadz was the best jungle label either.

hmmm ... maybe i should look into this deep medi label

"Shake Out Your Demons" isn't on Deep Medi anyway is it?

No it's not.

For me though they've put out at least three fantastic 12s from Mala, Quest and Silkie. I realise that's probably overstating things... but these tracks have a great and rather unique sound i reckon.

yeah by 'two tracks' i meant the quest and silkie, not shake out your demons. i agree with you, those three are good -- it's the rest i have issues with.

oh my god . . . Peverelist

Between Infinity is Now and his Appleblim collaboration. This is where I go when I feel like listening to something really interesting.

The other producer I'm really liking is 2562, who seems to tie together just about every good idea the scene has at the moment: T++ style dub-techno atmospherics and 4/4 pulse, broken beat meets 2-step swing, Mala polyrhythms... I reckon Jess would really like these tracks. His remix of Pattie Blingh's "Brother: The Point" in particular is like the beyond of Zed Bias's remix of "Hook & A Line" or DJ Abstract's "Touch" that no other producer ever bothered to explore.

I haven't heard it but I'm keen to check out his 12 inch for Philpot under the moniker "A Made Up Sound" - the other stuff under that name I've heard is either broken techno or verging-on-instrumental-grime, so I'm wondering what he'd do for what is essentially a deep house label.

Tim: deep house.

and it's very good, but drastic change in the output under that moniker following it.