Dubstep
 

there's been alot of pming going on today with dubstep albums, so here's a thread!
the scene is a good 4 years old now, and there are dubstep nights all over the world. where I used to live the dubstep raves are on a par with drum n bass these days, good thing. here's a doc that explains things:



I went to Bristol in 2003. I had a McDonalds and saw a red taxi. How boring was Bristol before dubstep? The Bristol dubstep scene seems to tie in pretty well with the trip-hop of the 90's. Ambient and trippy but with a unique twist.

There are a lot of musically interesting things happening in dubstep and it's a genre that is very expansive.

Talking of Trip-Hop. Do you think releases like Tricky's Maxinquaye and Massive Attack's Mezzanine are possibly the first dubstep albums? Although the sound is obviously different now, if you listen to those albums you can hear that dark ambience underpinning it all.

Another little tip is to search for Dubstep club mixes (which are usually legal) and you get to hear so much underground stuff and they are usually taken straight off the master desk so are good quality.

Kode 9 & the Apespace has a bigger Reggae vibe than people like Burial.

Also check out:

Kulture.
Ms.Haptic.

Definitely, there's something in the water down in Bristol. But I think dubstep relies alot more on the sub-levels for it's riddims that you don't get with trip hop.

That element doesn't comes across particularly well in the videos either, you need a decent soundsystem with the bass right up. The raves though, my god, you feel the melodies in your chest cavity more than you hear them...
Admittedly disconcerting at first but it's addictive. You can trace the whole thing back through London's Afro-Caribbean population, soundsystem culture, dancehall and reggae.

I think DMZ is a monthly thing now, my ex-flatmate and I were planning to go but never did... smoking spliffs on the dancefloor, hoods up and skanking were the order of the day. Smoking ban has obviously rubbished that though. Pah

Hey jackhammer, thanks for the Kode 9 & the Spaceape album man :)

I got into dubstep recently when I checked out Burial's selftitled, which was amazing. Love the dark, urban vibes from it, and the follow up Untrue was pretty boss as well (thanks again jackhammer ;)).

I just listened to Skream's selftitled a few days back and dug that as well. I was speaking to a guy at about Dubstep at a SKULLFLOWER gig of all things on Saturday nite, and he was recommending Benja and Kode 9. Also.....Kode 9 & the Spaceape are playing at the art scool near where I live, so that's a timely upload by yerself jackhammer. I'm gonna check that gig out.

I'm d/ling an album by Benja on soulseek just now as well.

I got hold of the Benja album today and will give it a listen later.

It makes me laugh that London has already moved off from Dubstep & Bassline and has now moved on to funky house. Anyone listened to any funky house?

Funky house has been around for ever! I have a few compilations knocking around. Cafe Del Mar's Chillhouse 2 disc sets are excellent.

Even Geeneous (the godfather of Grime) has jumped on the Funky House bandwagon, I find it odd because it just doesn't have that dark edge like Grime or Dubstep.

Yeah they are quite dissimilar in sound and the market that they cater for but that's London scensters for ya!

funky house, in the modern sense, does my head in, Rinse FM wiped out grime last september only to fill the gap with funky DJ's. It's just personal taste but I find it vapid, like pussified rave music.
Electro house, however, is fun and I'll upload a mix if anyone is interested.
Bassline is doing alot IMO, even if it's essentially UK garage with a new name. Seriously this could have been made in 1999>>>