Identity, aesthetics, culture and history about dubstep 1&2

[jinomusicuk]

[THIS IS PART 1/2]

Abstract

This thesis is a discussion of the dubstep music genre. It studies the identity, aesthetics, structure, history and culture associated with it. The aim is to analyse its roots and history; from its big dub influence to what it is now in the present, from the creation of the multi-racial Britain to the creation of an underground culture with a passion for bass. This paper tries to find out the meaning behind and the reason why it is so popular for teenagers in the United Kigdom and North America. A detailed description of important and influential producers will be given to have a clear understanding of the reasons behind why the sound is so successful being only ten years old. The importance of the record shops and the feeling of community as well as a study on how the dubstep affects the listeners will be given. Also, dubstep on the Internet and on the media, the sub genres that have evolved from it and the unknown future will be deeply analysed for a profound understanding of the music genre that is at its peak.



Introduction

Dubstep is the new electronic music, the one style that is a huge success in festivals and brings many people together. On this paper, the origins, the aesthetics and the evolution from dubstep will be analysed in detail. From the major dub influence to its role in today music scene. Dubstep has its origins in South London and its main influence is dub, a music style that was brought over to the United Kingdom by the Afro-Caribbean community and immigrants from the 20th century. Music represents social groups or movements, ideas and cultural background. Music involves sound, people, rhythm and culture. The concept of music denotes a wide range of individual and collective social practices generating rhythm, melody, harmony, or timbre for the purpose of ceremonial matters, social symbolism, or for mere enjoyment (Styhre, 2008, p. 101).

When someone talks about dubstep we might think a kind of music that brings young people together who have a passion for sub bass and probably a big sound system. But what is dubstep? Is it really a music genre or an underground style? When was it created and how come that it is such an important social movement not only in the United Kingdom but also around the world?
People can relate dubstep to dub, grime, reggae, dancehall, UK Bass, electronic, drum and bass, jungle... it is usually loud and contains a wobble bass. But are these comparisons right? Is it correct what they say? On a large scale, yes it is. DJs and producers from Croydon in south London played a major role in the creation of dubstep in the early noughties. A record shop called Big Apple, record labels like Tempa and Big Apple themselves, pirate radio stations and the BBC Radio 1 program ‘Dubstep Warz’ helped to extend the popularity of dubstep around the UK. Internet played a major role on expanding this knowledge worldwide and everybody agrees that this has been a fast evolution of a new music genre. This music style is considered to exist since the late 1990s but only ten years later the genre has changed and people start to talk about post-dubstep. What is dubstep in the present? What is it going to be in the future? Can we talk about post-dubstep already nowadays to describe the latest productions? Is there room enough in this music style for it to develop a variety or a sub genre from it?

In the following essay I am going to get through the history of dub and the roots of the Jamaican and American-Caribbean immigration in general to Britain in the 20th century that has been the prime influence for dubstep.



British Jamaican

When talking about a multi-racial Britain, we talk about the many different ethnics and diverse people that live in the United Kingdom, either in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. To understand the reason behind this happening we need to go back many years: 2000 years if we start speaking about the black soldiers that helped the Roman armies to invade Britain (Spencer, 1997, p. 1).

But looking for the roots of dubstep, one’s probably first thought is the 1950s and 1960s Jamaican immigration. These would have brought the dub and reggae culture over from the Caribbean to the British Isles. Nowadays, it is estimated that around 800,000 Britons of Jamaican origin live in the United Kingdom. Almost 350,000 of them are living in Greater London. They are very disperse in the country but other places where they are specially located are West Midlands, South East, East, Yorkshire & The Humber and North West (IOM International Organization for Migration, 2007, p.11). The motivation for these Jamaicans to leave their country of birth and immigrate to a place like England comes from a few historical facts that one has to know to understand the reason behind it all.
The main affair that many of us might be thinking of is British colonial history. Even though the British Empire’s peak was in the early 19th century, the origins go back to the late 15th century, when Spain and Portugal were dominating the discovery of the so called new world. The Kingdom of England wanted to join the discovery of the new world but neither King Henry VII of England nor Queen Elizabeth I could manage to create colonies in the North American coast in the late 16th century. Finally in the early 1600s the British Empire started taking shape under King James I of England settling down along the eastern coast of North America and the Caribbean. Step by step Britain became more and more powerful. The first deception was when British North American colonies went to war to declare themselves independent. After the American Revolution and the American War of Independence, the United Stated of America was created. But Britain continued his colonizing ambition and centered their goals to the Pacific Ocean, Asia and Africa. By the time the First World War began, Britain would have 400 million people and 17% of land area. Many Jamaicans fought for Great Britain in the First World War and as a consequence settled down in the British Isles and later fought in the Second World War as well (WatchMojo, 2010).

In 1922, The Treaty of Versailles would give Britain even more power by getting more territory and it is then when it would reach its peak, dominating almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area (33,700,000 km2 or 13,012,000 square miles) and one-quarter of the world's population about 458 million people at the time.

Before the Second World War the main concentration of Asian and black people and their settlements were to be found in the multi-ethnic dockland areas of seaports such as London, Liverpool, Cardiff, South Shields and Glasgow. Many of them had jobs related to fishing or going out to the sea. The huge expansion of the country’s overseas trade provoked a quick increase in maritime related job opportunities. No matter who was interested on it, all people from the British Empire had access to these jobs. The First World War left Britain in many economical problems and “increasing numbers looked for jobs ashore and formed permanent relationships with local women”.
People from the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Caribbean were, until very recent times, a small part of the permanent, settled population of Britain (one per cent of the whole) until changes in migration and settlement patterns in the 1950s. For an era when the census did not identify race or ethnicity, it is very difficult to access accurately the size of minority communities of any kind. As recently as 1939 the permanent Asian and black population of the United Kingdom was officially estimated at about 7,000 people. Until the mid-1950s the large majority of cities in Britain remained almost entirely white (Spencer, 1997, p. 3). Between the two World Wars the British government “tried to control the growth of ‘coloured’ seamen” applying an immigration policy and its intension was to keep out Asians or black people. The reason they were using these policies was “the fear of a repetition of the serious outbreaks of inter-racial violence that had occurred in 1919 in Glasgow, South Shields, London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Barry and Newport”. Racism growth among the British citizens brought more “coloured” unemployment provoked by the bad reputation the disturbances of 1919 left behind (Spencer, 1997, p. 9). In the World War II many black people would fight “for democracy” on the British site and that would be a symbol for them to show to the world how different they were from the sizan by having black soldiers. The war would be the end of the biggest Empire ever and would leave Britain bankrupt. It was not all bad news for the countries that once were under British control. The Commonwealth of Nations was founded and gives the advantage to the state members practical connections with each other. For example a citizen of one of these countries would have a clear favour in terms of effectiveness if this person want to travel or immigrate to a country like the United Kingdom.

Another reason was that in 1944 a hurricane badly damaged the island of Jamaica and they migrated to Britain as the post-war left the European country bankrupt. Caribbean’s and mainly Jamaicans saw an opportunity to find a new place to live and a job in Great Britain. Even the British government of the day sent invitations for them to immigrate. The first important and symbolic event happened in 1948. It was the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush that brought 492 West Indians from Jamaica to Tilbury, United Kingdom (Partrige, 2010, p. 98). Many of the travellers were musicians but once they arrived to Tilbury, east of London, they realised that the country they had dreamed of was different in many ways. The people were far from nice, the weather was colder and wetter and “the government was bedevilled by racism and confused about what it should do concerning immigration” (Partrige, 2010, p. 99). But despite these occurrences “during the 1950s, as labour shortages continued, migrants from Jamaica continued to arrive at a steady rate. Between 1955 and 1968, a total of 191,330 Jamaicans were to arrive and settle in the UK” (IOM International Organization for Migration, 2007, p.08).

But it was not until the year 1962 that this policy would completely change as a popular debate about immigration policies was formed for the first time in British society. No public announcements were made. British government intention was to keep the “coloured” immigration out. They made significant restrictions and changes in the policies the between the First and Second World War but that did not cause the desired effect and instead of receiving less immigrants, the tension was getting bigger and caused many riots and violent acts around the country (Spencer, 1997, p. 43). “The attitudes of officials from the Commonwealth Relations and Colonial Offices to the adoption of measures to prevent the settlement of ‘coloured’ people in the United Kingdom were conditioned, if not always commanded, by their interest in preserving cordial relations with Commonwealth and colonial governments and by an appreciation of the consequences for Britain of the adoption of openly or obvious discrimination legislation” (Spencer, 1997, p. 45). And the British government’s representatives in the Commonwealth were not giving passports to those who had no descended through parents from the British Isles (Spencer, 1997, p. 46).
A few years later, changes in the British politics were made and politicians had more open thoughts about the immigration. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962 made that the immigrants wanting to enter legally the United Kingdom from the colonies and Commonwealth had to be subject of one of the following three aspects; A: They must have a job to come to, B: They must posses special skills which were in short supply, or C: They must be part of a large undifferentiated group whose numbers would be set according to the labour needs of the United Kingdom economy (Spencer, 1997, p. 129). The announcement of these conservative changes in the immigration policy and the fact of having to fit into one of the three categories as required to enter the country in legal form made many people to rush. This would be the reason why the immigration number increased in big numbers between 1960 and 1962 (Spencer, 1997, p. 131). The law restricted the numbers of newcomers to the country but it also encouraged those who had settled temporarily to decide to stay in the United Kingdom permanently (Spencer, 1997, p. 132).



The emergence of Sound System culture

Suffering from a racist society, the black population of Britain in the 1940s and 1950s had to get used to be the ones doing the hard jobs while others could enjoy themselves. When it came to entertainment blacks would go to dance and find white women to danced with but that was not seen particularly well among the majority of the British and black men could go into trouble just because they would have dance with a white woman. Therefore, some people said: “Blacks performed, whites consumed”. Those who sensed “detached from their cultural roots, they quickly felt the need to create a unifying culture. Their efforts tended to be electric” (Partridge, 2010, p. 101). Others started creating around 1955 blues dance parties in basement clubs for the African-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom even though many of those very illegal (Partridge, 2010, p. 103-104). But more tension between whites and blacks in the country eventually meant in 1958 the polarisation of the black community and the government. An Afro-Caribbean worker was murdered and the Caribbean’s and Africans saw not other way consequently but to look after their own interests. As they did not feel the necessary support from the authorities, these started to create a ‘colony society’ within Britain (Partridge, 2010, p. 104). The Jamaican immigrants that were musicians made it into the United Kingdom by playing ska music because the perception of ska was enthusiastic in the inner-city areas where Jamaicans had settled (Partridge, 2010, p. 107). Ska and reggae where being slowly uncovered and brought to mainstream and the big impact on the charts happened by the beginning of the 1970s (Partridge, 2010, p. 109).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s sound systems would emerge in every major city in England. Sound system is a Jamaican popular culture term and defines a group of musicians, DJs, engineers and MCs that would play reggae or ska music. The sound system culture was brought along and took more importance for the Caribbean’s living in London. “The sound system or blues dance was an event at which the African-Caribbean community could […] socialise and maintain some continuity with the culture they had left behind”. The venues hosting these events used to be called by the Afro-Caribbean themselves ‘shebeen’ which is an Irish term that was used on venues that had no licence to sell alcohol or were you could also find drugs like cannabis (Partridge, 2010, p. 110). “More particularly, sound-system culture is an expressive musical culture shaped by the concerns and experiences of both the performer and the audience and were also places of political and intellectual rhetoric and reflection: you can say anything you please about anyone you please” and the lyrics on dub tracks were about racist social values and oppression (Partridge, 2010, p. 111-112). Between the late 1970s and the early 1980s roots reggae was ousted by dancehall as the dominant popular music in Jamaica (Goodman, 2010, p. 159-160). The youth in Britain observed the underground social movement of the Afro-Caribbean’s and in some cases they would have even been interested on taking part and learning about their background and culture. Therefore it is interesting to mark that reggae and dub made it into the United Kingdom but not as much in the United States of America. The American popular culture has been formed in a different way and black and white people did not find as easy (as the British blacks and whites) to get together and share music. Immigrant and black people policies in particular made it hard for the black community to fit into society in the USA.

Some people claim the reason why a number of white British youth was interested in that subcultural movement is because it was a true, authentic, underground and real movement. In 1981 there were 102 sound systems in London alone and people say they would follow the bass to know the location of the shebeens. The sound system experience has been described as “thirty to one hundred times as powerful as a domestic hi-fi. The point is not the volume, but the amplification of the bass… until it becomes music you can feel. The point is that sound-system culture has never been or striven to be mainstream” (Partridge, 2010, p. 115).
To a large extend, bass is dub’s stamp of authenticity. Consequently, dub culture can be understood in terms of ‘bass culture’. More broadly, bass demands that the music be taken seriously and, to this extend, regardless of weather it is instrumental or not, those sub culturally in the know (genre sensitive dubheads) recognise it as a stamp of authenticity (Partrigde, 2010, p. 138). Nowadays, static sound systems have become an integral part of Notting Hill Carnival in London with the sounds of reggae, roots, soca, calypso and hip hop. There are around fifty Sound Systems that can be found on most roads within the route (BNN, 2007).



From dub to dubstep

Dub plates and dub culture

When the phonograph was invented, it emphasised ‘preservation’ rather than ‘mass replication’. However, it took a long time to see the financial potential of the phonograph and the gramophone. Edison thought of his invention in terms of preserving speech and dictation rather than being able to reproduce music and to provide entertainment. Only in 1914 was the first symphony recorded, even though Edison’s patent dates from 19 December 1877 (Styhre, 2008, p. 105).

Dub plates are made from a chemical substance made from acetic acid called acetate and are used in studios for the mastering process to make sure the quality is the best before moving forward to the mass production of the end product. These were and are used in dub music and the dubstep genre has also taken this concept for best quality sound. Many dubstep producers will make a copy of their sound on a dub plate before releasing the tracks to check their sound on analogue equipment and on a large sound system even though many of the artists at present times produce digitally using computer software’s and plugins. The process of transferring the music on to the vinyl-coated metal plate was known as ‘dubbing’ – just as adding sound on film is also known as dubbing. It is however important to mark that the term ‘dub’ and ‘dub plate’ are not solely allied to the genre of ‘dub’ (Partridge, 2010, p. 59).

In dub music the recording engineer was considered to be artistic as well and not only to get the best possible sound out of a recording. They would take the recorded material and play around adding effect, mostly echo and reverb, and mixing it in a way that their job was distinguishably to be present for the listener on the final mastered track (Partridge, 2010, p. 82). But behind these dub related features there is a social movement like in any other music style. Jacques Attali is a French economist that has written a non-fiction book called ‘Noise: The Political Economy of Music’ where he states: “music, as a cultural form, is intimately tied up in the mode of production in any given society” and “music is what precedes social changes. It is also never ‘innocent’ but rather embodies and even reinforces specific ideologies and material conditions. Examining music thus gives valuable insights into the mechanism of a particular society” (Styhre, 2008, p. 106).

The transition from dub to dubstep

The story of dub and reggae in the United Kingdom cannot be told without referencing punk rock. John Lydon’s, best known as Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols, favourite music would be on a large scale reggae because “reggae was the only other radical music that was completely underground and not played on the radio” (Partridge, 2010, p. 153). These words from a member from such a famous band in the United Kingdom opened the eyes of many young people that later would share this love for reggae and dub culture and would act and support anti-racist movements. The Clash is an example of an English punk rock band playing reggae and ska style songs. They used the song “Bankrobber” and made a dub version out of it. By the late 1970s more and more British punk rock bands like Inner City Unit and Here & Now were writing music explicitly indebted to reggae and dub (Partridge, 2010, p. 158). Around late 1970s and early 1980s punk in Great Britain came to an end when new styles and influences were beginning to settle down. With a powerful influence form the United States of America, groups like Run DMC and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five made hip hop and rap music the dominant music style of the 1980s. The popular music in the 1990s was what people generally know as Britpop. Pop also dominated the charts and bands like Radiohead, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Massive Attack and The Spice Girls where the most successful British music groups (Music in England and Britain, no date). In the end of the decade, UK garage bands like So Solid Crew, Pay As You Go Cartel and Heartless Crew were hitting the number one on the UK charts (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010). Non-mainstream music was also really popular and underground styles like drum and bass, jungle, 2-step and techno had also really important social movements. Around that time a “break-away” crew was not feeling the same way and started experimenting with music. They did not feel attached to any music style that was around at the time and taking influences from dub, reggae, 2-step, techno and dance music they started to create dubstep (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010). In only ten years time dubstep has experimented changes and even creations of subgenres that are interesting to take a look at like breakstep or drumstep. It has evolved from its early beginnings in the late 1990s and its growth throughout the early 2000s to its present mainstream influence. The first dubstep track to reach the top ten in the UK single charts was “I Need Air” by Magnetic Man trio. Dan Stein (aka DJ Fresh) produced the first ever dubstep track to reach number one in the UK singles chart in July 2011 with the track "Louder" featuring vocals from Kosheen's Sian Evans (Dawson, K. and Cabooter, J., 2011).



Dubstep roots

Definition of dubstep

Dubstep is a minimal form of dance music taking elements from reggae, dub, techno and most importantly garage or also known as 2-step which is a strain of electronic music deveopled in the United Kingdom in the late 1990’s. Garage started getting darker, more edgy and more bass lead. Instrumental, getting away of the cheesy vocals of the late mainstream garage tunes. It got back to find more depth and a darker vibe towards the year 2000. Then it can be considered that the music style grime got involved and mixed with dubstep. Grime is a more vocal and guttural offshoot of the UK garage. Sometimes these styles are mixed although people draw a line to distinguish the genres. Grime and dubstep are not considered to be the same. They both took two different ways. The reason why it is called dubstep is because it had a really big dub influence when it started. Reggae samples or ska sounds were also commonly used at the beginning (XLR8RTV, 2007).

It started in Croydon, South London in the late 1990s where dub tunes were starting to be mixed along electronic sounds. The stylistics origins are dub, 2-step, grime, drum and bass and jungle. The social movement that brought dub in the United Kingdom was mainly the Jamaicans, which immigrated in big numbers to Britain in the 20th century.
That movement rapidly started using the beat and created dubstep: a broken beat kind of sound, with the snare drum hitting on the downbeat. It is intense and has a dark vibe where the bass has an important role. Some people claim that it takes elements from a broad vary of music styles just like the variety of people also known as multiculturalism is represented in London.

History of dubstep

Dubstep was originated in Croydon, South London. Plastician, a dubstep DJ and producer has expressed his opinion on a documentary made recently about dubstep by saying that it was a pity that the town of Croydon did not support the beginning of the dubstep scene (WorldOfWobble, 2011). The record shop Big Apple in Croydon, which now is called The Mixing Records, played also a very important role for DJ, producers and music lovers that found in that particular shop a sense of community around the dubstep scene. The importance of record shops and the community feeling around it is going to be discussed later on this paper. Benny Ill, a member of Horsepower Productions was an entrepreneur on dubstep and he talks back from around 1994 and 1995 when he used to start experimenting and mixing techno with break beats and garage music. It was for him all about experimenting ideas and concepts and the scene allowed him to do so as people were really open to new sounds and the look into fresh new stuff. El-B stated that the whole movement came “like a wave” and that “you could not ignore it” (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010). Zed Bias, Ghost, El-B, Oris Jay and Zinc pushed the music style at the beginning. On the meantime, a community was starting to take shape and Ammunition Promotions Ltd established the record label Tempa in the year 2000. Everybody involved in the scene and somehow related to the label Tempa were doing their own thing and individual sounds and the only thing that kept them together was the use of bass and composing track about the same tempo. As far as BBC Radio 1 Marry Anne Hobbs, the axis that holds all together is a passion for sub bass (WorldOfWobble, 2011).

Mistajam, a BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra journalist, said on a documentary about the history of dubstep that dub plates were cheaper and quicker to press then a vinyl record. The producers got only a handful of copies pressed up and these did not last long. You could only play them for about 50 times before those got completely mushed up. An important fact is that they were also using unreleased tracks, remixes or exclusives, which meant that disk jockeys were bailing each other to get a hold on them (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010).

FWD>> (forward) were the only ones playing dubstep tunes. If it was not for FWD>>, there would be probably no dubstep. They pushed and helped the producers in the early beginnings when the scene started getting shape. El-B said that a big amount of people would turn up in garage events and there was so much atmosphere that you would have “up to 30 MCs battling for the microphone”, you could not even hear the music and you would have fights kicking of everywhere in the crowd. It got to a stage where in garage events there would be no women around because it was not their kind of vibe. Dubstep main influence was dub and garage music but when DJs started playing darker garage sounds, the women in the crowd were gradually not going to these events anymore. It was all men with their aggressive attitude and they would not even feel the deeper and darker sounds that he would be playing. It was then when El-B realised that that music scene was not his “cup of tea” and it was a lifeline when FWD>> started. If it was not for FWD>>, there would be probably no dubstep (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010).

The first Dubstep night ever

Mainly the Internet has brought Dubstep’s scene up mainstream but before it got popular around the world, producers and DJs were pushing their sounds on pirate radio stations. In fact some producers and people involved in the scene claim that the style was created earlier than 2005 but they agree on the fact that they started being aware of the actual scene as a separate genre around that time in 2005. The first ever dubstep night was FWD>> (forward). It was organised and run by Ammunition promotions and the venue was the Velvet Room in London. All the people that were pushing that dubstep sound came together and started playing as residents (XLR8RTV, 2007). FWD>> was born as a place for people that supported the London's underground music scene but prefered grimey sounds to glitzy garms (Clark, M., 2009). That is when dubstep started to take shape.

Many of the British producers that are responsible for the creation of the dubstep genre played that night. And the responsible people for dustep are producers like El-B, Zed Bias, Horsepower Productions, Skream, Benga, Oris Jay, Zinc, Hatcha, Burial, Joe Nice, Kode9, Space Ape, Vex’d, Digital Mystikz, N-Type and many more. Also labels like Big Apple and Tempa were involved in the process. The reason why they made such an impact is because how grand breaking the music was. And the small majority of people that wanted this edgy kind of sound were understanding it and liking it and it was almost something they have been looking foreword to.
If you show an early dubstep track to someone that has never listen to it before they would definitely related it to garage, but in the the past years it has progressed a lot because of the influence of new producers and it is always being pushed to it’s extremes (XLR8RTV, 2007).

BBC Radio 1 Marry Anne Hobbs says on an interview “there was a real flashpoint around the end of 2005 and beginning of January 2006 were really felt like the producers ‘found their feet’ and that was when we (BBC Radio 1) started taking interest and started documenting the dubstep scene” (WorldOfWobble, 2011). In January 2006 is when the radio program ‘Dubstep Warz’ was put together by Hobbs. The idea was to capture something of the spirit, energy and momentum that has being built in the dubstep scene.

Dubstep nights were a training ground for the producers, as every DJ involved in playing tunes was also a producer, they would play their own tracks or the tracks of someone that most probably was in the room at the time. For that reason they could check around the peoples reactions to their songs or analyse the sound from the track itself. You would hear specially cut dub plates for that night but only for once only, as the producers would use the opportunity to play their creations on a professional big system. Some of the track you would not even hear again as the producer decided it was not worth it or not good enough to get copied (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010).

Other dubstep producers outside the United Kingdom have expressed their opinion about the genre. The Danish DJ and producer 2000F thinks that the undistinguished sound of dubstep comes not from South London but from the United States of America. On the other hand, the finish producer and DJ Tes La Rok has also put emphasis on the important role of northern European countries like his on the dark vibe of the dubstep tunes (WorldOfWobble, 2011).

Dubstep in the present

Dubstep has had such an evolution for its only ten years of life, that it is sometimes hard to find similarities comparing two tracks that have been produced with a ten year gap in between. It started being electronic experimental music; taking a big influence from dub and now it sounds more like it is electronic disco or dance techno music.
On an interview to the newspaper The Independent the London producer Skream said “people use the term wrong. Dubstep has move and changed on to such extend that it is no dubstep any more. People should call it in a different way. He suggests that it should be called UK bass. In his opinion, this term defines the music genre in a better way. Many young people are listing to dubstep nowadays. But they don’t really listen to true original dubstep style tracks at all. Most of them might listen to UK bass, grime or drumstep. These are new sub genres that have evolved from the dubstep scene, each of these in a particular way” (Moir, S., 2011).

Discussed before was the definition of dubstep and what dubstep really is and stands for. It is a dark and intense music style, with loads of sub bass and not too busy in the drumbeat leaving open spaces in the rhythm section “to breath”. But there are supposed to be no rules in dubstep, so maybe it is all right to experiment to such an extend that it is not recognisable as dubstep but still call it dubstep anyway. Some producers have experimented on what it was supposed to be a genre of music that would have discovered itself pretty recently and they started creating new tracks now.



Producers and audience

Producers in the United Kingdom

In the following text a description of the different artists will be made that have been most important for the dubstep scene since the beginnings. It is an extended selection of the most important and influential producers or disk jockeys in the dubstep music scene in the United Kingdom and a close look to what influences they took and in what way they changed the movement. It is an overview of its early development and an analysis of what ways the individual musicians took. Its purpose is to have a quick and short description, which will provide the information necessary for the knowledge of the creation of the dubstep music style. The artists are listed in a specific order, which tries to categorise them chronologically on the evolutionary timeline from the creation and the beginnings of the movement, through the changes on sound and social scene, to the present music scene, its audience and success.

El-B is considered to be one of the dubstep scene pioneers along a few others. His main music genre was drum and bass but he took the darker UK Garage sounds that would highly influence the formation of the dubstep genre already back in 1996. Many consider him one of the creators of dubstep sound (Discogs, no date). He contributed directly to dubstep taking from 2-step and garage sounds. Horsepower Productions member Benny Ill is an important person of this group who also started with darker tunes and experimenting with new sounds. He introduced changes to the UK Garage and 2-step impacting on the new dark social movement (Discogs, no date). It is considered to have taken the roots of true dubstep along Ghost and Artwork. On the other hand Oris Jay came around the same period with a bigger breakbeat and garage influence. He was involved in these since a very young age. Taking these genres to a deeper, darker and ‘dub-ier’ sound. He is considered one of the fathers of dubstep (Discogs, no date). Youngsta’s main influence would have been Horsepower Productions and Hatcha. DJ Youngsta is from the Tempa recording label, an A&R person, works at a record store and also DJs in the London-based community and popular radio station Rinse FM and has been involved with dubstep from the early beginnings (Discogs, no date). Before Youngtsa, Hatcha came along. Terry Leonard has been involved in the dubstep movement since the beginnings and has work along with Benga, N-Type, The Others or Skream. Many other producers and DJs have quote him as one of their main influences on the genre (Last.fm, no date). Zed Bias would have been in the early beginnings along El-B experimenting with sounds. The British disk jokey and producer had been involved in UK garage and break beat since the mid 1990s. His single “Neighbourhood” reached number 25 in the UK charts in July 2000. He has been a very influential musician for the early dubstep scene like Oris Jay and opened the way to the new sub genre of broken beat (Clark, M., 2002). Pinch came along a bit after Horsepower Productions, Hatcha and Digital Mystiks. His style combines reggae, world music and dancehall with dubstep. Record producer and DJ involved in dubstep since the beginnings and with a unique style (Discogs, no date). N-Type’s big influences would have been mainly Benga and Skream’s style. Mark Newton (aka N-Type) started DJ-ing at the age of 14 in the mid 1990s. He later started playing garage and 2-step changing and adding a darker vibe to it. He is really keen on the process of how to produce a dub plate and is involved in mastering process (Discogs, no date). Plastician was one of the first producers and Disc Jockeys involved from the beginning in the scene and taking part in the movement in Croydon, South London. He produces dubstep and grime (Discogs, no date). His style takes elements from dubstep and grime and has influenced the grime scene. Out of London, in Bristol, Joker is a dubstep and grime producer who is best known for on e of his hits that he made with also Bristol based dubstep producer Jakes “3k Lane”. He has been involved in the early dubstep scene and received lately the “Best Producer” prize in the 2010 Dubstep Forum Awards, followed by 16bit and Skream (Discogs, no date). Coming back to South London, Skream worked as a teenager in the Croydon based Big Apple record shop and began his music career based on dubstep, UK garage and dub in 2003. He started producing music by the age of 13 on a game called ‘Music 2000’ for the console Play Station. He is one of the most successful dubstep producers and his hit “Midnight Request Line” is told to be one of the most influential and important dusbstep tracks. As a side project he is one of the three members in the dubstep group Magnetic Man along with Benga and Arthur Smith (aka Artwork) (Whalley, M., no date). Benga is part of Big Apple and Tempa record labels and along Skream an also pioneer and very influential producer and DJ in the early and present dubstep scene. North of England, in Scotland lives Kode9, who is owner of Hyperdub record label he started playing a fusion of reggae, breaks, hip hop, jazz, funk and house. He played and has been involved in the breakbeat hardcore, jungle and drum’n’bass scenes since 1991. In 1997 he move to London and made his debut on the Tempa label. Since then he is one of the important dubstep producers and a reference for heavy bass sounds. He has worked with The Spaceape and Burial and has written the book Sonic Warfare (Birchmeier, J., no date). Back to London, Digital Mystikz runs the DMZ record label along with Loefah and Sgt. Pokes. They are some of the most influential dubstep musicians and "Anti-War Dub" being considered some of the scene's key tracks (Rainho, R., no date). They took big influence from Hatcha and many elements from Horsepower Productions.

Moving on from this “old school” dubstep genre to a more “modern”, “wobbly” and “party” dubstep scene is Rusko to be found. He has been active as a disk jockey and producer since 2006 and is one example a differnet style of dubstep. His tracks are commonly played in clubs as the synthesizers and keyboard sounds he uses make one think of party time in a club. He met Caspa in London in the Sub Soldiers record label. One of his greatest hit, “Cockney Thug”, has been played by many important DJs like Pete Tong, Switch or Diplo and remixed by artists like Caspa or Buraka Som Sistema. He is considered to have taken dubstep to a next stage sound wise appealing to many people outside of the dubstep. Chris Mercer (aka Rusko) has been one of the first UK based producer that have taken the dubstep scene across the ocean to the United States of America (Last.fm, no date). Caspa started being involved into drum and bass at a young age. He created the label Storming Productions in 2004 and the subsidiary labels Dub Police and Sub Soldiers where he met Chris Mercer (aka Rusko). Caspa and Rusko have worked together as a duo (Caspa & Rusko) releasing an album and performing together. Caspa made his producer debut in 2006 and has worked along other important producers and DJ in the dubstep scene like Oris Jay (Last.fm, no date). Away from London, Emalkay is considered to be the best dubstep producer from Birmingham and has received very positive critics from veteran producers in the dubstep movement like Benga, Caspa or the drum and bass duo Chase and Status. His sounds made it a step further in terms of modernising the sound of dubstep, something that a few producers like Rusko and Caspa achieved since then. These three producers are considered to have brought the dubstep genre to the masses (Last.fm, no date). Doctor P has directed dubstep to a different way and is considered one of the leaders of the new wave of wobbles and whomps in dubstep. Bar9 was also involved in that heavier and grimier sound and productions but Shaun (aka Doctor P), as a DJ and producer for drum and bass and dubstep, “Sweet Shop” was his first greatest hit. He is the co-founder of Circus Records, along with Flux Pavilion, DJ Swan-E and Earl Falconer (Circus Records, no date). Nero is best known for producing house, dubstep and drum and bass music. They started in 2004 with drum and bass and four years later them began producing dubstep tracks. They have remixed songs by La Roux, Daft Punk and deadmau5 and won the 2010 ‘Beatport’s Best Dubstep Act’ (Last.fm, no date). And 16bit are electronic music producers who under the name of 16bit produce dubstep since late 2008. Their debut was "In The Death Car EP" and innovated on sound and quality by the time. They have produced many remixes and tracks. One of the hits is their remix of Noisia's “Machine Gun” that has been used in a trailer and various TV spots for “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”. They also produced tracks for Björk's album 'Biophillia', the British rapper Professor Green’s 'At your Inconvenience' (Discogs, no date).

Producers outside the United Kingdom

Even that its claimed that dubstep roots are from London, United Kingdom, there are also many important producers and disk jockeys that have been involved with the dubstep movement in some sort of way. The following musicians in the text are selected to get a different view on the genre of dubstep, its beginnigs and the role that plays for them in the present. It is the next overview of its early development and an analysis of what ways the individual musicians took.
Tes La Rok is a finish dubstep DJ and music producer and was one of the first international names to make it in the fresh new scene. He started liking UK garage and broken-beats and developed his passion for dubstep from there. He has been a pioneer in Helsinki underground dubstep culture and is featured in many album mixes (Last.fm, no date). Away from Finland, 2000F is to be found in Denmark. He has been an event organiser and promoter since 1993 and as a dubstep DJ and producer he has been given many prizes and has been also nominated many times. His experimental sounds in early dubstep made him one of the most influential producers in the Danish dubstep scene (Last.fm, no date). Tes La Rok and 2000F started their carreer in the underground scene. Moving on to other producers, In Los Angeles in the United States of America is Skrillex, who is a clear example of a dubstep producer that has big success and went mainstream. He used to play guitar and sing for the post-hardcore and emo music group From First to Last. After that experience Sonny Moore he started his solo career changing dramatically his musical directions and started producing techno, electro house and dubstep tracks in 2008. Skrillex than began increasing his popularity as a dubstep producer after releasing his debut EP (“My Name Is Skrillex) and making it available as a free download on the Internet. Soon after he was signed to mau5trap record label and started touring with deadmau5. One of his greatest hits is the track “Scary Monsters And Nice Spirites”. He has also remixed many artists like Lady Gaga (with the track “Bad Romance”), Snoop Dog (a song called “Sensual Seduction”) or the Black Eyed Peas (remixing “Rock That Body”). He lately co-produced a song along with the nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, Korn called “Get Up” (Last.fm, no date). Also producing the same type of “filthy” dubstep is Borgore. He has been involved with music since his early childhood and played in a death metal band. Now he is one of the main dubstep, drum and bass and electronica producers and DJ, even though he calls his style of mixing genres “gorestep”. Borgore describes his music to be “commercial American hip-hop and death metal being played through various farm animals” (Zemler, E., 2010). In the Netherlands are Noisia to be found. Involved with many music genres such as drum and bass, breakbeat and house music, the dutch trio is having big success in the dubstep music scene. They own three record labels (Vision, Division and Invisible Recordings) and have produced a large number of tracks and albums. The track ‘Contact” by Foreign Beggars was a hit and their song ‘Machine Gun’ is a reference to get to know their style (Discogs, no date). deadmau5’s main style is not dubstep but electronica, neo-trance, progressive house and electro house, since 2005, he is also producing and playing dubstep tracks. He has worked alongside other producers and DJs like Skrillex or Pendulum and has released six albums in four years. He has won eleven awards, including three Juno Awards and has been nominated up to 19 times (Discogs, no date). And 12th Planet, a dubstep producer and disk jokey playing dubstep, jungle and electronic music since 2006. He has remixed many tracks including "Hold On (ft. Amber Coffman)” by Rusko and plays often live along with Flinch or Skrillex. Along with Skrillex, they have been pushing the dubstep scene in California and are head of events wherever they go (Discogs, no date).

Audience inside the United Kingdom

It is interesting to study the profile and behaviour of the average dubstep audience in and outside the United Kingdom. Styles are different but some producers made it and are really successful in the British Isles but also out in the United States of America. Nowadays, Internet is the main source of new music and the dubstep scene has well adapted to it. It is difficult to describe a kind of audience from a particular country when focusing to the people that listen to a particular type of music genre as these might listen to the same artists and the same tracks. But apart of the closeness that the new technologies are offering us, the dubstep scene on each side of the Atlantic Ocean is a little bit different. In every scene there are people that have been following the style since the beginnings and others that have discovered it through mainstream radio station or advertisement. It is interesting to mark that the followers of the earl underground scene are different in some aspect to the ones that recently follow the style because “it is a trend”. The audience for ‘old school’ dubstep would be people that were also following the drum and bass, garage, 2-step, grime or jungle scene. These would slowly take over dubstep as an evolution from these mixtures of electronic styles with a big influence from reggae and dub.

The definition of someone into dubstep would be someone “in love” with sub bass. It is even claimed by BBC Radio 1’s Marry Anne Hobbs that the axis that brings people together in the scene is a passion for bass.
On the other hand it is also interesting to see the amount of people, usually kids, which are into dubstep. Since the “discovery” of dubstep thru advertisement or marketing campaigns for events or record releases, the number of teenagers that are now listening and also supporting artist on their gigs, has increased. And it has increased rapidly thanks to the Internet.
Some of the producers based in the United Kingdom have taken advantage out of it and are on the important and influential musicians for this generation of British music. As an example; the formation of the dubstep trio Magnetic Man. Since the “commercialisation” of their music, the band has experienced being on the top 10 of the UK charts. Ten years ago, nobody would have thought that dubtep would be so present nowadays. That is way it came as sort of a surprise for many producers and even record companies.

The profile of the average ‘mainstream’ dubstep listener is a young person that likes the “filthy” sounds and wobble bass of a “hard sounding” track. He would support producers like Magnetic Man, Rusko, Caspa, Doctor P, Skrillex, Emalkay or Nero. The common and recognisable sounds of these would be trance-techno sounding keyboard melodies and pads, aggressive drum beats and very often a vocal line on the track that uses vocoder. On the other hand, the average follower that has been supporting producers since the early beginnings of the scene in the United Kingdom would enjoy the production and sound quality of the track as well as the sub bass. He would still try to go to not major big events but discover underground artists. That person would listen to Kode9, Burial, Digital Mystikz and obviously the producers that are still producing in some sort of way ‘old school’ dubstep. Artists like Skream, Benga, N-Type or 16bit are an interesting case. These would not forget the old sounds of dubstep but would produce also “new-sounding” tracks. For example Skream and Benga produce independently darker tracks but on the other side they are touring around the world as Magnetic Man with Artwork. 16bit would also do the same by producing EPs that would perfectly fit into the scene back in 2005 and also do tracks like “Skullcrack” that a DJ would play along on a “filthy” mix.

Audience outside the United Kingdom

The profile of the average ‘mainstream’ dubstep listener outside the United Kingdom is different depending on where it has to be found. In Europe dubstep is still being slowly discovered and only people interested on the scene will know about producers and listen to their music. Places like Finland, Denmark or the Nederland’s is where dubstep is known as an underground music style but their followers are making this genre more and more popular. There are as well many kids that will follow the trend because everybody is talking about it on the Internet. Roughly speaking, if we say that dubstep is the “main” electronic genre of music for the United Kingdom, countries like Germany, Italy or Spain would have still techno as their main electronic music style. It is difficult to categorise people into music scenes because the majority of music lovers will listen not to just one, but many other styles.

In the United States of America, dubstep has evolved to a way where the common sounds are aggressive drumbeats, trance synthesisers and girl’s vocals on a track having a clear connection to dance or techno house songs. Producers like the Los Angeles based Skrillex is one of the main dubstep artist in the USA. He does not only produce dubstep but a lot of dance and techno music. His influence and style has brought him to get elements from dance music like the vocal line or the ‘glitch’ sounding synthesisers and incorporate these into dubstep. These “filthy” and hard wobble bass sounds are usually present on North American produced dubstep. There is a lot to say on social behaviour and the aesthetics of these aggressive sounds and music. The people that listen to that are the majority of cases white teenagers. This fact may have its reason on a “lost generation” of youth musically speaking. The last music mass movement in the United States would have been grunge and since than the American youth had “nothing to relate to” or they had nothing where they felt represented. It is interesting to see how youth acts depending on the location. In the occidental countries like most of Europe and the USA, kids will get aggressive and rebellious. That is their way to tell the adults they are not conform the structure of the society or the established rules. If they are against it, usually they react behaving in an angry and violent way towards someone, some idea or any type of law representatives. Teenagers have always been characterised as being rebellious and aggressive to make their thoughts and ideas being listened. Maybe in dubstep ‘lost’ teenagers have found their music style that would express their feelings and rebellious acts. The success of this genre in America can be probably related to the era of grunge music. Nirvana is probably the best example to use by saying that they were just a rock band, but reached a level where they had a real opportunity to change the consciousness of their times. Rock fans of a certain age – up to 18 and beyond that if they had little control over their own lives – take their admiration of their heroes thought into blind adoration (Morrell, 1993, p.12). That is an interesting point that Morrell is talking about because there are similitudes in the dubstep audience to be seen with the alternative rock followers from the early nineties.

Dubstep might be only a decade old but it’s interesting to compare the social movement that has been making to the grunge Seattle bands from the 1990s.
A few weeks ago the music industry celebrated the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind that got realesed by DGC Records in 1991. Many people say it is one of the most important albums in the history of grunge and even one to consider really important in the entire music history. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the leadoff song of the album but when the band set up to record this track, there was no sense that the song would turn into a multimedia monster or that the media would ultimately dub it “the anthem of Generation X” (Berkenstadt, J. and Cross, C.R., 1998, p.64). The 1990s was musically speaking the era of grunge and alternative music in general. Groups like Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam are some of the bands that moved an entire generation of young people so called “Generation X”. This generation consisted basically from the babies born after the baby boom after World War II. There is no more heavy metal or grunge to let “all you energy” out and be aggressive or rebellious. That is why now it might be the turn for dubstep. Others have claimed the importance of dubstep in the electronic music world up to the point where they say it might be the “new techno”. And with producers like Skrillex pushing the hard sounds this is possible. On a large scale, producers from the UK, USA or some other country that make dubstep and are successful as DJs have a musical background from electronica, drum and bass, techno, garage, heavy metal or punk rock. All of these genres are categorised dark and understood as rebellious. The word rebellious stays for “they oppose the ideas of the people in authority and plan to change the system, often using force” on the online Cambridge dictionaries. And everybody agrees that the time for being rebellious is in someone’s youth. Or at least this is the age group where more people fitting in the description are to be found.



Jordi Perez

London (UK), 30 October 2011

------------------------------------

[END OF PART 1/2]

PLEASE CONTINUE AT PART 2/2

[jinomusicuk]

[THIS IS PART 2/2]

Identity, aesthetics, culture and history about dubstep 2/2



Analysis of the musical structure of dubstep

The beat

To analyse in detail the dubstep beat different parts of it are divided for a better overview and a clearer understanding of each individual elements on it.
It is difficult to say or describe the ‘classic’ dubstep beat as in a genre like it, there is no single producer that copies a pattern or follows a specific rule. Every single dubstep composer has its own tricks and styles when creating a beat. The following analysis is not of a particular producer or DJ but about the usual and more common steps that are taken to make a dubstep beat.

Structure and elements:
The only certain rule that has to be taken to consideration if someone is to make a dubstep beat is that it has to be around 140 BPM and have a loud snare hit on the downbeat. Kick and snare samples are a must in dubstep but other elements like hi hats, toms or cymbals are also to be added depending on maters of individual taste. Some producers like more simple and spacy sounds while others combine many elements together with extra sound effects for a different vibe. Dubstep is a wide-open kind of music style and there are no specific regulations on how the beat has to sound to fit into the category of dubstep. In one occasion, the British producer from Leeds, Rusko, has stated that a proper snare hit on a dubstep track has to be “like a slap in your face” (MixpanMasterClasses, 2011).

Beats per minute or tempo:
The dubstep beat is around 140 beats per minute. It is thought that this is taken from music genre dub. Around this rate is where the commonly used speed of a dubstep track is used.

Kick:
The kick on a dubstep track has usually not too much in the low end of the spectrum going on. When creating a beat it is recommended that the kick has not too many low frequencies, as these are later to be occupied by the bass on the track. Depending on the sound that is desired to approach a different EQ-ing will be added. A little boost around 70 to 80 Hertz is an example of an advice to create a harder punch and a greater attack feeling on it (MixpanMasterClasses, 2011).

Snare:
The sound of a snare used on a dubstep beat is on average loud and that will make it be really present on the track. Usually the snare sample is placed on the downbeat and as it will appear less frequently it is said that that is the reason to make it louder and more present. The dubstep producer and DJ Rusko started by mixing the samples of a wooden snare drum, claps and white noise together (MixpanMasterClasses, 2011). On the other hand, Skream would use on some tracks the sample of a whip (WorldOfWobble, 2011). It is also claimed that many people use the snare sample of the famous Amen break, which is a sample of a song by The Winstons called “Amen Brother”.

Effects and extra sounds:
Toms, hi hats, cymbals and shakers are also sometimes included into the beat. There is no formal rule where but for instance, in other cases someone making a drum and bass beat has to include on it kick, snare and hi hats. In dubstep the kick and the snare samples are essential and the rest can be added or not to it, depending on the choice, the particular song or the personal taste.

Delay and reverb plug-ins:
Different effects can be also added on top of the created beat. Not the type of effect like extra samples or sounds but the plug-in ones that are available using any music production software. Apart from the equaliser, compression, delay on a specific sample or reverb are the most commonly used plug-ins to make an overall better sounding drum loop or beat. Some delay ideas taking directly from dub is to make the delay using 0.32 or 0.64 milliseconds long echo.

The wobble

The wobble bass can be used as a rhythmic pattern for a track. Producers filter the bass using a low filter oscillator to often manipulate the filter cutoff. Also the vowel bass or talking bass is a particular kind of sound that people relate easily to dubstep. This is really similar to the wobble bass but has a specific “talking” sound as if someone would be saying “yah-yah”. Skrillex is one of the best example for the use of this vowel bass sound.

The vocals

When dubstep was first created the tracks were mainly instrumental. But many producers used audio tracks and added those in the tracks. Artists based in London used sound from “typical London” characters such as cockney related characters and use some audio with them on it. Rusko made a song called “Cockney Thug” and it was one of his first major hits. The track features the voice of the English actor Alan Ford taken from a television series broadcast on the BBC called Armando Iannucci. The famous character is presented as the East End Thug on the series. Also Caspa called a track of his “Cockney Violin” but it is an instrumental song. Alan Ford is the best-known actor for a cockney character. Another example of him on dubstep songs is “Crunch” by Datsik and Flux Pavillion. Also a person with a cockney accent can be heard on the song “You Stupid tnuc (Bare Noize Remix)” by Ollie!. The last example is the track “Dirty Sydney” by Stagga. The song includes a dialogue clip of the English actor Mark Strong from Guy Ritchie’s movie Rocknrolla. Especially artists from London wanted to make a clear connection and maybe a tribute to the place where dubstep was born. This might be the reason why it also was so successful. People heard a track and made the relation to London and the United Kingdom. Another feature for the latest “party” dubstep is the use of vocoder in songs. It is where one can find the closest relation between dubstep and dance music. The only big difference is the broken beat at 140 beats per minute; the rest could be literally being taken from a dance track.



Study of how dubstep affects the listener

It is interesting to see how music affects the listener. Depending on how fast or slow, loud or quiet the music is played, or the location where the sound is performed, the amplification and the acoustics involved on a particular space can make a body react or feel in a particular way. Bass is a very important element on dubstep music and many producers have claimed the importance of it and their passion for sub bass. But what is behind it? What is the relationship between the low frequencies and the people’s reaction to it?
Concerning the bass in dub, the heavier it is, the more it communicates what might be described as dread culture (Partrigde, 2010, p. 138). The sound system culture and the bass are two elements attached to the power of sound. Kode9 says that sound is used as a vibrational force to disperse or to bring people together. Infrasound or high frequencies are used to control crowds or make people feel uncomfortable. For Kode9, sub bass has this kind of magnetic effect (WorldOfWobble, 2011).

The sound of dubstep contains loads of bass and it is to an extent, gendered, being indicative of masculinity. As in many cultures, this is largely because the vocal register is gendered. One can also notice that the profile of an average dubstep listener is usually a male. The body impact of the bass sound is more subtly related to power and aggression. Taking this influence from dub, dubstep is also principally a physical experience (Partrigde, 2010, p. 140). The point is not the volume but the amplification of bass until it becomes music you can feel. The bass ‘hits you in your chest’. That is where you “hear” it, rather than with your ears (Partrigde, 2010, p. 141). Bass and power are fundamentally linked. This is why pipe organ music, which produces notes as low as 16 Hertz, might elicit powerful emotions, which, in Cathedral congregations, are, because of their context, subsequently invested with spiritual significance (Partrigde, 2010, p. 144).

A different part containing low frequencies is the kick drum. “On the dance floor, the impact of the bass drum is, for example, shown through a common technique used by DJs: its removal (or the filtering out of low frequencies). This has an immediate effect on the dancers: the intensity of their movement decreases and their attention shifts to the DJ as they await the bass drum’s return. The connection between the bass drum sound, a clear pulse sensation, and the listener’s body movement seems obvious: when the bass drum is removed from the mix, dancers are deprived of the fundamental beat that holds the rhythmic framework together and which in return structures their corresponding dance moves. Dancing as well as head-nodding make the link concrete (Danielsen, A., 2010, p. 121).

In dance music the bass drum pattern is important for the dancers. Is it also for dubstep? Dubstep will obviously produce the same feelings with low frequencies and kick drum sounds patterns but as it has a broken beat, the movements are slower. That does not mean that it is less intense, on the contrary, the more low frequencies, bass or sub-bass, the more someone’s body feel and reacts to it. It has not necessarily anything to do with frequent repeated patterns but with the amount of bass tones. Also a really important element is the effects. About other sound qualities like dub virology is a lot to say. Virology is the scientific study of viruses and the diseases that they cause. The dub versioning deploy electronic effects such as echo, delay and reverb as mean to sonic seduction. It all can generate effects that simulate the physics of sound within a certain acoustic space. Since the early 1970s dub virology produced a contagious diagram that has served as one of the dominant operating systems of electronic music culture. Ian Penman, a British music blogger and writer said: “this dub virus operates on the extended timescale of a postcolonial clash of civilisations, in which the ghost of slavery and forced migration return to haunt the European spirit” (Goodman, 2010, p. 159-160).



Community and record shops

A record shop is where you go to buy records. But everybody knows that these have been struggling to stay open after so many changes in the music industry. Nowadays there are so many different ways of getting music that it is difficult for the shop to stay open. There are different kinds of record shops: Brick-and-Mortar, Ma-and-Pa or also known as Independent shops, Rack Jobs, Chains and Big Box or also the term “Loss Leaders” is sometimes used. But the main threats are the virtual ones.

Record shops are a meeting place to exchange of ideas and where people from different ages become mixed together face to face. Some people say that the music movements begin in the record stores. The ‘Brick-and-Mortar’ community have given their opinion on if it and think it is still important. They think we are living in a disconnected “local” world in favor of a “connected” global world. And they are right. They see how the ‘neighborhood’ feeling and community is vanishing slowly and taking its space on the Internet. There used to be an importance on these communities to represent their own style and the way they did music, independently from the genre. Record stores invested on local purpose and played a role for local producers and artist always looking for the newest stuff.

We live through an era where music is being shared and people do not want to pay for the tracks they listen to any more. Internet gives them facilities and a broad variety of options to get music. It is then when the role of selling music material drops for the record shops. Many people claim though that you might get all sorts of music on the Internet but a record shop has a different role. As a physical place, people meet in the shops and interchange ideas, communicate and talk about their passion: music. It is a fact of globalisation and it is known that many shops have to close because they cannot stay open with the little income they produce. Technological advances are the main worry for shops and their costumers that see how more and more shops disappear and the human contact is lost.

Big Apple record shop was a very important place for dubstep and its beginnings. The shop, located in a fruit market in Croydon, south London, has played a major role on the artist’s development and community feeling. Benny (aka Benga) and Ollie (aka Skream) first met Arthur (aka Artwork) in the record shop Big Apple and started making beats. Artwork stated about Big Apple that “the whole place was like a college of music”. Hatcha, who was a garage DJ playing garage raves by the time was also working in Big Apple record shop. That is where hi met all other producers and disk jockeys into dubstep. The record shop worked as a family or community. Anybody could bring their tracks and those would have been played in there. If Hatcha was interested on it, a dub plate could have been done from that particular track. And that also was the way producers and DJs started knowing each other (Story of Dubstep: Episode 1, 2010). Other producers like Plastician or Loefah first met there and build their knowledge and shared their love for electronic music and dubstep and they all took part on the creation and beginning of dubstep (WorldOfWobble, 2011).

London offers many other record shops and some of them have been established since long time ago. Big Apple record store was probably the most important one for the development of dubstep and their social movement. Bruce C. Sneddon (1991) wrote a guide to the record shops of London back in 1991 giving information such as complete opening times, addresses and telephone numbers with directions for the people searching for rare and smaller “out of the way – hard to find” shops. It was to early for dubstep but it showed Honest Jons Records, a shop at the far end of Portobello road in west London. This particular shop is still open today and still sells Jazz Funk, World Music, Rap and African-Caribbean music. The connection with the Afro-Caribbean immigration and the record shop is clearly connected together. Probably the shop was a cult place for many dub and reggae MCs, DJs and producers back in the early nineties and it is still now.
Other shops like The Record and Tape Exchange (Soho, London), Reckless Records (Soho, London) or the quite recently moved Rough Trade (Brick Lane, East London) offered since early times a vide range of music styles and are some of left record shops open in London today. Catherine Chambers (2011) provided information about record shops in London and Rough Trade “is, the quintessential model of all independent record shops”.



Dubstep in technology and media

Internet and distribution

The Internet plays a major role in the dubstep scene. Many DJs and producers have been discovered through websites like MySpace or Soundcloud and nowadays it is a must to have Internet links as a dubstep artist. People get to know music also via YouTube, Mixcloud, dubstepforum.com or DubSet and the online music stores Beatport, Juno or nu-urbanmusic play an important distribution role.

Today’s dubstep disk jockeys and producers see how their source of new music and knowledge interchange and communication vanishes as they are forced to take part on a different world, which is the Internet. Beatport is one of the most famous and used Internet platforms where producers, DJ’s and consumers can buy, sell or listen to electronic music. That means that the buyers do not go to the physical record shop any more. Internet can save you time and money, and many music followers prefer to pay per individual track. But all is not negative news as the Internet has given also many new opportunities for people to share their passion and favourite music or show their own creations and productions.

The social network like Facebook or Twitter play also a major role. Fans can follow their favourite producer and get update from tours or record release dates straight away appearing on the screen without having to look for individual artists on different pages. That makes that the support to specific artists is less important but what brings them together: dubstep. Artists or record labels will promote their new releases on YouTube, Soundcloud, Mixcloud and blogs so people talk about it. No need for making advertisement, fans “following” the artists on social networks will know and will have a feeling of a closer relationship with the producer. Many artists will update their pages and get instant replies from fans all over the world. That is a fact and people get to talk about them. Artists use these online pages to sometimes even ask the audience what they think about their unreleased track or new demo to have an opinion on if for example the song is going to be successful or not.

YouTube is where dubstep followers discover new music most of the time and it is the tool used by many artists to promote themselves.
The next numbers and details were taken on the 18th of October 2011:
The YouTube channel UKFDubstep had over 244 videos uploaded and 882,829 subscribers (UKFDubstep, 2009). It is indisputably the channel number one promoting new tracks and producers. The second most follow dubstep channel on YouTube is QuantumDNB that has 98 drum and bass and dubstep videos and 150,470 subscribers (QuantumDNB, 2009). But these channels do not promote ‘old school’ dubstep. The most followed channel that uploads darker tunes on YouTube is backspaceDUBSTEP and had 413 videos and 7,003 subscribers (backspaceDUBSTEP, 2010).
UKFDubstep is clearly the main channel and the most relevant for artists and the dubstep followers as it has over 391,109,866 total upload views. QuantumDNB is on second place but it is not 100% relevant for dubstep, as many subscribers are interested not only on dubstep but also in drum and bass and has 57,123,146 total upload views. BackspaceDubstep that try to promte the “old school” type of music reaches the 2,393,850 number of total upload views on the video channel. There is a big gap to be noticed between the channels that offer “new” and “filthy” kind of dubstep and the one that does not and keeps promoting the “underground”, “old school” and “dark” type of music.

It is interesting to see that on the selection of the most viewed ‘old school’ dubstep songs, the most watch on YouTube is far from the one million border, when the tracks that are on the ‘new’ dubstep section have millions of views. The artist that are producing proper old school dubstep tracks are not getting views while on the other hand, the producers that joined the scene only around three to four years ago are making songs where they include trance synthesisers, “filthy”, loud and hard sounding elements like the drum beat or the wobble bass and many times they also incorporate vocals.

We can find Skream, Caspa, Rusko and Benga, who are UK based producers that started since the beginnings but evolved along with the scene and have adapted to the new sounds and audience likes. On the other hand, producers like Kode9, Digital Mystikz, Hatcha have continued creating tunes with the “original” idea of dubstep behind it, with clear influences from dub, big bass lines and a dark sound.
The track “Neighbourhood” by Zed Bias is considered one of the pioneer themes of the dubstep movement and it has almost 40,000 views on the YouTube channel (stevensnewest1119, 2009). There is a big difference between the two “styles”. The importance of YouTube is clear on the table where one gets to see how this tool makes the producers worldwide known and helps them to promote their music. On the other side, producers that are still making ‘old school’ sounding tracks are not getting attention from the people that search after dubstep on YouTube.

Sound quality is another factor. Many people that support and have been supporting the dubstep producers and following the scene since the beginning are more likely not to use YouTube as a dubstep music searching tool. One can upload the track with a good quality audio but many claim that it is not the same. A Kode9, El-B or Hatcha follower would prefer to listen to the track on vinyl, on a club or just on a proper sound system to actually feel and ‘understand’ the music and very often this is not the case on many computers. The average person that listens to Skrillex or Doctor P will not care about the detailed sound quality, in comparison someone that wants to hear a Zed Bias track will definitely prefer to do so on a proper environment. Also, it is a curious fact to see that the “new” dubstep producers are selling and distributing their songs on the internet and on the other hand the “old school” dubstep artists are not pushing the online sells but tend to release vinyl’s and actual materialise music.



Commercials and marketing

Dubstep is quite a new genre of music and apart of some youth not many know about the music style. The media also uses this fact on the marketing and branding of certain products. They define the dubstep audience and analyse the target and these advertisements have a clear target market that is young people. Here are a few examples of commercials that have appeared on television that have dubstep soundtrack:

The cereal brand Weetabix included the track 'A New World' by Mord Fustang for their latest cereal advertisement in the United Kingdom. The product is called “Weetabix Chocolate” and there is a little girl to be seen on the short clip, dancing along the music with teddy bears and puppets in a room full of toys. Also the sports clothes and shoemaker Nike made advertisement for their latest football boots and included the track ‘Jump’ by 16bit. On the commercial there is Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres to be seen on screen in a dark environment in a futuristic space. The product is the latest T90 football boots called Total90 Laser III. On the other hand, the mobile phone company Samsung included a dubstep track from an artist called edIT in their commercial to launch the “Galaxy SII” in France. They brought along JayFunk, a “finger tutting phenomenon” from Los Angeles, United States of America. The advertisement has been named “Unleash Your Fingers”. Noisia’s “Machine Gun” has been also featured on a trailer and various TV spots for the 2011 movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”.



Remixing and sub genres

Remixes

The remix concept in dub is a bit different from dubstep. In dub the producers and engineers wanted to exalted over singers and players, and the idea is that the studio effect and processing are more crucial than the original vocal of instrumental performances. This can be also understood in terms of poststructuralism and postmodernism (Partrigde, 2010, p. 60).

Remixes are present in big amounts in the dubstep world. Many artists before producing their own original tunes from scratch, they prefer to do a remix of an existing song. One of the most famous examples is the remix made by a producer called Cragga from The Marvelettes’s “Please Mr Postman” that got number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 in the USA. The YouTube video link for the remix had over six million views by 15th of October 2011. Skrillex and Zeds Dead are also famous artist that have remixed with big success other peoples original songs. Zeds Dead has got over 15 million views on their remix of Blue Fundation’s track “Eyes On Fire”. Also their remix of The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” has over 4.5 million views on the video channel. Flux Pavilion has successfully remixed DJ Fresh’s “Gold Dust” and Freestylers’ “Cracks” with over 13 and eight million views. These are the most watch dubstep remixes on the Internet, but not by far, as there are many other video links for the same song. Many people get the track for free on the Internet and first thing they do is upload it on their YouTube or Soundcloud profile. This makes it difficult when it comes to count the number of views from all the available sources of a particular song. Some remixes are so popular that listeners sometimes do not know about the original track. On the other hand, the Finnish multinational communications corporation Nokia organised a ringtone competition to include a remix made anyone that took part on it. The winner is Valerio Alessandro Sizzi, a 22-year-old sound designer from Milan, Italy. He is an unknown electronic and dance producer that made a dubstep remix of the famous loop of 1902’s Spanish classical guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega guitar piece “Gran Vals” (“Great Waltz” in English language). The new Nokia tune is going to appear on the new mobile phones, specially the ones that are thought for teenagers and music lovers (Nokia, 2011).

Either amateurs or professionals make more and more remix from the scene. And some record labels know and study the potential of dubstep so there will be an original dance song that will get remixed by a dubstep producer and featured as an important track on the release. An example is the techno house song “I Remember” by Deadmau5 and Kaskade. The release of the singles was in 2008 and Caspa made the dubstep remix of the track. It is without a doubt one of the first and most influential tracks that inspired many other producers to make “dance” and “techno-house” sounding dubstep tracks (Discogs, no date).

Dubstep sub genres

On one side there is drumstep, which is dubstep played as fast as drum and bass. It takes the sound ideas from dubstep but is played at 180 beat per minute instead of the usual 140 BPM. This is a subgenre that emerged from the tracks that were using more drum and bass drum patterns and less space on the beat. On the other side there is breakstep. It mainly evolved from 2-step garage sounds but takes elements from dubstep and breakbeat as well. It follows the 140 beats per minute but the beat style has its main influence from breakbeat. There is also Grime, which is not a completely new sub genre from dubstep as it came before inspired by mainly dub and dancehall. But even though grime’s true roots come from dancehall and dub, it has taken a new step and developed a fresher sound. Some producers will literally take an existing dubstep track and rap over it. Some artists are Scorcher, Skepta, Ghetto, Wretch 32, Dizzee Rascal, a lot of people are grime artists but most of them do not stick to grime. Not every song of theirs will be a grime track. Grime does not pay, but grime artists can switch to Hip-Hop, Rap, Pop or whatever and then get paid. And already discussed in this paper but one cannot forget about the more disco-house-electronic dubstep that has no name and it is still labelled as dubstep only. It clearly has nothing to do with the actuall dubstep but this is a separate sub genre that is being played in big clubs that normally support and organise dance, techno, house or “party”-electronic music like Fabric or Ministry Of Sound in London. Lately in 2011 the “fresh” sounding sub genre post dubstep became uncovered and it is getting mainstream. Artists like SBTRKT, Rustie or Kuedo sound different between each other, these artists do not have anything to do with each other but are categorised under the label of post dubstep. They usually take other elemets from dubstep and experiment with them, instead of taking the “basic” dubstep elements like the bass and the general “dark” vibe. These artists produce tracks that focus on the “glitchy” sounds of the pad, some other times they create a totally different electronic music sub genre that takes the 140 beats per minute from dubstep but remembers one of 80s electronic music. Or some songs even sound like modern stylistic dubstep with extra high pitch notes and unrecognisable singing. Basically nothing that the “old school” dubstep was supposed to be like. This new sub genres might dissolve the concept of dubstep for labels. These are exposed to many variants that take thei main influence from dubstep but none of these sound like the other. Before categorising it wrong they just keep calling it dubstep. And it does help the people to know or to have an idea of what the music might be like.

Future of dubstep

Post dubstep? The common and recognisable sounds of these would be trance-techno sounding keyboard melodies and pads, aggressive drumbeats and very often a vocal line on the track. Instead of making deeper and darker sounds and focusing on bass and wobbles, some artists are trying to experiment in other areas. But there are already so many sub genres of sub genres that it is sometimes difficult to categorise tracks and albums in the broad dubstep movement. The more “party” kind of style that is having success in the United States is just one example. What remains from that sort of dubstep is the beat and the bass. Nowadays, producers like Skrillex, Caspa, Doctor P or Rusko are pushing the sounds to a harder and “filthier” vibe. The use of vocoder is also common and people seem to prefer music with lyrics, something that is the opposite principal idea of the true dubstep: instrumental tracks. If there was anyone singing or talking it was the MC and not a girls voice that is actually a dance or techno singer and sings randomly in a dubstep song. Skream says on an interview to The Independent that it is wrong to call dubstep the music that is being made toady and proposes to call it UK bass (The Independent, 2011). That would make sense, as all these sub genres that have been mentioned or analysed are in a way different from each other.

It almost feels like rock goes on cycles: There once was heavy metal at its peak, then it was punk and later everybody focused on alternative rock and grunge. But it seems not to be a rock genre that reaches the level of popularity and admiration from the audience. Maybe now in 2011 rock is “dead” and other music styles are trying to take over. This is not to be taken as a will to put dubstep as the main music style and the one that influences people the most but there are people trying to take advantage out of this situation. Dubstep is electronic music and pop or rock will always be there the same. The feeling it generates around the young people though is that they feel like electronic music before seeing a band with electric guitars and loud acoustic drums on a stage. Apart from a dubstep song circumstantially on the top of the charts, which probably sound more like a techno or dance hit then anything else, the prediction for such a movement is that it will vanish as fast as it came. Even though dubstep is doing pretty well as a “new” music genre in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America, this new electronic music style has little people that listen to it or that follow the trend as their main music taste. But music styles are linked together, it is just the way it is. We could take for instance grime that got influenced by dub, dancehall and garage, exactly the same genres that had a big influence for dubstep. Both genres took different ways but in matter of a short period of time, around ten years, these have “found each other” again and it is more than usual the mix dubstep and grime at the time, creating more and more subgenres of urban music styles. The same that happened in this case with grime music can happen with dubstep. This process takes time to develop and change and you can see this already happening in “post dubstep”. The music is getting more and more “filthy” and “hard-core” in one way, “dance disco club” in another and experimental and deeper in some others.

Conclusion

Nowadays dubstep is and important element in the music industry. Many festivals and events are organised around this music genre that started ten years ago in Croydon, south London. Since then many producers and disk jockeys are playing dubstep tracks and the people seem to enjoy it. There are many different sub genres and styles that have been influenced by the true dark dubstep and have evolved in a separate way. Depending on the taste, producers will focus more on the beat, on the bass, on the wobble or even on how “catchy” for the audience the song will be. Everything seems to be categorised under the same big umbrella of dubstep but not is the same or represents the same social movement or audience profile. There are obviously labels or people involved in the music industry that take advantage of this. In some way or another, dubstep is probably the main electronic music style right now in 2011 in the United Kingdom. It started only a decade ago but has gone far and the movement is in some aspects joining to be mainstream and so popular among the young people on the Internet, festivals or even radio. Many people involved at the beginning are either still “underground” or have tried to “go with the flow” and produce more “mainstreaming” sounds. Some have adapted well, some have not. But there is still a little group that does not forget the big and main propose of the “old school” dubstep and is still making tracks that focus on the bass and therefore relate still directly to dub. The Jamaican immigration played a very important role for the sound system culture in England that later has evolved to dancehall, grime and dubstep. Without the Jamaican immigration from the 20th century in Britain there would be no dub and without dub there would be no dubstep. The record labels from the late 1990s and the early 2000s have played a major role building up communities and making the scene known for more people. A genre that started to be different than the garage crews is now one of the main electronic music styles. Getting the attention of people that felt the same way helped to make this style uncovered and is now on the top list of popular music taste for young people. But the main problem for the genre is that little people know about it. Teenagers do as they surf on the Internet and share in social networks, but it is still a very unknown music genre for older generations. In a world without Internet dubstep would probably be still an underground music style and movement.
Maybe this genre will die as fast as it has been gone popular. The overuse of this music style might relate to a faster “tiredness” of it and make it disappear. On this essay, the scene has mainly focused on the United Kingdom and in the United States of America but there are many other European countries (most of these in the north) that are trying to get to know this style. There is still a long way for it to go and it is difficult to analyse deep into detail what is happening in the scene. Ten years of a genre are not particularly many years to have a clear overview of what is happening. Therefore this dissertation’s purpose is to try to analyse what might be happening and look after the reasons and changes this has had. The research has been extended but no many sources where available, as it is still a “new” genre of music. Dubstep has come to a point where it is not related to dub or sound system culture any more. This is not bad news but people seem to like the mainstream music only and never look for “original” or “true” movements. If people do not release this fact, record labels will make profit out of this situation deciding what the trend is.


Jordi Perez

London (UK), 30 October 2011

------------------------------------


Bibliography

Books

Berkenstadt, J. and Cross, C.R. (1998) Nirvana – Nevermind. New York: Schirmer Books.

Danielsen, A. (2010) Musical Rhythm in the Age of Digital Reproduction. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Goodman, S. (2010) Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. London: Graphic Composition, Inc.

Morrell, B. (1993) Nirvana & The Sound of Seattle. 1996 edn. London: Omnibus Press.

Partridge, C. (2010) Dub in Babylon. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.

Sneddon, B.C. (1991) A Guide to the Record Shops of London. 1991. London.

Spencer, I.R.G. (1997) British immigration policy since 1939: The making of multi-racial Britain. London: Routledge.

Styhre, A. (2008) Perception and Organization: Art, Music, Media. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan / Macmillan Publishers Limited.


Internet

backspaceDUBSTEP (2010) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/backspaceDUBSTEP (Accessed: 12 October 2011).

Barrow, M. (no date) Music in England and Britain. Available at: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... /music.htm (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Birchmeier, J. (no date) Kode9. Available at: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kode9-p844499/biography (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

BNN (2011) ‘Notting Hill carnival’, We’re Black We’re Nerds We’re a Network, 25 August 2007. Available at: http://blacknerdsnetwork.blogspot.com/2 ... nival.html (Accessed: 05 October 2011).

Circus Records (no date) Available at: http://www.circus-records.co.uk/artists/doctor-p.html (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Clark, M. (2009) About FDW>>. Available at: http://www.ilovefwd.com/about-fwd.html (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Clark, M. (2002) Zed Bias – Biography. Available at: http://www.garagepressure.com/Interview ... %20Bio.htm (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Dawson, K. and Cabooter, J. (2011) ‘DJ Fresh Heads For Top Of The Charts’, Daily Star, 06 July [Online]. Available at: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/vie ... he-charts/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Benga. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Benga (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Deadmau5. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Deadmau5 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) deadmau5 + Kaskade – I Remember. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/Deadmau5-Kaskade ... se/1452107 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Digital Mystikz. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Digital+Mystikz (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) El-B. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/El-B (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Horsepower Productions. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Horsepower+Productions (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Joker. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Joker+%285%29 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) N-Type. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/N-Type (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Noisia. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Noisia (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Oris Jay. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Oris+Jay (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Pinch. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Pinch+%282%29 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Plastician. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Plastician (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Skream. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Skream (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) Youngsta. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Youngsta (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) 12th Planet. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/12th+Planet (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Discogs (no date) 16 Bit. Available at: http://www.discogs.com/artist/16+Bit (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Dubstep Music (2010) about Jakes. Available at: http://www.dubstepmusic.biz/about-jakes/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Gizmodo (2011) The New Nokia Tune Dubstep Edition Review. Available at: http://gizmodo.com/5848276/the-new-noki ... ion-review (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

IOM International Organization for Migration (2007) Jamaica – Mapping Exercise. [Online]. Available at: http://www.iomlondon.org/doc/mapping/IOM_JAMAICA.pdf (Accessed: 14 September 2011).

Jonze, T. (2011) ‘Tim Jonze's On shuffle: dubstep’, The Guardian, 24 September [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/se ... le-dubstep (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Caspa. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Caspa (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Emalkay. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Emalkay (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Hatcha & Benga. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Hatcha%2B%2526%2BBenga (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Nero. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Nero?ac=nero (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Rusko. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Rusko (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Skrillex. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Skrillex?ac=skrille (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) Tes La Rok. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/Tes%2520La%252 ... 20la%20rok (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Last.fm (no date) 2000F. Available at: http://www.last.fm/music/2000F?ac=2000F (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

MixpanMasterClasses (2011) Rusko Producer Masterclass Part 1. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j71qvxns7C4 (Accessed: 24 September 2011).

MixpanMasterClasses (2011) Rusko Producer Masterclass Part 2. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj9Va8US ... re=related (Accessed: 24 September 2011).

MixpanMasterClasses (2011) Rusko Producer Masterclass Part 3. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm3ylgPg ... re=related (Accessed: 24 September 2011).

Moir, S. (2011) ‘Skream: ‘I want to make sure once this fad dies out, I’m still standing’’, The Independent, 13 September [Online]. Available at: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/09/ ... %E2%80%99/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Muggs, J. (2011) ‘Is Skrillex the most hated man in dubstep?’, The Guardian, 29 September [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/se ... -interview (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Nokia (2011) The winning tune. Available at: http://brandbook.nokia.com/blog/view/item66319/ (Accessed: 12 October 2011).

Oris Jay Biography (no date) Available at: http://www.orisjay.co.uk/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Plus, J. (2010) Dubstep forum award winners. Available at: http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2010/0 ... um-awards/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

QuantumDNB (2009) The Best DnB and Dubstep. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/QuantumDNB?blend=1&ob=4 (Accessed: 15 October 2011).

Rainho, R. (no date) Digital Mystikz. Available at: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/digital-mystikz-p854809 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

RioMareYeah (2011) Nokia Tune Dubstep Edition ( The Winner ). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA2pjVAswek (Accessed: 12 October 2011).
stevensnewest1119 (2009) Zed Bias - Neighbourhood (El-B Remix) (1999). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAULh9Puv4g (Accessed: 03 October 2011).

Story of Dubstep: Episode 1 (2010) BBC Radio 1, 06 December, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/showcase/clips/p00glt8z (Accessed: 03 October 2011).

TeamNikeFootball (2010) Nike Total 90 Laser 3 - Rooney vs. Torres. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHj1qRcTik (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

The British Empire. Available at: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

TheDur4ik (2011) Dubstep dance / Unleash Your Fingers , edIT - Ants / JayFunk. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFJlIVSARsE (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

UKF Dubstep (2009) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/UKFDubstep (Accessed: 15 October 2011).

WatchMojo (2010) The History Of The British Empire. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9NlYfjqXw (Accessed: 30 September 2011).

WeetabixFoodCo (2011) New Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize Advert. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YpOw8o34BM (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

Whalley, M. (no date) Skream!. Available at: http://www.allmusic.com/album/r934830 (Accessed: 01 October 2011).

WorldOfWobble (2011) Bass Weight : a Dubstep Documentary (HD PART 1). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udKX7mZcpbI (Accessed: 22 September 2011).

WorldOfWobble (2011) Bass Weight : a Dubstep Documentary (HD PART 2). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHUaEsqK ... re=related (Accessed: 22 September 2011).

WorldOfWobble (2011) Bass Weight : a Dubstep Documentary (HD PART 3). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMxChzW7 ... re=related (Accessed: 22 September 2011).

WorldOfWobble (2011) Bass Weight : a Dubstep Documentary (HD PART 4). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx9vISN1 ... re=related (Accessed: 22 September 2011).

XLR8RTV (2007) XLR8R TV Episode 25: Dubstep. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKzUgISQA9c (Accessed: 03 October 2011).

Zemler, E. (2010) Borgore Interview: SXSW 2010. Available at: http://www.spinner.com/2010/03/10/borgo ... sxsw-2010/ (Accessed: 01 October 2011).




Jordi Perez

London (UK), 30 October 2011

------------------------------------

[END OF PART 2/2]

[Teknicyde]

Second thought

[joeki]

there's so much bullshit in there man...

[Mr Hyde]

Not putting it down or anything but if you want some constructive criticism I just had a skim read and I don't think you can really justify saying "there is no more heavy metal" or that "Dubstep is THE new electronic music", also I'd say it originated in South London as plenty of the big names weren't from Croydon.

[joeki]

yeah, just adding a reference here or there doesn't qualify this as a thesis. Half of it is open to interpretation, another quarter is downright wrong and here or there you manage to write a decent paragraph.

All in all, 3/20.

[Mr Hyde]

Suffering from a racist society, the black population of Britain in the 1940s and 1950s had to get used to be the ones doing the hard jobs while others could enjoy themselves. When it came to entertainment blacks would go to dance and find white women to danced with

[LGBT]

Robot sex out now !

[fractal]

So close and yet...

[fractal]

I'd research the beat aspect of your paper a bit more. I know the beat you're talking about is very popular, but the idea of dubstep is that anything goes @ 140 with sub. There are hundreds of fantastic dubstep tunes that don't follow your formula

[Teknicyde]

In the United States of America, dubstep has evolved to a way where the common sounds are aggressive drumbeats, trance synthesisers and girl’s vocals on a track having a clear connection to dance or techno house songs.

what. total. tripe.

Can I please point you towards the widdler, joe nice, ect. as being the forerunners of American dubstep? Have you ever been to America (presumably not), to say what the 'common sounds' are? You clearly have not half a clue what the scenes are like here, aside from the waste that gets uploaded to youtube by youtube kids for youtube kids.

And note. I dont know many Americans doing trance and girl vocals quite the way Katy B does.

'Techno house'??? What in the name of god is Techno House? Way to disrespect two MAJOR history shaping genres in one breathe.

[back_beat]

'Techno house'??? What in the name of god is Techno House? Way to disrespect two MAJOR history shaping genres in one breathe.

Probably meant Tech house.

OP has gone to a lot of effort just to troll DSF, that's a lot of writing.

[coleco]

In the United States of America, dubstep has evolved to a way where the common sounds are aggressive drumbeats, trance synthesisers and girl’s vocals on a track having a clear connection to dance or techno house songs.

what. total. tripe.

Can I please point you towards the widdler, joe nice, ect. as being the forerunners of American dubstep? Have you ever been to America (presumably not), to say what the 'common sounds' are? You clearly have not half a clue what the scenes are like here, aside from the waste that gets uploaded to youtube by youtube kids for youtube kids.

And note. I dont know many Americans doing trance and girl vocals quite the way Katy B does.

'Techno house'??? What in the name of god is Techno House? Way to disrespect two MAJOR history shaping genres in one breathe.

I wouldn't say it was total tripe. I mean, you're American so presumably you'ld be able to correct me on this but it's just the way alot of people outside of the US see it.

I was in NY for a bit a few weeks ago, went to 2 nights in Brooklyn, and looked around alot alot of music/dubstep related stuff. I did personally find it quite dominated by the mega aggressive stuff. Stuff that I would say sounds like it draws more from heavy metal/rock/hard synths with militant beats, as opposed to the shuffley dub/garage influences that alot of other dubstep (esp UK) draws from. Not that it's a bad thing, especially for the people that are into it. Although in Brookyn, in the record shops, there was alot of good dance music, just not alot of dubstep (although one shop appeared to be obsessed with Boxcutter)

The first night at the Knitting Factory did play a wide variety of stuff, but it seemed like people were bemused at anything that didn't have loud screaching synths in. As soon as a big aggy dubstep banger dropped everyone would get into it. Although, I must admit that happens alot in the UK depending on the night you go to. The second night we went to at Brooklyn Bowl was good. FaultyDL played some wicked uk 2-step garage influenced bits that really got me pumping because I had been dying to hear music with shuffle for a while by this point, shame not many people apart from me and my GF were into it. I guess he gets a better reception elsewhere. After that Signal Path came on as the headliner, and I must admit, they were good, and not aggressive, the placed had filled a bit more by then, AND people got into them. So I guess you're right, it depends where you go. But as I say, it's just how alot of people see it. S'all perception I guess.

I gotta add we did go to a Jazz bar/resteraunt with the most fantastic players and singers I've seen pretty much ever, better than most of what i've seen over here, although that I suppose is to be expected in the US being the birthplace of alot of it.

I still can't fully judge, I know. I only went to one city for a relatively small period of time. I wouldn't be suprised if, (infact I know) there's a whole multitude of stuff out there with deeper, shuffley, dub/garaged influenced stuff all over the states, but you just gotta understand in the UK alot of what we see is 'tearout', 'brostep' whatever comming out of the US. Once again I don't have anything against it for the people that like it!

I didnt have time to read the piece BTW so I cant comment on the rest...

[scattybeanhead]

doing an essay on dubstep is just a terrible idea. there's very little to actually to define the genre and im not really sure how much academia there is available on it. a lot of this is also based on hearsay and opinion tbh

[pheen]

oh i'd love to hear the dark and aggressive garage tunes, were no women were found
love the garage style

[accordionfan]

im just happy someone wrote "genre sensitive dubheads" on a paper they're going to hand in for grading irl

[-[2]DAY_-]

I was in NY for a bit a few weeks ago, went to 2 nights in Brooklyn, and [. . .] [W]e did go to a Jazz bar/resteraunt with the most fantastic players and singers I've seen pretty much ever, better than most of what i've seen over here, although that I suppose is to be expected in the US being the birthplace of alot of it.

damn straight.

[-[2]DAY_-]

There's definitely enough content to write a good academic discourse on dubstep. But you need to be really really knowledgeable about the music and the history, and even still it would only make sense to the right audience. A lot could be said just within schools of music, aside from the history aspect, talking about the compositional aspects, sound design, sub, Djing, sound systems affecting the way music is written, you could write a book just on how to listen to dubstep. For instance sometimes disregarding notes and listening for textures, rhythms, and reactions between different sounds.

Joe Nice, musicologist, should write the book. I bet he'd get a good book deal

OP i stopped reading after "[dubstep] is usually loud and contains a wobble bass."

[Teknicyde]

In the United States of America, dubstep has evolved to a way where the common sounds are aggressive drumbeats, trance synthesisers and girl’s vocals on a track having a clear connection to dance or techno house songs.

what. total. tripe.

Can I please point you towards the widdler, joe nice, ect. as being the forerunners of American dubstep? Have you ever been to America (presumably not), to say what the 'common sounds' are? You clearly have not half a clue what the scenes are like here, aside from the waste that gets uploaded to youtube by youtube kids for youtube kids.

And note. I dont know many Americans doing trance and girl vocals quite the way Katy B does.

'Techno house'??? What in the name of god is Techno House? Way to disrespect two MAJOR history shaping genres in one breathe.

I wouldn't say it was total tripe. I mean, you're American so presumably you'ld be able to correct me on this but it's just the way alot of people outside of the US see it.

I was in NY for a bit a few weeks ago, went to 2 nights in Brooklyn.

Yeah, I know thats how alot of people see it, and I dont know why, because from what I understand, its the uk what moshes to dubstep, the uk what invented that doctor p screech, ect... And frankly, you dont hear americans judging the UK based on Doctor P/Flux P.

if you were in new york and didnt go to a sub swara party you missed out man, unless they had an out of town booking the weekend in question, its entirely on whoever pointed you to the nights you attended you missed whats good, not nyc's scene, the new york scene is stellar, it sounds like you got a very mixed portion of it while you were there, which is to be expected in any scene worldwide. If in london, would there not have been a similar balance of deep vs. filth? I wouldnt judge ldn on its filth knowing there's a dmz night across town, all I ask is the UK not judge my country like that either.

My point is that the US is no more or less bro'd out then any other country, and its very judgemental/stigmatizing to label us like over here dubstep is ignored in favor of brostep, when if anything, its less popular then it is in other countries...

I think the reason people outside the u.s. believe the u.s. is so filth-oriented is because so many people from outside the u.s, run around telling them how things are in the u.s.

[-[2]DAY_-]

The truth is the bro'd out-ness of USA is about the size of the events. Rusko (who i actually think is great), skrillex, datsik, Nero, BFM, Bore gore, those are the folks who have played to huge crowds and festivals. Mala played a little tiny restaurant pub and a small club, Twisup, subswara and Reconstrvct are not very large (though they are great nights).

We're more bro'd out because the exposure/understanding of most americans 18-25 is that the electro wobble and anthemic synth-pop halfstep is what dubstep is. Whereas in UK, people know about all the diverse bass music pouring into the scene at any given time. in USA that good shit is basically nonexistent aside from a small number of heads /deadhorse