the genre known as dubstep - search and destroy

Add me to the huddled mass mumbling that I didn't initially get the whole early detour things seem to have taken in the 2005 era, although I've recently gotten more into things. I think I had a token few I liked, but kind of remained ignorant of the scene at large. Now I've been trying to go back and read through the Martin Clark dubstep articles on pfm and read old blog entries.

Anyone have any opinions on the Dusk + Blackdown album? I listened to some of it after seeing the video <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1467214";>here</a> and am kind of intrigued. Like the blackdown mixes off his blog.

..and I just completely failed to hit the "simple html to bbcode" button, sorry about that

"I really don't understand how anyone could possibly need more than about 3 Loefah or Coki tracks in their lives."

Me neither, but I don't think we represent a majority of dubstep fans.

No that's right, but nor do the people moaning about how dubstep has fallen off either. Being obsessed with Loefah but resenting Caspa strikes me as major case of narcissism of small differences.

Kinda like saying: "Jonny L's "Piper" and Ed Rush & Optical's Wormhole - THAT was the golden age of drum & bass. It all went to shit when Bad Company came along."

Of course, I do read interviews with d&b producers where they say exactly that, and talk about bringing back the "spirit of '98".

mmm, pangaea's 'router' is just gorgeous: http://www.myspace.com/journeytopangaea

Shackleton's new stuff is amazing.

New Headhunter mining that techno-dubstep crossover territory and producing some diamonds.

Must listen to some of the new Headhunter stuff.

New Shackleton EP is indeed a doozy. Very nice stuff.

RSD - Speeka Box: Makes use of one of the prettiest/catchiest loops I've heard in a day or two, sounds really nice. And normally I hate wobble bass, but I really want to hear this played live and revel in the hugeness of this track.

Destroy: Everything I heard yesterday that was linked from a page I was looking at.

Apparently there are a few Burial-derivatives now that jack the way he fades vocal samples with melancholy loops. The other great one was refixes of classic dub where they just add a really generic bass wobble loop through the whole thing!

New Quest and Silkie singles on Deep Medi = ace ace ace. Especially Silkie's "Sky's The Limit", which reminds me of Zed Bias circa 2001 at his best. I do like how these guys are managing to plot course which avoids simply drifting towards dub-techno or just bringing back (even very good) 2-step percussion, but rather magically turns Benga/Loefah/Coki style beats into something actually good, interesting and energising.

Speaking (even disparagingly so) of Loefah, it's been forever since he had a record out.

I'm liking the Finnish stuff (Clouds, Tes La Rok) quite a bit ("Elders" in particular is awesome.) Haven't heard the new Deep Medi stuff, but I generally like both Quest and Silkie. New Hyperdub things, I wasn't spun on the Dabrye/Flying Lotus remixes of King Midas Sound, but I'm excited for the new album none-the-less. Ikonika seems to be more of the same.

Has anyone head the Zomby-back to 92 rave thing?

RSD has also been on fire lately.

Rob Smith is the bomb. That being said, the stuff on his MySpace really just sounds pretty much like his old dub & D&B stuff, doesn't it?

is that zomby thing like old hardcore or something?

hes got a old school hardcore album coming on werk in november and a 7 tracker of bleepy stuff on hyperdub

The new Shackleton stuff is astonishing.

But it ain't Dubstep.

Okay, my favourite dubstep trackz this year (in no particular order):

Peverelist - Infinity Is Now
Silkie - Sky's The Limit
Quest - Deep Inside
Sully - Give Me Up
Digitial Mystikz - Shake Out Your Demons
Pangaea - Router
Ramadanman - Blimey
Martyn - Velvet
Geiom - Reminiscin' (Dubplate Version)
Patti Blingh - Brother: The Point (2562 Remix)

Good stuff!

Allowing more than one track by any artist, I'd add Pangea's "You and I", Martyn's "All I Have Is Memories", Silkie's "I Sed" and Quest's "The Seafront". I'm kinda mentally discounting Shackleton but "Death Is Not Final" and his remix of Villalobos were both ace.

did you ever listen to the geiom album?

The first one? Yeah. It's good! Although I like that version of "Reminiscin" more than anything on it, I think. He works well with vocals.

sad to see nothing on your list's been compiled yet ... i'm too old to chase down vinyl/mp3s

how about round black ghosts

i mean "island noise"

"Infinity Is Now" and "Reminiscin' (Dubplate Version)" or both on the last Dubstep Allstars mix of course, and I believe Deep Medi Musik (Quest, Silkie, poss. the DM track) are putting out a comp or mix-cd later this month! Surely Hessle Audio (Pangaea, Ramadanman) can't be far behind.

That DM track is on Disfigured Dubz, I think.

Has anyone heard the Zomby "Rave" album?

My favorite Geiom track is that one with the Khalid vocal.

I guess I asked about the Zomby album above, but now it's actually out hah!

well, everyone's heard "infinity is now" and "reminissin" by now, right?

i liked the appleblim disc a lot but i couldn't help thinking it was redundant after gutterbreakz' "echospace odyssey" mix.

i don't think there's been much fresh since then ... things like "steppa's delight" and "i love dubstep" and the recent rinse mixes seem like rehash / repackaging for a growing audience

"That DM track is on Disfigured Dubz, I think."

yeah it is, but you could imagine it being used to fill out a deep medi comp. I can't find the tracklisting yet.

"i liked the appleblim disc a lot but i couldn't help thinking it was redundant after gutterbreakz' "echospace odyssey" mix."

I felt the same way, but in relation to other mixes I'd heard (not heard the gutterbreakz mix). I actually preferred the RA set Appleblim did - spacier and wider-ranging.

"Circling" (while a good track) is, I think, a telling example of the dub-techno influence basically crowding out all the other things that the music could be doing. I felt the same way about Pinch's (also good, but...) "136 Trek" and (disappointingly) much of the 2562 album.

Most of the tracks (see e.g. "Blimey", "All I Have Is Memories") I've listed above are in the same general vein but retain that crucial rhythmic perspicacity, sometimes managing to push it into that outer-reaches-of-funk territory that Horsepower got to with "Pimp Flavours" (meanwhile something like "Router" is basically delectable 2-step programming meets gorgeous deep-dub-house atmospherics) - there's a sense of internal distance from the "dubstep = nu-dub-techno" equation.

Meanwhile as I've said upthread, one thing I like about Quest and Silkie is that they're kind of finding their own path that draws from the best bits of everyone (Mala, Benga-but-good, Zed Bias revivalism and Horsepower revivalism).

i have hopes for the new distance cd, out next week.

Vahid have you heard Headhunter? This seems right up your alley.

a lot of new dubstep seems to be on the line between being dubstep+outside genre and just becoming that outside genre.

I like that tendency better than the reverse, frankly.

Whoa, Black Pocket, Ure A Sta (Martyn Remix) is probably the prettiest thing I've heard by him. Unfortunately I think I listen to All I Have is Memories too much this summer and got sick of it. This is so lush, and way more garagey as opposed to, I guess dubsteppy, by the way.

yeah that headhunter sounds pretty good. is it a lot like scuba?

the Zomby hardcore thing is decent. Bit of a strange choice to make his first LP a bunch of throwback beats but to be honest I think I'm enjoying it more than I have any of his other releases.

I like this.

Better than the Zomby record that is.

The scuba podcast on xlr8r is pretty neat. Nice use of an old Baby Ford tune midway through.

http://xlr8r.com/podcast/2008/11/dubstep-2008-scuba

I don't know much Scuba btw so I can't compare to Headhunter. Headhunter feels very Berlin-techno/late-era Reinforced to me.

it's still a bit too hot & summery in southern california to be listening to dubstep ... but i've been trying with the "time & space" comp on hotflush. i think in the rush to judgment this one was a bit overrated.

Vahid, Ramadanman's "Blimey" is on Ben UFO's Blogariddims mix from late last year:

Ben UFO: Blogariddims 26 / This Is The News

1. Loscil - Rorshahk (Kranky)
2. Ramadanman - Blimey (Unreleased)
3. Untold - Test Signal (Forthcoming Hessle Audio)
4. Mala - Learn (DMZ)
5. TRG and Selector Dub U - Harajuku (Unreleased)
6. Pangaea - Antistatic [Ramadanman remix] (Unreleased)
7. Ranking Crew - Son of Thunder (Unreleased)
8. Ramadanman - Drowning [Kablammo remix] (Unreleased)
9. Terror Danjah - Green Street (Aftershock)
10. D1 - Malfunction (Tempa)
11. Headhunter - Techo (Unreleased)
12. Kode 9 - Ping (Rephlex)
13. Untold - Kingdom [Pangaea remix] (Unreleased)
14. DQ1 - Gud Money (Tectonic)
15. Cloak and Dagger - My Lips Are Sealed (Unreleased)
16. Peverelist - Erstwhile [Forsaken remix] (Unreleased)
17. Martyn - Suburbia (Unreleased)
18. 2562 - Resistance Dub (Unreleased)
19. Groove Chronicles - Masterplan (White)
20. Pangaea - Coiled (Forthcoming Hessle Audio)
21. Matty G - 808 Bass (Unreleased)
22. El-B and Rolla - Serious (Locked On)
23. TRG - Decisions (Unreleased)
24. Martyn - Storm Watch (Unreleased

what are the best sites to buy dubstep mp3s? hearing these tracks sooner than a couple months after they're released would be nice sometimes

the starkey album is great, or does that not go here? more dubstep and less sinden than 'street bass anthems' but surprisingly good even after the promo on generation bass. anyone know where to find the version of 'gutter music' with durrty goodz on the newest blackdown rinse podcast?

new LV on hyperdub is also very nice, love 'cctv's rad bendy sax line!

er not rinse, mary anne hobbs show with geiom and ramadanman

where are you lucas? actually, that doesn't really matter these days.

bleep.com has a few and boomkat.com 'stocks' all the planet mu, hyperdub, scuba, tectonic...

beatport and junodownload are pretty good

There are minor price differences between the four though, right, which adds up if you have to buy each track individually.

but all between a third and a quarter the price of the vinyl...

Yeah even beatport (which is the most expensive, I believe) is cheaper than that.

Hey lucas, the Gutter Music vocal w/Goodz will be out next year on Keysound. You can download it as part of the Mary Anne Hobbs mix here: http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2008/11/dusk-blackdown-v-mah.html