Mittwoch,
10.06.2009
U-Club & Version präsentieren: DUBSTEP & DRUM'n'BASS NIGHT SOUNDS OF LONDON
dubstep floor: APPLEBLIM (Skull Disco / Apple Pips / London) DIGITAL MYSTIKZ aka. MALA (dmz / Deep Medi / London) BENNY ILL (Horsepower Production / Tempa / London) ORSON (Version / Düsseldorf)
visuals: DAS BEN (Berlin) DIE HEIKE UND SEINE HENNE (U-Club / Wuppertal)
U-Club
Wuppertal Start
23 Uhr - open end
Eintritt 10 Euro
Ein weiteres Event zum Thema "Sounds of London" wartet im Juni wiedermal mit hochkarätigem Lineup auf. Mit APPLEBLIM erfüllen sich die Veranstalter einen ganz persönlichen Traum. Als Resident Dj der legendären "FWD Dubstep Night" in London und Mitbegründer des erfolgreichen "Skull Disco" Labels hat APPLEBLIM Dubstep geprägt. Seit 2008 arbeitet er an seinem neuen Label "Apple Pips" und schaffte es damit sogar auf die Titelseite diverser Musikzeitschriften. An seiner Seite treten auf dem mainfloor, der sich in dieser Nacht ganz dem Thema Dubstep widmet, noch BENNY ILL und MALA aka DIGITAL MYSTIKZ aus London auf. Unterstützung erhalten die Engländer von ORSON.
Im 2nd floor tobt Drum & Bass mit Merzo und seinen Gästen. Zu den Bässen gibt es psychedelische Visuals und schmackhafte Drinks in exklusiver Umgebung. Ein Highlight für Musik und Tanzspezialisten...
Skull Disco. A club night called FWD>>. England’s West country bass HQ, Bristol. These are just a few things you may associate with second wave dubsteppa Laurie ‘Appleblim’ Osbourne. He may have revved up his journey along the musical motorway with stints in early ‘90s NME favourites The Monsoon Bassoon, but it was a creative technology course at Uni in 2003 that sparked this phase of his life into existance and saw the birth of Skull Disco, which he runs with Shackleton. At early FWD>> and DMZ nights Laurie and his crew would be first in last out, and it was links he forged at these early dubstep nights (and his regular emails to the generic Ammunition in-box) that got him a job working at Tempa. Since then he’s released deep, deadly and esoteric tunes on Skull Disco, launched his own Apple Pips label, gone podcast-ballistic with widescreen sets for Dub War and Rinse FM, and fronted the latest in the venerable line of Dubstep Allstars mix compilations. Zoop and again, zoop.
ARTE Tracks: Dubstep Feature - interessantes Video über Londons Dubstep auf Youtube
Videos von Mala & Pokes @ U-Club (Tanz in den Mai 2008)
Lately
it would be easy to assume that dubstep = halfstep. Indeed lots
of recent dubstep sets are dominated by this style, which uses
one snare per bar and is designed to give a slower, skanked out
feel. Mala Digital Mystikz's recent set, however, performed at Forward>>--
a vastly smaller venue than
he's now used to playing-- was gloriously rhythmically diverse.
Premiering a ton of dubplate weight-line freshness, his FWD>> appearance
was an excursion in
polyrhythmic delight. From the off-4/4 of "Anti War Dub (version)" to
the interrupted house rhythms of"Hunter", it worked a treat and played on the strength
of having three producers all in rich form.
Mala's long since pioneered the "up" vibe in dubstep through "Neverland" and "Anti
War Dub", in
delicious contrast to Loefah's ultra dark "down." A keen
house fan, he could have simply injected four
kicks on the beat, and made house at 138bpm. Instead he took the
interesting route.
One dub, with an unmistakeable "BURY THE BWOY!" sample
in it, takes polyrhythm literally, with
galloping kicks coming across like two tracks mixed out of phase.
Try mixing a third track outta that?
One of the criticisms of halfstep is that it lacks energy, and last
year steps were taken to respond to
this. On some tracks, notably Coki DMZ and Skream's remix of DMZ's "Ancient
Memories" (out soon on
DMZ), the rapid fluctuation of the bass became a real vibe-driver,
propelling ravers towards skankheaven.
Tonight was no exception, with Mala showcasing a new Coki riddim
that wobbled the b-line
until the roof shook. With the drums almost inaudible, it was almost
like a beatless Wiley Devil Mix, but
with the synths driven from East London through the dark, choking
Blackwall tunnel into Southside
Croydon-style sub bass regions. When Wiley did it in early grime
circa 2003 it was the MC's bark that
drove the rave. In dubstep 2006, excessively mutating bass waves
do the same.
But in this sea of dubstep Devil migrations and offkilter offbeats,
one slab of halfstep minimalism stood
out like a mile. The tune of the night-- the one that made jaws hit
the floor-- was Loefah's remix of Vex'd"Third Choice".
Minimalism is a tricky game. When you pick fewer elements you've
got to get them right. Get them
wrong, the crowd is waiting for the next tune from your intro. Get
them right, and it's bliss. Loefah's "3rd
Choice" remix is a dark, twisted kind of bliss, but amid his
pain there's pleasure. Based around an old
school bass stab, part bleep techno, part 96 Metalheadz, part grungy
2steppers-- take your pick-- Mala
only played a few minutes of this seven minute remix that was finished
just that day. Has Loefah topped
his own "Mud?"
Disclosure alert! The following copy is on a project I've been involved
with and want to bring you world
exclusive news of, right here. Since Skream's "Request Line",
the success of the DMZ nights and Mary
Anne Hobbs' Dubstep Warz show the explosion in interest in dubstep
has been unprecedented in its six
year history. Users on the Dubstep forum tripled to 1,500-- pretty
amazing given most dubstep
pressings couldn't shift more than 300 units as little as two years
ago.
You'd be forgiven amid the hyperbole for thinking a new scene had
been born - when in fact Croydon's
finest have been struggling away for six years or more. And while
the scene's current stars and hot upand-
comers are undoubtedly burning brightly, the sound also has a rich
past.
Over the last four months I've been working on a project entitled "Ammunition
and Blackdown
present...The Roots of Dubstep" for Tempa. The plan is to re-present
the best of the now lost or obscure
early dubstep 12"s. The selection will draw from proto-dubstepper
Steve Gurley, go through the best of
El-B's Ghost Camp, Zed Bias, Artwork, Horsepower, Skream and Benga,
and end at the first Digital
Mystikz anthem-- perhaps a beginning of a new phase, if ever a line
can be drawn. We've spent months
agonizing over which tracks have stood the test of time instead of
those that merely sounded big back in
the day at Forward>> over the Velvet Room sound-system. We've
tracked down lost producers to prize
mixed masters from their vaults. There will be an unmixed CD, so
the productions can be heard in all
their glory. There will also be a vinyl double-pack featuring two
out-of-press classics and two still
unreleased anthems dropping in early June.
Back in the Velvet Rooms days and before (circa 1999-2001), it is
important to remember there wasn't
a name for this sound. It evolved out of the dominant UK garage scene,
where saccharine-sweet vocal
2step would sit next to Todd Edwards 4/4, DJ Zinc's breakbeat garage
experiments mixed into Narrows'
caustic Belgian rave or Timo Maas' remix of house anthem "Dooms
Night". It was an exciting time for
London's diversity of 138 bpm sounds.
As the Velvet Room sessions took garage in a more concerted, darker
direction, its mix of dark 2step
("nu dark swing"), breakbeat garage, and proto-grime (also
then known as "8bar" or "east beat") was for
a while collectively referred to as "The Forward>> sound." At
this time all parts of the dark garage
spectrum influenced each other. Current dubstep purist Youngsta played
mostly 8bar, and Wookie's"Storm" and majestic "Far East" were Forward>> anthems.
Slaughter Mob played Ghost dubs. Oris Jay
evolved from his 2step roots to produce breakier hits like "Confused" and "Said
the Spider". And that
doesn't even cover Lanslide, Jay Da Flex, and Zed Bias' broken beat/dubstep
fusions.
It's recently come to light that it was Ammunition who first coined
the term "dubstep", doing it in a press
release supplied to XLR8R magazine, for a feature on Ghost and Horsepower
Productions. It was
subsequently used on the DJ Hatcha CD Dubstep Allstars, Vol 1. The
Roots of Dubstep, therefore,
documents strictly what the term dubstep refers to, and not the other
shades of the Forward>> sound.
For decent early breakbeat garage compilations, check the Bingo catalog.
For proto-grime track down
Slimzee's mix for Ministry, downloads of the N.A.S.T.Y. Crew's N.A.S.T.Y.
Sessions, or early grime sets
(there's an early N.A.S.T.Y. one here as part of my Dizzee Rascal
interview).
The next Dubstep Allstars will be a double CD, with one disc each
mixed by Youngsta and Hatcha.
Legendary dubplate cutting house Transition is starting a dubstep
label, which is perfectly sensible since
most of the London 12"s are mastered there. The first release
should be Skream v Distance "Wise
Men". Distance is also working on an album for Planet Mu. Pinch's "Punisher" is
also dropping on Mu.
Portugal's Numestro and 23Hz will be releasing a four-track vinyl
EP late May, on 213 Underground.
This will include the super subby "Galleon Dub". Scuba's
crisp'n'clean electronica/dubstep excursions
continue with the mournful "Dreams" dropping soon. Dub
Police, Quiet Storm's label, is dropping the
Caspa EP, including the lush "Cockney Flute". Burial's
much anticipated debut album is out in May on
Hyperdub. Finally, the BBC have done an excellent documentary and
online hub on dubstep, check it
here. Who likes me hat? Wed: 04-12-06
