The American West Coast seems to have really taken to U.K. dubstep–Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have developed devoted audiences for the stripped-down low-end sound that some initially surmised would be just a British thing. And helping U.S. dubstep make its mark, one bass-heavy burner at a time, is Jon A.D.’s LoDubs label.
LoDubs is not your ordinary dance music imprint, nor is Jon A.D. a young upstart. The label is run from inside Anthem Records, a record store (and label of the same name) that Jon owns, and which specializes in limited-edition metal, noise, and drone releases. This may seem contradictory, but Jon sees a strong connection between metal, noise, and dubstep. “Dubstep is so much about drum structures. And when you increase the air and rhythm in tracks, that allows drone and other frequencies to come out. Scorn’s stuff is very metal, and Burial and Boxcutter have some of those elements as well.”
STREAM
http://electronicexplorations.org/podcasts/ElectronicExplorations_104_LoDubs.mp3
DOWNLOAD
http://electronicexplorations.org/podca ... LoDubs.mp3
Tracklisting:
[01] - Mensah – Warrior - [Dub]
[02] - XI – Vacuum - [Dub]
[03] - 6Blocc – Meditation 2 - [Dub]
[04] - Monster Zoku Onsomb! - Exterminape (Ebola Remix) - [Dub]
[05] - DZ & Sam XL – Cotton Candy - [Forthcoming 'Contagious']
[06] - XI – Lucky - [LoDubs 1208007]
[07] - Djunya – Elevate - [LoDubs 1209012]
[08] - O-Dessa – Million Dollarz - [LoDubs 1209013]
[09] - Hoodz (6Blocc & UOME) – Bad Mind - [LoDubs 1209011]
[10] - Mensah – Sahara - [LoDubs 1209015]
[11] - El Rakkas – I & I (XI Remix) - [LoDubs 1209017]
[12] - DJG – The Gate - [LoDubs 1209016]
[13] - Pacheko – Figure 8 (ENA Remix) - [Murder Channel]
[14] - MNUVR – Rafters - [Forthcoming 'LoDubs']
[15] - MNUVR – Go Up - [Forthcoming 'LoDubs']
[16] - Intima – Tierra De Java (Pacheko RMX) - [Dub]
[17] - Meesha – Block Riddim - [Forthcoming 'LoDubs']
[18] - Clubroot – Sempiternal (SPL Remix) - [Forthcoming 'LoDubs']
The history of Jon AD reads a bit like a peoples history of innovative electronic music in the the United States. Born in Eugene, Oregon, and from a young age attracted to all aspects of sound, it was in his teens that he first discovered Electronic music, and realized that it had as visceral of elements as Punk Rock when combined with heavy amplification.
This thread ultimately lead to, and followed the beginnings of the Hardcore Techno sound of artists like Mescalinum United and GTO, and the advent of UK breakbeat hardcore like Spiral Tribe, Suburban Base/Moving Shadow/etc. As there where no record stores that even began to come close to following such musical movements, he founded the first DJ service in the region for such sounds, delivered via bicycle, much like Horsemouth in Rockers (a parallel not drawn until he saw the film many years later).
As it appeared much of the west coast was years away from an appreciation of such styles, by the time 1995 rolled along, Jon AD found himself seeing the Midwest, with its all-encompassing party scene, and its indigenous culture which was the beginnings of the Midwest hardcore sound, as a voice calling. So when a promoter heard him DJ in Oregon, and on the spot offered him a plane ticket and some money to come play a party in a rural barn near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he departed, and thus embarked on a three year "trip" which besides an endless amount of parties played also involved a long running residency at the primary club in the city, Matisse, and a featured writing position on the magazine known as Massive (massivemag.com), which is still seen as the Rosetta stone of the period, and the primary source of recorded history for such organizations as Drop Bass/Communique/Addict Records/etc.
Shortly after arriving in the Midwest, the city of Chicago, and its indigenous music, became a primary driving force for Jon AD, and once relocating to San Francisco in 1998, and starting work at a music distributor, Jon AD founded the label losonofono, in an effort to illuminate many of these artists. In the height of the San Francisco house boom, this was in effect walking a separate path, which was compounded by the fact that many of the releases contained electro/techno/ghetto house tracks, which where all forms of music seen as not very cosmopolitan at the time. Throughout this period, Jon AD still had one foot firmly planted in Drum and Bass, playing many of the events in the region, and compiling the distro lists for the aforementioned distributor.
Coming full circle at the turn of the millennium, and returning to Oregon, Jon AD found himself in a similar situation as when he left, in that there was no way for him to procure the records he needed. Thus, Anthem Records, and brick and mortal record store/label was formed, and gradually the focus shifted in part to the Garage music sub strains emanating from around the world. From there, a chance meeting with a little known producer from Philly known as Starkey at a laptop battle set the stage from what came next, and thus hearing the track known as "Dementia" that night cemented what would become the first record on the Losonofono sub-label LoDubs.
Since that night in December 2006, LoDubs has emerged as among the strongest in a short list of labels representing bass driven music in the US, and arguably the only one largely representing artists from North and South America, with over 20 releases from artists as far north and Toronto and as far south as Venezuela, in addition to those from the UK, Germany, Japan, etc.
The future will see Jon AD and LoDubs continuing to blur the lines between what is one genre or the other, be it through the releases, The multi genre monthly founded by Jon AD, Monkeytek, and Ryan Organ in 2006 known as Various, and/or through his DJ sets.
