Since Sir Darkly’s been chewing up the blogosphere with his impeccable taste, smooth mixing and razor-sharp haircut… I thought I’d mark my territory with a dubstep post – with a selection of old and new.
Davinche’s ‘Phaze’ isn’t strictly dubstep, but may be familiar to some: found in a number of 2005 grime, dubstep and bassline mixes; the track ‘Phaze’ has since dissappeared into relative obscurity, unlike some of the instrumental-grime and dubstep classics we hear popping up time and time again. These days Davinche tends to stick to his speaciality: vocal grime stuff.
Alternatively you might recognise the South Londoner from the superb Dirty Canvas series. Either way, he’s regarded as a bit of a genius on the old grime scene – and can be hailed as one of the few grime producers to brandish a grade five in classical piano.
‘Phaze’ womps and crashes with a slow, drudging momentum. A neatly produced instumental:
DaVinChe – Phaze [pelski highly recommends]
On the filthier side, we’ve got a 2009 free-release, courtesy of Ninjatunes – a couple of months old. Dubstep snobs are turning their noses up at the gigantic, loud and electro-infused dubstep the likes of Herve, High Rankin and Foamo are producing. Dubbed as ‘Largestep’ or ‘Ridiculoustep’ – I made that last one up – the wonky sounds revolve around big and silly noise, and steer away from the more sophisticated, deeper sounds of early dubstep. But that’s not to say there isn’t the odd filthy one that can blow you away, even if the majority are samey, disposable fodder. Subscape’s defiled, grating remix of The Qemists cuts between a growling guitar and rumbling dubstep bass:A newer release, Open Porse encapsulates some of the 2steppier percussive sounds that ridiculoustep fails to take note of. But here we have some added tribal congos – a refreshing twist to the eerie dubstep sound. Diverseconcepts has crafted a beautiful track not all that dissimilar to Ramadanman’s recent outputs:
Diverseconcepts – Open Porse [pelski highly recommends]
This classic from Martyn recent album deserves another listen. Again, here we have some mature dubstep with emphasis more on the ‘step’ than the ‘dub’. I’ve stripped down the bitrate, so as to encourage you to buy Martyn’s incredible album – Great Lengths – that combines dubstep and drum n bass with progressive techno:
Martyn – Hear Me [pelski highly recommends]
Joker’s dirty, fizzling remixes have been abound the blog world. And it’s no surprise with such a rich and diverse discography quickly building up. Here The Heavy’s strained vocals are interspersed with whip-lashing percussion and spluttering, oscillating bass. The full release drops on Counter Records (an offshoot of Ninjatune) with a suitably tropical take from Solo – snap it up:
Brooding bass and slapping percussive rhythms permeate this deep, humming take on Township Funk. Of all the remixes, this is the first to strip Mujava’s smasher of its chirpy character. Dark:
