the genre known as dubstep - search and destroy

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.

Received this e-mail from !K7:

Coup!

!K7 are buzzing on the announcement that the next installment in the DJ-Kicks series comes from the hugely acclaimed, underground dubstep producer BURIAL at the end of June. The South London producer is notoriously shy of press and public performances yet his last two albums on Kode 9's Hyperdub label have established him as one of the global leaders in this exploding scene on word-of-mouth alone.

The latest DJ Kicks from Four Tet, Henrik Schwarz, Booka Shade and Hot Chip have all pushed new limits in eclecticism, making linear genre-specific DJ mixes a thing of past... so who knows where Burial will take it next. We hear whisperings from the studio that he may treat his dearest dubstep, techno and even r'n'b tracks with his unique production style before mixing them with exclusive material and... well watch this space.

I'm intrigued.

Resolved, yeah I've heard the release since then - one of the tracks is Theo Parrish shuffle!

Didn't realize Burial was even a DJ. . . I could see this being very one note somehow.

He isn't a dj.

Maybe he'll get Plaid to do little interludes for him (hah!)

New ~scape compilation 'Round Black Ghosts' looks pretty great.

Tracklisting:

01 Martyn - Velvet
02 2562 - Channel Two
03 Untold - Test Signal
04 Pole - Alles Klar
05 Syncom Data - Beyond the Stars (SD Mix)
06 Ramadanman - Response
07 Pinch - 136 Trek
08 Peverelist - The Gris
09 Elemental - Raw Material
10 Pangaea - Coiled

BTW this was the Burial DJ Kicks I made last year (for a friend who liked the first Burial album and wanted 'context'):

1. Nu-Birth - Anytime (Dem 2's Nice & Sleazy Mix)
2. Horsepower Productions - Fist of Fury
3. Skream - Midnite Request Line
4. Wiley - Pick Yourself Up (Target Instrumental Mix)
5. Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
6. Tricky ft. PJ Harvey - Broken Homes
7. Donnacha Costello - Dry Retch
8. Pole - Tanzen
9. Rhythm & Sound - Truly (Vladislav Delay Remix)
10. Dillinja - The Angels Fell
11. Hidden Agenda - Dispatch #2
12. DJ Shadow - You Can't Go Home Again
13. Johnny Dark - HCD 2

01 Martyn - Velvet
02 2562 - Channel Two
03 Untold - Test Signal
04 Pole - Alles Klar
05 Syncom Data - Beyond the Stars (SD Mix)
06 Ramadanman - Response
07 Pinch - 136 Trek
08 Peverelist - The Gris
09 Elemental - Raw Material
10 Pangaea - Coiled

VS

1 Skream Untitled (3:09)
2 Digital Mystikz Ancient Memories (3:23)
3 Loefah & Skream 28 Grams (3:53)
4 Loefah Midnight (3:08)
5 Skream Midnight Request Line (3:41)
6 D1 Crack Bong (Loefah Remix) (2:41)
7 Skream I (2:55)
8 Loefah Goat Stare (3:01)
9 Skream Monsoon (Loefah Remix) (3:15)
10 D1 Higher State (3:42)
11 Loefah Root (4:42)
12 D1 I Believe (3:51)
13 Digital Mystikz Neverland (5:42)

It just seems to me that those two tracklistings immediately sum up what's different about dubstep now versus 2-3 years ago...

Are you trying to criticise the shift or what Jacob? Or just note that expansion in artist base?

Because, yeah, "Midnite Request Line" and "Higher State" and "I Believe" and (especially) "Neverland" are great but that is it on Dubstep Allstars 2. The rest is deathly boring.

But you could totally make a boring contemporary dubstep tracklist - just lots of Caspa, Benga, bad Cotti etc.

Whereas Martyn and Untold and 2562 and Peverelist are actually very good!

I was meaning more insular local-based scene with a few tightly-knit producers and more of an urban edge versus globalised and slightly IDM-ish.

No qualitative judgement on that but it's marked. Kind of like jungle around 97-8 or so.

Okay yeah, point taken.

Funnily enough, from my perspective it's kind of like the ends against the middle - Caspa etc. are on the other side of Digital Mystikz, Skream etc. from the Bristol dub-techno axis. I guess they're like the modern drum & bass equivalent - not IDM at all.

If I was sentimental about older dubstep I'd be worried about this shift to a bipolar genre, but pretty much everything I ever liked about dubstep (it's delicate, feminine, uptempo moments) are almost all on the one side. Maybe if 05/06 had been the story of Mala more than the story of Loefah/Coki, I'd feel differently.

Sully's "Give Me Up" and "Flashback" are pretty awesome pieces of Toastboy-style junglist breakstep.

tracklisting leaked for burial!!!

"stir it up" - bob marley
"i can see clearly now" - johnny nash
"don't turn around" - ace of base
"six underground" - sneaker pimps
"love theme from 'last temptation of christ'" - peter gabriel
"mutant jazz" - t power
"we tryin to stay alive" - wyclef
"here i come baby" - ub40
"emergency on planet earth" - jamiroquai
"alphabet aerobics" - blackalicious
"high hopes" - tali
"digital" - goldie ft krs-one
"tomorrow people" - ziggy marley
"i can see clearly now" - johnny nash

That looks remarkably... awful. But could be unexpectedly brilliant. Nice to see "mutant jazz" coming out of the woodwork though.

Um that is totally made up, J@cob.

dubstep allstars 2 is still my favorite dubstep comp

also alex in sf is a dirty liar

Allstars 2 is the last time I felt I could really connect with the genre. It's a bitch move to diss something because of it's fans, but fuck it, I find the whole thing way too student-y these days...

Dubstep Allstars really need to get Oneman on the case. The way he mixes current dubstep with old 2-step is sublime.

My favourite dubstep qua dubstep mix is the Scuba mix from last year linked to upthread (I think it's on the hotflush website).

For a handy encapsulation of the new techno-dub/2-step revival trends check out this great mix here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=54397327&blogID=368375169

Tracklisting:

D.R.E.A.M.
dub rules everything around me
volume 1

tracklisting:

1. likhan - uwill
2. pinch - 136 trek
3. likhan - terre
4. pangaea - nest
5. untold - test signal
6. appleblim & peverelist - circling
7. scuba - outmost
8. peverelist - the grind
9. scuba - inmost
10. scuba - beta
11. peverelist - erstwhile rhythm (forsaken remix)
12. 2562 - circulate
13. benny ill vs. hatcha - poison
14. a made up sound - sleepwalk
15. 2562 - kameleon
16. pattie blingh - brother (2562 remix)
17. 2562 - channel two
18. ramadanman - carla
19. kode 9 vs. badawi - den of drumz
20. headhunter - locus lotus