I’m not British, and I’ve never been to a “Rave,” so I won’t pretend to possess expertise when it comes to Dubstep. That said, I know what I like, and two things that I like very much are bass, and synthesizers. Both happen to be things that Dubstep possesses in mass quantities. Birthed from the loins of UK Garage/2-Step (itself largely an accoutrement of the Jungle scene), Dubstep mashes the shuffly drum-programming of 2-Step with the darker synths and heavy bass of Jungle/D-N-B, performs a rhythmic sleight-of-hand that makes it all sound simultaneously half-speed and double-time, and drenches the result in a sparse, druggy haze of Dub Reggae-influenced effects. Basically, if you’ve ever listened to a Grime track and thought to yourself “this would sound great without some douchey English bloke (sorry English blokes) rapping on it” Dubstep might appeal to you.
After Grime broke in the states a few years back it’s instrumental half-brother Dubstep has begun crossing the Atlantic too. And of late, more-and-more Dubstep records have been making their way to our shores, and via more-and-more conspicuous outlets. Soul Jazz Records, home of obscurist compilations and rare-album-represses recently released a compilation called Box of Dub, featuring some of the “big names” of the Dubstep scene including Skream (who’s “Midnight Request Line,” which is not on the compilation, you need to hear), Digital Mystikz, and Kode9, among others. And though it’s not always easy to follow a subterranean music genre from a foreign land, it’s the releases from the UK labels specializing in the genre that have been my main interest.
One such label that pops up often in my rummaging is Tempa, and a recent highlight from their catalog is the 6-track Trial Run EP from West-London-based producer D1. The title track, which sounds like a mutant hybrid of the extended-bass-hum and pizzicato synths from Swizz Beatz‘ “Money in the Bank” and “It’s Me Bitches” getting rapid-fire kicked-to-death by a drum-machine while a prissy ’80s Synthpop band plays keyboards in the background, was what initially caught my ear. But the cut that blew my wig back was “Mind and Soul,” which finds D1 flipping a recent tune by an Indie soultress who will remain nameless (I assume the sampling wasn’t done by permission) at a chipmunk-style tempo, and then dropping the mellow keys, rumbling sub-bass and drum programming at half-speed. It was a serious “oh shit” moment when I first heard it.
In a way Dubstep reminds me of the non-booty variety of Miami Bass that was nothing but crazy bass-tones that people used to use to test car-stereo systems. And in another it feels a lot like a very bassy version of early House and Techno (which actually makes sense, being spawned from Garage), with the cheesy synths but without the four-on-the-floor beats. And whether you’re inclined to dance to it or chill to it, I’m sure it’s got to sound totally unreal on a heavy sound system. Damn these headphones!
-El Keter