🥁 Dubstep

“Dubstep can be described as the only true innovative Dance genre since 2000 (alongside Grime), and is sometimes even labeled as a super-genre on its own. After all, it’s hard to categorize; falling somewhere in between Breakbeat, Drum ‘n’Bass, Downtempo and Jamaican music (Dub). Drum ‘n’ Bass is chosen here, as Dubstep is most closely related to its subculture and most similar in instrumentation and sound manipulation, but there are large differences.”

As for its formation, it is important to note that it is associated with the names of garage performers looking for underground sounds and separated from the garage after the genre spread. The names of the experimenters include El-B, Oris Jay, Steve Gurley and Zed Bias.

It is worth knowing about the peculiarities of the genre that it typically ranges from 135 to 145 bpm, shattered rhythms, the bass well known from dub in a slightly more modern way; can also be called distopic in terms of its atmosphere.

“Dubstep is basically halftime Grime and 2-Step, with maybe some light Dub flavoring (and when I say light I mean light mayonnaise light – this is a genre that went from the London black underground to offensively white Canadian frat dickheads within a nanosecond).”

“2004 was a year of breakthrough. Rephlex, known as Aphex Twin, released two selections featuring prominent dubstep performers called Grime and Grime 2, respectively. BBC Radio 1’s record label Mary Ann Hobbs’ Dubstep Warz has been airing weekly since 2006. In the same year, the trend reached the general public through the Anglo-American co-production Children of Men; in the science-fiction film we can hear recordings from Digital Mystikz, Kode9, DJ Pinch, Pressure and Random Trio.”

The following names are worth noting if someone is more seriously interested in the genre.

Benga, Burial, Coki, Digital Mystikz, DJ Genius, DJ Hatcha, Kode9, Loefah, Plastician, Skream, Slaughter Mob, Toasty. In the field of labels: Big Apple Records (Mixing Records), DMZ Records, Hotflush, Hyperdub, Immigrant, Skull Disco, Tempa.

You can find more details about its formation and development on Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music, and you can listen to dubstep music right away. https://music.ishkur.com/?query=Dubstep

The Every Noise at Once platform provides an opportunity for people to get to know better the names of the creators who have ever been in the genre and thus the peculiarities of it. https://everynoise.com/everynoise1d.cgi?root=classic dubstep&scope=all

Sources

• MENNYEK KAPUI - Az elektroniks zene evtizede (The decade of electronic music)

• Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music

• Every Noise at Once

About the Author

Guido F. Matis (a.k.a. widosub), a seasoned producer-composer authority with an unquenchable compassion towards the musical expression, and many years of experience in the fields of event organizing, movie post-production, and recording with professional musicians. His devotion to movie sounds shows in his art - widosub’s music is filled with landscapes of emotions, dramatic twists and melancholic moods. He’s one of the hosts of Tilos Radio’s MustBeat show, in which he’s is focusing on drum’n’bass and chillout music. He’s also one half of the duo Empty Universe.