After 2006’s buoyant year for Dubstep, I found 2007 to be a very lacklustre affair in the chest-rattlin department. Sure, Burial received critical praise for Untrue, Boxcutter released an album that counted as a dubstep fusion album, The Bug continued his run of excellent collaborations with Warrior Queen and I enjoyed tracks from the likes of Durrty Goodz, Skepta, Caspa/Rusko and of late, some of Pinch’s Underwater Dancehall release yet a heavy hitter such as Skream was notably absent.
What I’m hearing more and more is Dubstep amalgamating into weak, miminal patterns with not an awful lot to keep your attention. Some of it has become so devoid of ideas that it’s hard to distinguish between the tracks in any capacity. Largley gone is the electronic experimentation, brain-melting low frequencies that made the original Mary Ann Hobbs Dubstep Warz so incendiary and on the cusp of something palpably unique. Much of this may be down to copycat producers making flaccid records that sound like dubstep but lack urgency and skill. Maybe’s it’s down to personal taste, but I find much of the currently popular dubstep characterised by sparse instrumentation very uninspiring.
Here in Dublin, thanks to !Kaboogie’s regular night Wobble, Dubstep has been top of the agenda for 2007 and looks set to continue into 2008. Another interesting development in this camp, is the establishment this month of !Kaboogie records with a launch on Friday the 25th of January in Traffic. Serving also as a 2nd birthday celebration, live acts on the night include Warlock (rag&bone), Sunil Sharpe (mantrap/spindizzy), Thatboytim (takeover) and Major Grave (!kaboogie) with a limited number of !Kaboogie Records sampler CDs being handed out featuring the likes of 2-bit, Grizzle, Ed Devane, Prince Kong, Major Grave, Lakker and A-Force.
Also in the pipeline, are some tasty vinyl releases featuring a bigger international act/acts on one side, with quality local acts on the b-side. The first vinyl release includes Aaron Spectre and Prince Kong (who is just back from recording with Warrior Queen in London). The releases promise to be coming thick and fast so I’m hoping that my dubstep languor will be re-invigorated by these imminent happenings.
MP3s
Pinch – Brighter Day featuring Juakali
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Pinch_-_Brighter Day_ft_Juakali.mp3]Raidio Na Life Irish dubs mix by Colz (Divshare)
1. Oh Yes I – Prof. Ruff Chuff
2. Unknown Souljah – Radikal Guru
3. Spanik Sabotage(Budstep Remix) – 2Bit vs SEBP
4. Menace – Arus Na Dub
5. Catalogue C – Jonny Oakley
6. 48 Hours – Grizzle
7. Come Together – Major Grave
8. Concrete Rumble – Madd Axxe
9. Moonstomp – Colz
10. A Tone – Fono One
11. Believe – T-woc
12. Stale Cheese and onion – Colz
13. Rainfall – Grizzle
14. Wiser – Arus Na Dub
15. Bass Is A Canyon – Jonny Oakley
16. Ancient Archive – 2Bit
17. The Evacuation – Major Grave
18. The Warning (Remix) – Colz
19. Warriors Dub – Radikal Guru
20. Language – Fono One
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
shud be a gud un alright.
nice one nialler!
Agreed on the sentiments above. Dubstep is still OK despite a plethora of copycat producers, but there wasnt much floating my boat in recent months. I still dont understand what the attraction of the Pinch album is. Boring as hell. Compare that to the likes of “Skeng” and it sounds really weak. The grime-leaning material is much more interesting and energetic, likewise the 2-step beats as pushed by Burial (even if it is done with lots of dark, gritty, cinematic etc etc) give the music a bit of bounce and grind, stopping it drifting into bass sludge. But personally as a Dublin techno yokehead whiteboy, I’m really looking forward to Villalobos coming in May. Hopefully his set will be more interesting than last time in Traffic (when he was locked on vodka).
If by sparse instrumentation you’re referring to the likes of Shackleton & Applebim, I’d have to disagree as I’ve played those on repeat. However I also missed something timeless like ‘9 Samurai’ or actually just about the entire Kode9 & The Spaceape album.
Pinch ft. Rudy Lee – Step 2 It, I thought, was a good example of how mellow dubstep can work and not be as boring as hell. It’s a nice easy dub – and hey, we all love a good easy skank.
speak for yourself there brother… IMHO “good easy skanks” last about thirty seconds on a dancefloor before the vast majority of punters get bored out of their minds and drift back to their seats/pints/smokes. fair enough if you want to whack it on when you’re all “back to mine” but i’d rather hear something coming out of a sound system that makes me want to jump up and get sweaty, rather than put on my slippers and have a cup of hot chocolate.
you should check out Kush Arora if you haven’t; dude out of San Fran who mixes dub and Indian instruments with jazz and some seriously mind numbing basslines. It’s a really interesting, innovative take on dubstep I discovered this past year.
What are your thoughts on Earlybird blasting onto the scene in 2008? You like his stuff? I know he’s better known as d.j. but his own work is straight dub.
I must admit the Burial album just comepletely blew me away this year but while it may not transfer on to the dancefloor in the ‘chest rattlin’ sense even if he did play live I think theres enough bass and melody to get me groovin, as does Skream, warrior queen and some of the Rusko and Caspa stuff. I must admit im not a big fan of the minimal stuff the Skull Disco guys did last year.
Lets be honest though, dubstep is just another (fantstic) form of electro which is persistently evolving and creating new sub genres.
Gonna definitely try and make to Traffic next Friday night.
Also, i just thought Id mention – I went to see No Country for Old Men this evening, what an amazing film!
[quote post=”980″]Also, i just thought Id mention – I went to see No Country for Old Men this evening, what an amazing film![/quote]
Good to hear, can’t wait to see it!
Nice selection on the mp3, Brighter Day is defo my fave’s tune from the Pinch album, such a tune.
What i do really like in the dubstep scene is that amalgamation and such a variation and influences in their sounds, Burial, Boxcutter, Appleblim, Shackleton, Geiom, 2562, Benga, Skream, so many other names and so many different patterns, surely that theres a lot of artists nowadays and its a bit difficult to keep the originality and the inspiration back in the days, when there was only Burial, Kode9 and a few bunch of others producers, still there’s some contributors with an amazing blend of atmospheres and electronics.
Anyway theres some great things in the pipeline for this year, Appleblim contribution to Tempa´s legendary Dubstep All-Stars mix series installment, Benga’s new album, Scuba’s debut album as well as Vaccine’s debut and some other great things to come.
Keep locked
I always thought it was a shame the ‘forced’ divergence between the grime n dubstep scenes (mainly due to the difficulty of putting on grime MCs due to negative police/media reactions). If there’s one thing that can liven up a half-step skanker it’s high energy spittin over the top…not that i’m keen to see dubstep go down DnB’s MC nevershutthafuckup culture (dangerous trends in that direction already)
The rawness of grime couples with the production sophistication of dubstep to create tracks far better than the sum of the parts (on that note last year did see Skreams remix of Black Ghosts and the Klaxons…nice examples of how to do ‘vocal dubstep’ in a non-grimey way).
Ya can check
http://www.mc-beezy.com
for some grime meets dubstep clash albums/mixtapes. Be warned this guy gets filthy/blasphemous/hilarious.
Ah, Beezy is the bwai!
‘peek-a-boo, benga!!!’
Suprised to see 2007 put down as a bad year for dubstep.
It was the one genre this year that blended so well with others, taking many forms be it minimal, detroit influenced or the 4/4 variety thats being hailed by the likes of 2562 and a lot of the tectonic crew.
Skream was very prolific in 2007, these were all good except for dark side of life, check:
All these are major chest rattlers with the exception of the soul jazz release.
Assumptions
Political Warfare Radical
Retro Wake Up
Sub Island
Sandsnake Movin Snarez
Skreamizm Vol. 4
I can only see good things happening for dubstep in 2008 with new labels and its other guises it may take.
props on the beezy link!
i agree M, 2007 saw some great developments, and I think Skream has put out some great productions in 07(sandsnake, 2D, tek a pill etc), plus Benga’s new album is an absolute dancefloor smasher, his best work to date I reckon. Expect more energetic tracks in 08……
ez, just a little records straightner.. wobble is actually not a kaboogie gig as such but a result of a collab of richie from kaboogie, don rosco of bassbin and meself from alphabet set..
3 is the magic number 😉
Just found out…Ancient Archive in DJ Distance’s show on Rinse 🙂
http://rinsefm.blogspot.com/2008/01/distance-15th-january.html
[quote post=”980″]ez, just a little records straightner.. wobble is actually not a kaboogie gig as such but a result of a collab of richie from kaboogie, don rosco of bassbin and meself from alphabet set..[/quote]
Oops! Should have checked the facts there.
How to dance to Dubstep
http://soundtracksforthem.blogspot.com/2008/01/vidiot-dubstep-dance-demonstration-and.html
[quote post=”980″]Just found out…Ancient Archive in DJ Distance’s show on Rinse :)[/quote]
^^shameless plug! 😉 dl….
on the dubstep / grime divergence thing i think at this stage there’s increasing blend / overlap…like for instance durrty goodz axiom ep which includes a previously released instrumental by coki, also on prancehall
‘s anger is a gift mixtape
rusty and starkey are two other producers as well who’s sound is both grimey and dubby…
yeah agree colz, that benga stuff is in a league of its own. it was bengas newstep cd that cemented my love for the dubstep sound back in early 2006.
looking forward to this wobble show, altough dont think aaron spectre is on the first 12″ release, pretty sure its all irish artists. c u all there..
Boxcutter performs exclusively for the first time in Ireland as a three
piece band with drummer / synths / sampler / guitar. Support from Stasis
Artists: Ed Devane [featuring his self-made instrument] Kachanski &
Patch.
Special sound install €6,000 for the night
Dublin | 22.02.08 | 4 Dame Lane | €12 with CD