VA 2012 Bleep - A Guide To Electronic Music (Bl...
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot[1] that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass.[2] In the United Kingdom, the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s.[2][3]
VA 2012 Bleep - A Guide To Electronic Music (Bl...
In early 2011, the term "post-dubstep" (sometimes known as "UK bass" or simply "bass music") was used to describe club music that was influenced by certain aspects of dubstep.[101] Such music often references earlier dubstep productions as well as UK garage, 2-step and other forms of underground electronic dance music.[102][103][104] Artists producing music described as post-dubstep have also incorporated elements of ambient music and early R&B. The latter in particular is heavily sampled by three artists described as post-dubstep: Mount Kimbie, Fantastic Mr Fox and James Blake.[105][106] The tempo of music typically characterised as post-dubstep is approximately 130 beats per minute.[101]
The term brostep has been used by some as a pejorative descriptor for a style of popular Americanised dubstep.[108] The producer known as Rusko himself claimed in an interview on BBC Radio 1Xtra that "brostep is sort of my fault, but now I've started to hate it in a way ... It's like someone screaming in your face ... you don't want that."[114] According to a BBC review of his 2012 album Songs, the record was a muddled attempt by Rusko to realign his music with a "Jamaican inheritance" and distance it from the "belching, aggressive, resolutely macho" dubstep produced by his contemporaries.[115]
Commenting on the success of American producers such as Skrillex, Skream stated: "I think it hurts a lot of people over here because it's a UK sound, but it's been someone with influences outside the original sound that has made it a lot bigger. The bad side of that is that a lot of people will just say 'dubstep equals Skrillex'. But in all honesty it genuinely doesn't bother me. I like the music he makes."[116] Other North American artists that were initially associated with the brostep sound were Canadian producers Datsik and Excision. Their production style has been described by Mixmag as "a viciously harsh, yet brilliantly produced sound that appealed more to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails fans than it did to lovers of UK garage".[117] The brostep sound also attracted the attention of metal bands. Nu metal band Korn's 2011 album The Path of Totality features several collaborations with electronic music producers, including Skrillex and Excision.[118]
In the early 2010s, UK artists began to play with a style of dubstep reminiscent of a resurgence or continuation of original British dubstep styles. This became known as Riddim, a name coined by British producer Jakes around 2012. The name comes from the Jamaican Patois term riddim, which refers to the instrumental of dub, reggae and dancehall music.[119] Riddim is characterised by repetitive and minimalist sub-bass and triplet percussion arrangements, similar to original dubstep, with a sound described as "wonky".[119][120] Riddim is looked upon as a subgenre of dubstep, similarly to other sub genres like bro-step, drum-step, and wobble-step.[119] It started gaining significant popularity around 2015.[121] It is said that those who enjoy this style of music describe it as the "dirtier, swaggier" side of dubstep, whereas those looking at this from the outside, claim that it is "repetitive and chaotic".[119] Notable artists of the genre include Subfiltronik, Bukez Finezt, P0gman, Badklaat, 50 Carrot, Dubloadz and Coffi.[122] Notable tracks of the genre include "Yasuo" by Bommer and Crowell, "Orgalorg" by Infekt, and "Jotaro" by Phiso.[119][123] Some commentators have suggested that Riddim is not a genre in its own right and is instead just a style of dubstep. Riddim producer Oolacile states "A lot of people who have been around a lot longer have a different idea of what riddim is. Older fans consider riddim to be the swampy, repetitive sound, and newer fans will associate riddim with the sound of the underground."[119]
Beginning in mid-2014, dubstep began to decline drastically in mainstream popularity, particularly in the United States, where many formerly successful dubstep artists became popular. Artists such as Skrillex, for instance, moved on to producing tracks for trap and pop artists,[124][125][126] while artists such as Mount Kimbie and James Blake shifted their sounds from post-dubstep into more experimental or soulful electronic influenced music.[127][128] Pioneers of dubstep such as Skream and Loefah moved away from the genre, moving on to other genres instead. Loefah stopped playing and producing dubstep and moved on to UK bass, founding his record label Swamp81 in the process.[129] Skream shifted away from dubstep, choosing to instead produce and play house and techno music in his DJ sets and releasing various techno songs on Alan Fitzpatrick's record label We Are The Brave.[130][131]
Around the early to mid 2010s, a niche development of dubstep began to emerge which combines the aggression and impact of brostep with the rich tonality and musicality of melodic dubstep,[132] drawing on the best elements of both sides and fusing tonality with mid-range bass sound design.[133][134] Artists like 501, Subscape, and Gemini have experimented upon this style of production in the earlier 2010s.[132] English dubstep producer Chime coined the term "colour bass" describing this style of dubstep due to its focus on vibrant, bright and colourful production, and founded the record label Rushdown in 2016 to promote it.[132][134] Despite the overall declining popularity of dubstep in mainstream culture, colour bass has been promoted by veteran electronic labels like Monstercat around the early 2020s,[132][135][136][137] with artists like Skybreak, Ace Aura, and Chime himself finding success in producing colour bass music.[138][139]
4. Gabor Szabo Dreams (1969) Hungarian guitarist, Gabor Szabo, reaches a creative high on Dreams, a psychedelic-tinged, jazz-rock hybrid that will definitely please the rock listeners reading this guide. The record features a combination of rock covers and jazz originals along with the interesting flourishes of Hungarian and Indian melodies that would resurface throughout his career. This is a beautiful, haunting record and the Aubrey Beardsley-inspired artwork on its cover suits the mysterious music inside perfectly. 041b061a72