Bass Weight - A dubstep documentary

[Antiguo]

Looks really interesting, will be keen to check it out. Hopefully it hasn't become outdated since it was filmed.

[spydee]

will definately cop

[stephisaint]

This looks interesting
Glad it looks like they'll be able to release it

[uncle bill]

Definitely going to buy this.

[Visitor]

Looks awesome cant wait to see this

[cakeplz]

just ordered from redeye, cant wait to watch this

[Pedro Sánchez]

25th of Oct is the drop date according to the mailout, hyped for the nostalgia.

[alphacat]

A few weeks ago, while watching megastar DJ Z-Trip rock a tailgate party for a few UCLA Bruins fans, the jocked excitedly told me that a sweet freshman girl, big cheeks painted with yellow and blue team logos, requested he play some dubstep. As the crowd of clearly mainstream coolege football fans went bonkers to the low end beats, I was struck that this genre’s time in the “phenomenon” spotlight is almost up.

A new film, Bassweight, is coming out in the UK this month. With dubstep superstars Mary Anne Hobbs, Skream, Benga and Kode 9 all partipating, the film is doubtlessly a credible look at the music’s near decade-long history. But the angle being reported by The Guardian is that Bassweight focuses not on the past, but on the predicting the future of dubstep. And while I’ve not seen the flim, nor heard the postulations therein, one doesn’t need to look far to take an educated guess at where dubstep is headed.



Since it’s inception, dubstep has mirrored the pop-cultural arc of drum’n'bass almost identically. And not just because the former is pretty much a half-tempo version of the other. Here’s a breakdown of the parallel timelines:

Drum’n'Bass / Dubstep

Begins in working class Britain
Bristol / South London

Seminal club nights evolve
AWOL (A Way Of Life) / FWD>>

Pirate broadcasts spread the sound
Kool FM / Rinse FM

Seminal artistic albums are released
Goldie- Timeless / Burial- Untrue

Sound takes off in the U.S.
Dieselboy / Rusko (UK Expat)

Mainstream stars adopt the style
David Bowie / Britney Spears


What happens next is just as predictable. Within a year or so, dubstep will fall out of favor with the forward looking music fans who raised it into popularity to begin with. The media will move on to new genre’s as well. However, the music will continue to thrive amongst purist communities and, surprisingly, in frat houses across the country (trust us, d’n'b was huge on college campuses throughout the ’00s). After a fallow period, a revival will occure somewhere around 2016 before the music finally normalizes into just another category in your iTunes playlist—like lounge, IDM and jungle.

Cycle of life kiddies. Trust me.

[Promise One]

Ordered mine. Support this!

[joeki]

Pre-ordered on redeye!

[fractal]

urb article is hilarious!

all about coping this

[spydee]

got mine in the post today and just finished watching it.

pretty epic tbh. proper good job by SRK; great camerawork, well put together and really informative.

it definately cuts open the scene and lays it all out, covering pretty much all aspects of the culture. great insight and a good snapshot of a prosporous time in the genres history.

definately the best dvd ive seen about dubstep and i can see why they wanted to push it in cinemas first because it is kind of like a piece of art.

the only thing that would of made this better is if they added an extra half an hour to include a feature on bristol and maybe a short showcase specifically on FWD and DMZ (how they started, the transitions they have gone through, etc).

[-dubson-]

How does it stand up in terms of how dated it is?

[Horia]

How does it stand up in terms of how dated it is?

Good point, but not so good in terms of "ruining" the hype

[sc0tty]

A few weeks ago, while watching megastar DJ Z-Trip rock a tailgate party for a few UCLA Bruins fans, the jocked excitedly told me that a sweet freshman girl, big cheeks painted with yellow and blue team logos, requested he play some dubstep. As the crowd of clearly mainstream coolege football fans went bonkers to the low end beats, I was struck that this genre’s time in the “phenomenon” spotlight is almost up.

A new film, Bassweight, is coming out in the UK this month. With dubstep superstars Mary Anne Hobbs, Skream, Benga and Kode 9 all partipating, the film is doubtlessly a credible look at the music’s near decade-long history. But the angle being reported by The Guardian is that Bassweight focuses not on the past, but on the predicting the future of dubstep. And while I’ve not seen the flim, nor heard the postulations therein, one doesn’t need to look far to take an educated guess at where dubstep is headed.



Since it’s inception, dubstep has mirrored the pop-cultural arc of drum’n'bass almost identically. And not just because the former is pretty much a half-tempo version of the other. Here’s a breakdown of the parallel timelines:

Drum’n'Bass / Dubstep

Begins in working class Britain
Bristol / South London

Seminal club nights evolve
AWOL (A Way Of Life) / FWD>>

Pirate broadcasts spread the sound
Kool FM / Rinse FM

Seminal artistic albums are released
Goldie- Timeless / Burial- Untrue

Sound takes off in the U.S.
Dieselboy / Rusko (UK Expat)

Mainstream stars adopt the style
David Bowie / Britney Spears


What happens next is just as predictable. Within a year or so, dubstep will fall out of favor with the forward looking music fans who raised it into popularity to begin with. The media will move on to new genre’s as well. However, the music will continue to thrive amongst purist communities and, surprisingly, in frat houses across the country (trust us, d’n'b was huge on college campuses throughout the ’00s). After a fallow period, a revival will occure somewhere around 2016 before the music finally normalizes into just another category in your iTunes playlist—like lounge, IDM and jungle.

Cycle of life kiddies. Trust me.

Will be bagging this on payday next week, really enjoyed that living inside the speaker so this should be good.

Can someone ID the tune in the video please?

[FackOff]

tes la rok - uprise

[spydee]

How does it stand up in terms of how dated it is?

dont feel THAT out of date. its sorta at the point where it was popular but just about to take off into the mainstream/before the saturation of brostep.

i guess it depends on when you started listening, if you only caught on recently then it might feel slightly different to how it is now.

but it was a better time then now tbh.

[Promise One]

got mine in the post today and just finished watching it.

pretty epic tbh. proper good job by SRK; great camerawork, well put together and really informative.

it definately cuts open the scene and lays it all out, covering pretty much all aspects of the culture. great insight and a good snapshot of a prosporous time in the genres history.

definately the best dvd ive seen about dubstep and i can see why they wanted to push it in cinemas first because it is kind of like a piece of art.

the only thing that would of made this better is if they added an extra half an hour to include a feature on bristol and maybe a short showcase specifically on FWD and DMZ (how they started, the transitions they have gone through, etc).

I agree it was good and well worth watching but Dubfiles is more indepth imo.

What I expected to see more of that wasn't really there:

Nothing about FWD at Velvet Rooms and Plastic People
Nothing about Tempa and Hammersly & Bloodworth
Nothing about bloggers like Blackdown, Georgia Cook (Drumz of the South) etc
Youngsta and an interview at BM Soho would have been nice
Nothing on the Bristol scene or the North like Leeds and The West Indian center / Iration Steppas soundsystem
Not much on the actual production side of things other than the small part with Kode 9
Interviews with more label owners across the genre?
I liked the part about pirate radio but only focused on Sub FM no Rinse FM, Get Darker, etc
Just thought so much more could have been included, I know it was finished two years ago but just seems a shame as I wouldn't call it a "feature length doc"

[joeki]

Exactly. Great documentary and probably the best in its kind so far. But it is lacking in a few departments.

With all do respect but the whole amsterdam/rotterdam section wasn't particularly interesting : could have been filled up with other more relevant stuf on the production side of dubstep, or parties or the histories.
The section on Burial gave me goosebumps but it came out of nowhere and went nowhere. It was like out of the flow but it had to be included.

Enjoyed the bits with Chef, Kode 9, Plastician, benny Ill... but would have liked more party footage and more tunes in there. But then it would actually be a feature length (it's only about 70 minutes now). This could have been a three hour documentary though so I know they had to be selective.

Essential buy, but I'm slightly disssapointed to be honest.

It does feature some great shots though, cinematographically : it's beautiful.

[1017_duck]

cinematographically

try saying this word out loud