I’m already compiling some thoughts on dubstep in 2008 among many other thoughts, most of which probably don’t deserve airing but will nonetheless get posted during the course of December. I tend to think I keep up relatively well with some house and techno, but dubstep to me is something I only dip into and know pretty much nothing about. What always strikes me is how personal it all sounds – especially these sets, which have tracklists that just say quietly ‘this is my musical history, this is what I love, maybe you’ll like it too’. I enjoy this sound immensely, but there’s only so much time in the day, which is so frustrating! The things I’m posting here are the kinds of things that make me wish I had more time to enjoy ALL the really very exciting music being produced right now, and also being played in clubs here in London, irrespective of how fast it is or how much I already know about it. I guess I also need to work on my 140bpm shuffle…
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The main point of this post is this mix from Paul Rose aka Scuba, the creator of one of the year’s best albums: A Mutual Antipathy. This podcast is from XLR8R magazine, a site that I’ve completely neglected in spite of the number of great pieces I’ve read there, not least when G linked me to one of the best interviews I’ve ever read. I’m getting distracted now. This podcast is just as distinctive as the album, starting early with Marcel Dettmann’s current remix of ‘From Within‘ before seguing into an extraordinary piece called ‘Maybes’ by Mount Kimbie. This track is pretty much shoegaze vs UK Garage and it sounds INCREDIBLE. Sigha’s ‘Expansions’ sounds great at ~140bpm but I’d love to hear it slowed down a bit…apparently it’s not out until 2009 though, so I guess I’ll have to wait.
The rest of the mix continues to elude classification in the best possible way. I’m not the only one that thinks Martyn is one of the most exciting producers working on this type of music right now, and his version of Scuba’s ‘‘The Upside’ makes a late appearance, although in a very raved-up guise (what a difference a few extra beats per minute can make). Then Scuba mixes in Toasty, whose Splash/Skinny EP is one of the best dubstep EPs I’ve heard, with an incredible garage vocal and seriously attacking percussion. Great track. Another Mount Kimbie track makes for a beautiful Oval-esque finish.
Scuba – XLR8R Podcast: 10245 Dubstep Mix (direct link)
01 Shackleton “The Rope Tightens (Badawi Remix)”
02 Scuba “From Within (Marcel Dettmann Remix)”
03 Mount Kimbie “Maybes”
04 Scuba “Bleach”
05 Sigha “Expressions”
06 Pangaea “Bear Witness”
07 STP “The Fall (T++ remix)”
08 Untold “Sweat”
09 Scuba “Tense”
10 Scuba “Ruptured (Surgeon Remix)”
11 Sigha “Bruised”
12 Baby Ford + Eon “Dead Eye”
13 F “The Untitled Dub”
14 Scuba “The Upside (Martyn’s Down Mix)”
15 Toasty “The Knowledge (Untold Remix)”
16 Mount Kimbie “William”
I really need to hear that ‘Maybes’ track out somewhere…incredible stuff. For me this is a very very exciting mix and I’ve got more motivation now to go out and try and hear it in a club. Unfortunately Scuba’s next London date – 13th December at the Rhythm Factory – clashes with Süd Electronic’s Yuletide knees-up (Efdemin, Jus-Ed, RNDM, Lakuti = Heaven), so I’ll have to wait until the next time.
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That should be enough for now, but in case it’s not, then Appleblim’s latest all-over-the-place Rinse FM podcast is up here, featuring older tracks from A Guy Called Gerald, Plaid, 4 Hero and, uh, This Heat, before the usual selection of alarmingly well-produced ‘dubplates’, including those new Scuba remixes. (Seriously, I feel so stupid talking about this stuff without any actual knowledge…I guess I just want to share?!) I want to see Appleblim DJ again sometime, but maybe on a night when the walls aren’t pulsating quite so much…
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Finally, I recommend Geiom’s latest Rinse FM mix, which sounds so fucking refreshing you have no idea. I’m not going to use the word ‘eclectic’ (I hate it! But oh shit I used it) – maybe ‘polymathic’ or something? Just check it out:
Geiom – Rinse FM Propellor Mix (direct link)
1. Bleriot monoplane
2. Anne Marie – Just waiting for you
3. DJ T – The dawn
4. Main Street – New day
5. Ricardo Villalobos – Minimonster – Shackleton refix
6. Maurizio – M5
7. No solitude ?
8. Stephan Bodzin – Station 72
9. Kym Mazelle – Love me the right way
10. Drive you crazy ?
11. Artwork – Rank
12. Pattie Blingh – 2562 refix
13. Zed Bias – The cauldron
14. Geiom – Sprung ticket
15. Gemmy – Bass Transmitter
16. Geiom and Earlybird – Net weight
17. Even – Order
18. ELb and Roxy – Bad
19. Black Knight – Round 2
20. Shut up and dance – Epileptic – Martyn refix
21. Isan – Willowy
I mean holy shit listen to it! You just have to hear it to witness it, I suppose. Geiom is also partly responsible for one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year, ‘Shreds’ with Appleblim, and it doesn’t even have a release date yet. Luckily I’ve got Ricardo and Kym Mazelle to tide me over until then.
Damn some of this stuff is so exciting! Why isn’t there any more TIME?!
well that pretty much covers everything i was planning to say in my next post over at the ssgs… so i will simply say ‘yes. i agree completely!’
I like the fact that dubstep and its main producers have shifted away from (well some never produced it), jump up sort dubstep the sort of music Skream! started out with. I have a few friends who are heavily into dubstep & they say its like the same as a techno buyer going out and also buying electro house & playing it all in the same set & they’re quite snobby about this too (in a love for their music sort of way) if that makes sense. But yes I’m getting more and more into the techno/ dubstep sounds & I think artists like Shed etc are doing a good job with pushing it in our faces. If I’m correct, Toasty used to be Toasty Boy, look up some of his music as Toasty Boy, truly amazing stuff, his breezeblock session is magic.
Süd Electronic’s Yuletide knees-up (Efdemin, Jus-Ed, RNDM, Lakuti = Heaven
^^^^^^^^^ Christmas come early, are Efdemin & RNDM joining forces as Pigon? eitherway its a house lineup to die for!
chris – haha well you should post it anyway! i hope lots of people hear this scuba podcast, truly exciting stuff.
i guess some of the best dubstep (e.g. these mixes, especially the geiom one) don’t really give a shit about genres, they just play all sorts of stuff and it sounds great together. that’s why i like ricardo so much – he plays so much different shit (and he’s not averse to electro…although i’m sure people would tell me in his hands it’s not really ‘electro’ or whatever). in fact it’s ricardo who was responsible for my first realisation about speeding up techno/slowing down dubstep, when I heard him playing Toasty’s (as Toastyboy) ‘Skinny’ in the recording of his Fabric birthday mix. It sounds incredible at normal speed, but equally amazing at the slower speed.
Geiom does a lot of that sped up stuff in his mix – it works most of the time (although I don’t like how the Stephan Bodzin sounds).
I think efdemin & rndm are playing separately, although who knows…it’s only going til 4am as far as I can tell so I hope each of them gets enough time to get into it…or that the license is relaxed enough to allow a later finish. can’t wait.
by the way – anyone in london, geiom’s playing as part of the huge Why Not? dubstep night at the The Scala this Friday. I’ve already got a date booked with Prosumer (dinner, dancing, maybe back to my place…) but if I wasn’t going to that, I’d be going to this:
http://www.whynotdubstep.com/images/whynot_poster_1k.png
you guys seen this ?
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event-detail.aspx?id=72216
i’m still picking my jaw up from the floor, i’ve just been staring at the line up for about 10 mins!!
seriously thinking about this…
I know what can you say…
Shame I’ve already arranged for an Oxford roofparty followed by High School Musical marathon.
Good post, looking forward to checking the mixes. Appleblim seems to have a wide knowledge of music, I wish more club sets where as wide ranging as this!
I feel like Im the other way around from you, dubstep and dnb being my forte and where I feel securely knowledgeable but still trying to get my head around this house & techno thing. The techno / dubstep crossover has been discussed at length, but it’s still evolving and I hope it goes somewhere fruitfull and interesting.
The Lee Jones RA podcast used slow down dubstep in an interesting way too.
@ joe h: that Substance thing is indeed amazing, Im hoping I’ll be able to make it, hitchhike my way to berlin or something!
bah, off course I meant the nye at Berghain, but the next substance is huge too:
http://myspace.com/substanceclub
karl – your october lounge mix looks absolutely wonderful, i’m downloading now. that flying lotus album is very exciting, and jose james/romanthony/theo parrish/ricardo…can’t really say no to that. i’m looking forward to hearing the other tracks too.
my housemate went to see theo parrish DJ recently and apparently his set was the very definition of ‘wide-ranging’ – just totally what Theo wanted to play, never mind what people wanted to hear, and better for it. I’d like to check him out one day.
oyd11 said…
brilliant mix!
anyone knows what’s the “No solitude ?” track? it’s so cute!
i really liked the scuba mix, as well as everything you’ve been doing in the last few months too, thanks joe.
thanks todd – i’m very glad.
Just today geiom posted this on his myspace blog:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=66848247&blogID=451980783
looks like it’s worth a listen (again) – especially for the Mount Kimbie mix.
also Mount Kimbie have posted samples from their first EP:
http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie
including a snippet of ‘Maybes’, which means my hearing-it-in-full-quality dreams will be coming true. wicked.
worth a listen if you can put up with mary anne-hobbes being REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING, that is.
haha i take it you dont like MAH then? she is a bit like marmite, i really like her & that sexy, husky voice has kept me up many a night listening to the breezeblock
@teleost: thanks, hope you enjoy the mix ;). Theo Parrish is probably number one on my “have to see this dj soon” list, from all accounts his plastic people residency is great, Theo getting into his groove for a whole night, eclectic but exciting! Although Im no detroit/theo evangelist and don’t have his every track, his music is great and the red bull music academy thing he did is my favorite of them all, so inspiring: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/video-archive/lectures/theo_parrish__3_cheers_for_the_d
Flying Lotus is doing the next essential mix it appears.
And lastly, a mah/marmite comparison seems apt, and Im not even british! She has good taste, great guest dj’s/bands but the hyperbole whispered over every track just gets to much sometimes!
yep it’s the husky whispering that gets to me, as if everything is turning her on – which in the end makes everything she says less meaningful.
Thanks for the Theo link – I have to say I have a bad impression of him generally because everything I’ve read about him/by him seems to be pretty aggressive, but maybe that’s just a kneejerk reaction. I’ll have a look at the video and i’ll try and be at the next Plastic People gig (I still haven’t been!)