LeninsTomb presents… Dubstep Dossier

Dubstep and drum-and-bass are kissing cousins, so it’s no surprise to see DnB producers slow down their breakbeats and get in on the subsonic fun. Both lend themselves to massive, enveloping tracks where bass, drums, and synths build and crash like the soundtrack for the Apocalypse, just at different tempos.

Mt Eden, a producer out of New Zealand, has successfully made the transition from DnB to dubstep by remixing and reworking a wide range of tracks. The key for Mt Eden (real name Jesse Cooper) is finding songs with a solid sense of atmosphere and melodrama, qualities that are accentuated by the addition of some wobble: Bat for Lashes’ “Daniel” and Imogen Heap’s “Let Go,” for example.

His track “Sierra Leone” relies on a sample from Freshlyground’s “I’d Like,” adding the original’s trademark ohhs and ahhs to an oscillating bassline and a jumpy backbeat:

Ludacris – How Low – CASPA REMIX by Mercury Records

SmithBWare presents… "THE UNINFORMED OPINION" – Dubstep (Review of David Rodigan, DI, Skream, Benga and Caspa @ London’s Fabric 3/19/10)

19 year old Towson University student Stephon Smith isn’t a hipster. He isn’t a music nerd either. He’s a college student who happens to listen to the radio and follow popular trends. He’s the average “uninformed” listener who likely up until Pitbull began rapping over electro only knew Bmore club as the stuff they played on Friday night on 92Q in Bmore, and certainly had no idea who David Guetta was or even how to spell his name. Truth is, Smith represents the average American musical consumer, someone just not covered by the blogosphere, until now. TGRIOnline.com has decided to loose Smith, and his “uninformed” opinions on popular artists and musical styles that are all the rage in the underground we know and love. Today’s victim, dubstep. The womp of hate or the dubplates of love, Smith is at present on a study abroad program in England, and when noting that David Rodigan, Caspa, Benga, Skream, and D1 were playing London’s Fabric, it was clear that our new favorite neophyte social musicologist needed to be called in to report. Do enjoy this insighful (or inciteful) review.

Who called the police? Fabric here in south London called the police! They didn’t just call any police, they called the Dub Police. Top dubste DJ’s David Rodigan, Caspa, Benga, Skream, and D1 all took to the stage in an evening of insanely dope dubplates that arrested the mind, body, and souls of the crowd from 10PM to 6AM. I arrived slightly late to the door opening time of 10PM by 15 minutes but upon entering the club, there was already a good sized crowd swarming about not only on the dance floor but off as well. As a matter of fact, there was no ‘official’ dance floor as the crowd pulled out their zombie like body convulsions anywhere they damn well pleased and nobody cared or got in their way.

When DJ D1 took to the stage everything from then on was pure gold and to see who could last for the night as the energy level rose off the charts. I personally considered D1 to be a bass tease as he would build with some light tracks and then drop an insanely sick dub plate on the crowd only to spin it back and start the entire process over. He had a really enjoyable set and warmed the crowd up nicely for the remainder of the performances for that night.

At the end of D1’s set a really energetic old white man with an orange shirt came on stage. I personally thought he was staff just messing about onstage but I soon had my hand in the air as the legendary David Rodigan not only dropped old and new reggae tunes but gave the packed crowd an excellent dubstep and reggae history lesson. Hands were in the air, ganj was lit in various areas of the crowd, and Rodigan carried us all to an amazing time with authentic reggae. His energy was just off the charts as he dropped a track, came from behind the deck, and interacted with the crowd. Rodigan dropped an original dubplate from Kingston, Jamaica’s own King Tubby and the crowd showed nothing but love for the music being played. If anything it was reminiscent of a rap concert the way the crowd was going. Many of us in the crowd without even knowing each other just looked and said “He’s too fucking good!” Rodigan was THAT awesome folks.

David Rodigan dropped some good ol’ Major Lazer at the end with “Hold The Line” and then causing a mosh pit to form for “Pon De Floor”. Rodigan then brought his set to a close with a sing along with Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”. It was then that Caspa took to the stage and from there on it was nothing but heavy heavy heavy heavy heavy heaaaavvyyy dub plates. Caspa dropped tracks so heavy you were likely to have an involuntary bowel movement or leave with a heart palpitation. Since I couldn’t handle anything after the “Pon De Floor” mosh pit, I went to the top deck of the room and saw that it was nothing but a mosh pit for Caspa’s entire set. The man did not let up at all and the crowds stuck with him the entire time. Dancers overflowed from the dance floor into well…everywhere as anywhere you turned around somebody was dancing.

Caspa’s set was then to be followed by the tandem of Skream and Benga. Skream opened up with his remix of “Riot Music” by Donae’o which I expected. The sound drew me right back into the crowd but by this point the fervor of the crowd was too much for me to handle. It was just mosh, mosh, and more moshing as Skream and Benga jumped on and off the deck dropping insane tracks on the crowd. Unfortunately, I had to exit the club at this point which was almost 4AM. Skream and Benga were only just getting started around that time and I’m sure the party didn’t stop until 6 in the morning.

Overall, I fell in love with dubstep last night and had a really amazing time. Dubstep tracks are at their best when heard on a really good sound system which allows their full potential to be heard. This also slightly confirmed my suspicion that dubstep tracks may only be good on high quality sound systems which means It’ll be tough for a completely dub based track to be commercial. As I said before, I could never get the full effect of any dubstep track from any retail sound system somebody or I picked up. To truly enjoy dubstep, I believe it has to be heard in the club or if you’re fortunate then on a really expensive sound system. Last night also showed that dubstep is the popular youth movement here in the UK and it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. I have a lot more respect for reggae and dubstep coming out of this thanks to all of the aforementioned DJ’s.

David Rodigan was the top performer last night and if you didn’t know about dubstep or the awesomeness of reggae before then, you’ve just been informed.

MIXTAPE REVIEW: LUVSTEP – The Mix That Saved Dubstep Forever

 DOWNLOAD HERE

This mix will make everyone fall in love with dubstep. Really. Even you. Yes you.

Philly Brick Bandts Crew leader Dirty South Joe and unheralded midwest born, now East Coast swinging DJ Flufftronix are the two most unlikely candidates to save a genre of electronic music with deep English and Jamaican roots. But it’s 2010, technology has changed everything, and, well, throw in the fact that the duo have ties to Mad Decent Records, and that’s really all you need to know. Mad Decent isn’t at the vanguard of the international underground by accident. Their ability to synthesize and repackage local and cultural dance music trends with alluring and intentionally bizarre packaging makes the label receive heaps of scorn from the blogosphere and music community in general. But what the label has done for Brazil’s baile funk, Baltimore’s club music, Jamaican dancehall, and soon traditional Latino rhythms and freestyle, the label has now done for dubstep. Dirty South Joe and Flufftronix’s Luvstep mix, in so unapologetically embracing the undulating basslines and massive dubplates endemic to the sound, and utilizing specific tracks that highlight the R & B, minimal and drum and bass tendencies of the sound, succeed in making the genre tolerable, entertaining and *gasp* fun.

American dubstep pioneer Starkey opens the mix with a five minute primer explaining the differences between and basically exploring, exploiting and destroying the notion of the heavier dubstep style describing it as “dark and moody.” That “dark and moody” sound is also constantly linked in the past tense, implying it’s dead, gone, and evolved into the smoother more palatable to the mainstream sound on the mix. Dubstep champions Skream, Joker and Caspa’s remixes are here, alongside originals from Starkey and Rusko. The rest of the mix is exemplary as well, as the XX’s mix of “You’ve Got the Love” is here, the most “barely there” dusbstep track of 2009 and an addition that speaks to mainstreaming of the sound for sure.

If a hater of dubstep, or someone not willing to have an opinion on the sound quite yet, you can do no wrong in listening to this for an hour as it’s emotive, evocative, and soulful, and at no point do you feel like there’s a knob twiddling madman attempting to stomp out your soul or melt your face with noise. It’s a fine addition that will add to the longevity and mainstream potential of the sound, and gives it legs in the American mainstream trending underground.

FINAL ANALYSIS: COP / DON’T COP