Dubstepforum.com

A post in the DMZ update made me start a new thread: It reads

MALA wrote:
The next DMZ in Brixton will be at the Mass.. But not in the room we had to
use at the 1st Birthday. This room has a totally different lay out with the
control centre right there at ground level... none of this high rise in the
cloud nonsense. The room feels like it's a 3rd Base upgradge and the system
isn't 12 but 16K of solid weight. so Come Meditate on Bass weight.

Hamzen wrote:

Mala that exactly what I love about this scene, cutting out all the bullshit.
And on another slightly different taclk.
Am I wrong in assuming that the 'spiritual;' element for want of a better word is really important for you?
As an old school meditation type, now less so, when I first came upon dubstep, that you're called Digital Mystikz, that you use meditate on bass weight as your key phrase, Ancient Memories etc etc well intrigued me, and in the dance scenes I've come across over a fair while pretty rare it's even touched upon, yet when it is I've always liked the music, I'm thinking old school balearic vibe, Mixmaster Morris' Nubient idea, the mystics and the rollers from '95 d'n'b etc etc.

Was just intrigued to know your thinking is this territory, whether you'd got anything written down online.

Or is it more the case like in the old zen saying (I think), he who speaks doesn't know, he who knows doesn't speak.


I have been hearing Digital Mystikz since the 1st release "Pathways" in 2003. I have seen Mala play many times also. I always feel a deep spritual energy when doing so. Does anyone else ? DMZ events are always heavy with a really pure feeling about them. One set stands out for me and that was when I heard Mala play at fwd last year the energy was like no other I have felt at fwd>> I think there is something about the music Mala and Coki make or maybe it is just my thinking ???? Am am interested to see if anyone feels the same as me.

^^^just curious but were you on anything at the time ???

Dept of Hell Science wrote:^^^just curious but were you on anything at the time ???

always on something

...so have you ever listened to any DMZ tunes in a more natural environment like at the beach or out in the bush at night under the stars or anything and only been on the weed and do you get the same feeling and thoughts ???

are you spiritully inclined anyway ???

Sheriff thanks for bringing this up. You've hit on exactly what makes the Mystikz special I think, and what makes dubstep at its best more than just an interesting combination of tempo / sounds / etc. Mystikz tunes have feeling. They are more than the sum of their parts. It's easy for someone to recreate a minimal dark bassline sound, but giving it that spiritual feel is difficult to do without really putting your soul into it. That's what connects it to the lineage of roots n soul music going way back I think.

Yeah, Digital Mystikz is proper dread music.

To me the best dubstep has the same spiritual vibe as the best industrial had back in the eighties.

^^ hi paul
--

This is interesting. I was actually thinking of starting a thread called the "Ecstatic DMZ tracks" or something like that. Not ecstasy as in E or a rave vibe, but thinking of a near spiritual sensibility in some of their work, specifically "Anti War Dub" and "Neverland." I have trouble not playing "Neverland" all the way through. It's all about the lead up to, and breakdown following that raptuous part in the middle - those tingle-causing textures and harmonics building to a fever pitch and then peeling apart. "Anti War Dub" is different. It's like a plateau of sustained energy. The Marley-like vocal adds to the spiritual sense and the muted melodic part seems to head for that part of the chest that you laugh or cry from.

Not to get hyperbolic, but sometimes, with tracks like these I feel like those guys are making a whole other kind of music.

It's really hard to know what peoples defintions of spirituality is so i think this is a very hard topic to discuss.

There's somethin quiet about certain dubstep which takes u beyond it, u gotta be medtitating to listen to it, its quite natural- somethin certain speed-freaks cant quite get their head around.

"Hand of Death" by Horsepower for me is one of the most powerful tunes made from that ancient "mystical" perspective- truly soul-searching sound.

As for the Mystikz- they're very real music heads and if u are then you're gonna have a naturally universal vibe about u anyway. Real Black music has that universiality about it coz like dq said "u gotta put your soul into it"

With Dubstep at the moment u can listen to it anywhere i feel and get somethin new out of it. I took some out to India recently and saw whole new angles open up.

You're the painter. Listening is the art. Dubstep's quite close to a blank canvass.

Maybe

Amen-Ra wrote:"Hand of Death" by Horsepower for me is one of the most powerful tunes made from that ancient "mystical" perspective- truly soul-searching sound.

i feel that tune my brother

my favourite oldschool tune
that beat is different

have to big up Hatcha on that one too

have you noticed the clock (tic-tac) and the wind blowing in Monsoon remix by Loefah - such a master

it's certainly great marketing, bringing in the spiritual angle, although im highly dubious.

i've seen spiritual raves in goa, different kettle of fish, u need sadhu's jumpin around with chillums!!!

manali in a few weeks...dubstep report to come...we're gonna be blastin them israeli wanna be hippies away!

Great thread

Big up Paul Autonomic, yes we know you have trouble not playing Neverland all the way through and you know what? It sounds real diffrent when it's you that's playing it all the way through!

That "otherness" / other-world vibe is what makes dubstep seem different. Yes there are an infinite number of individual spiritual takes on music, and dubstep leaves some people cold, but to me the best half-step takes me deep inside. This is partly a matter of reference points -- chuck in some samples of dreads talking, add some dread bass, slow down the tempo until it's dread and whaddya know -- you've made dread music! So far so shallow -- but dubstep, or at least the dubstep greats, got beyond that a long time ago. It's dangerous talk to start talking about "inheritors of Yabby Yu" but it's hard not to avoid the comparison. At its best, dubstep is roots music, sufferah's music.

And some time soon, it's going to be "soul" music.

Probably when Lata gets released.

the greatest thing about Mystikz is that all these spiritual/mystik vibe is natural and honest, not markenting

Grievous Angel wrote:yes we know you have trouble not playing Neverland all the way through

lol. maybe it's just because i have a hard time mixing out of it :p

dubway wrote:the greatest thing about Mystikz is that all these spiritual/mystik vibe is natural and honest, not markenting

woah!!!

Hahahaa, sadhus would eat it up. I would love to see that reaction. Pictures and video please!

Dubstep at its best is mental yoga for me straight up. Not just a Mystiks thing either (not that anyone was really implying that). Request Line does it. Distance and Loes tunes as well as others...

I dont even do yoga (too busy smoking), but it makes sense to me. It fits your form into your frame. Dubstep, or good music in general, does the same to me mentally. and i know that is vague and unscientific schtick but o.k. im not spending as much time thinking about it as i should =P

" One must take one's time. For as long as events were at a standstill, one had to anticipate and overcome them. But when they speed up, one must slow down; without getting lost under a mass of discourses and the shadow of war ("nuage de la guerre": literally clouds announcing war)..."

^shame trance rules the nation out there...

dubstep especially with the indian influences it has taken in would blow the fuck out of the place...

anyway if music makes u feel good and happy its spiritual, coz at the end of the day its a manifestation of God...dont get me started!!!

Blimey, and there was me a bit wary about posting that originally, for a couple of reasons, appreciated sheriff.

Having been a serious meditator for ages I get nervous around any language to do with this topic for one, don't trust it in general, secondly I'm looking for a new language to desctribe those type of experiences, which is why I asked the question originally. But also dubstep is certainly doing that for me with it's voodoo touches, and it's providing a diffferent take on it for me bigtime.

Goa type spirituality I don't trust at all, in fact I find it fake in general, and I thought others might see my initial post as referring to that angle on spirituality. I went the guru route for a long time, and as far as I'm concerned that is exactly not what it's about, in fact I've found more of a spiritual vibe in dance communities than I ever did in spiritual groups, anyways blah de blah

And thanks Grievous Angel, that's exactly the territory I'm talking about, and in the spirit of as well.
What is interesting is different peoples perception of that dread angle, playing to a mate the other day who perceived it as heroin music, which I found odd and interesting at the same time.

I have no idea what you are talking about bruv, i just like to wiggle my arse.