http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/47404-the-month-in-grime-dubstep

It’s been nearly two years since dubstep exploded and the scene continues to see massive growth, hype, and change. What was once a tiny community of London based producer/DJs, is now a global phenomenon. This change has produced both positives and negatives for the scene.

Finally, after years of being ignored by both audiences and other genres, dubstep has a fanbase. It can fill the biggest clubs in its founding city, like The End and Fabric, and mainstream music festivals like Glastonbury and Bestival. Sales have improved by two [!] orders of magnitude since its inception, with the Burial albums selling well into five figures. Its interaction with other genres has gone from interest to influence, with techno, breaks, drum & bass, dub, indie, funky/UK house, grime, and electronica all showing the genre’s impact. People have even gone so far as to suggest a recent Britney Spears single uses dubstep production ideas, although finding the causal link between the two seems a little far-fetched.

It’s been wonderful to see dubstep spread so effortlessly around the UK and globe, with centres of busy activity spread worldwide. The closest of these to dubstep’s birthplace is Bristol. While the seeds of dubstep were sown early into the city’s fertile soil, 2007 was the year the city really began to bloom. Nowhere worldwide in 2007 was there a greater concentration of exciting talent. Pinch, perhaps the pioneer who can take most credit for Bristol’s incredible output, dropped a fantastic debut album “Underwater Dancehall” that sounded fresh and uniquely like him. In dubstep, only Burial’s album could match it for strength this year. Around him stood other amazing talents. His friend Peverelist really came good, with his Punch Drunk recordings dropping the amazing “Roll With the Punches”. Appleblim found his own sound in the mid point between Berlin, Bristol and Jamaican delay, with this DJ sets proving must-hear. Appleblim’s collaborator Shackleton maintained his ability to astound with his dark, percussive approach. Forsaken continued to avoid dubstep orthodoxy– to his credit– with his at-times maverick approach rewarding him with a release on Punch Drunk. Headhunter’s sound developed along dark, tracky directions, with the momentum levels ever-increasing. Hench’s Jakes found an anthem in the Coki-esque “3kout”. Finally came Joker with a unique style of instrumental wonky grime that marks him out as one of the most exciting talents anywhere right now. After his first EP on Earwax, look out for the follow up EP on Terrorhythm and then his own imprint. Also in his camp are Guido, who takes a less grimey, post-r&b direction, and Gemmy. All three helped Bristol own dubstep in 2007.

Elsewhere, following an excellent and experimental EP on Pinch’s label, Moving Ninja began work on their album, leading the way for the Australian scene, much of which is well documented here. New York’s Dubwar parties, lead by Dave Q, Jukali, Sekkle and Joe Nice, began to see the rewards of years of hard work, as their profile grew not just in New York, but worldwide, with successful sets at DMZ, London from Dave Q. Dubwar also built really interesting links between dubstep and other NYC scenes, with Mala and Kode9 playing François K’s deep house institution Deep Space. Sub FM began building a very serious roster of new dubstep talent, with flagship shows like Wedge, Deapoh, Bun Zero, and the hilarious Boomnoise and Pokes leading the way. Hessle Audio built a camp of new producers with their own, minimal sound. New nights like south London’s Platform 1, Dubstep After Hours, and House Party began to provide vital space for new talent coming through, often literally, as the scene moved into warehouse parties.

Label of the year had to be Hyperdub, coming in with an unbelievably strong autumn. Providing the quality control, innovation, risk taking and diversity every label should aspire to, in the space of a few months the label unleashed some dark and deadly grime (The Bug ft. Flowdan and Killa P “Skeng”), some experimental sour-tones (Kode9′s “Skeng remix”), delicious dubby Burial Mix-style dubstep (LV’s “Takeover [dub]“) and Dadist chiptunes (Quarta 330′s “9Samurai remix”). And that’s without mentioning the hyper-emotional album that looms over the whole of 2007, Burial’s Untrue. Add to that Kode9′s DJ sets, whether on a percussive Martyn-fueled groove or wonk-riding with Flying Lotus, Hyperdub were a beacon of hope and innovation in 07.

Yet to describe everything in dubstep 2007 as “all good” would be misleading. This was the year that dubstep entered the major clubbing arena, with detrimental effects. Many of the A-list DJs took on hundreds of bookings, reducing their appearances from special to routine and pandering to uncommitted clubbing audiences who would only accept one kind of set: one in which every tune appears to smash it. With so many bookings, many of their productions began to suffer, with them either forced into producing too many similar tracks too quickly, or forced out of the studio altogether. Some DJs began to loose all sense of selection quality control. When you’ve made your name on sets full of exciting new productions, these approaches become unsustainable, or at least incompatible with being relevant as a pioneer.

This quantity over quality problem was symbolic of dubstep as a whole, with far too many people rushing to clone other producers, spend no time developing an original production sound nor understanding where the scene has come from or where it could safely go, while ensuring it remains creatively interesting and avoids previous genre’s mistakes.

Anthem bashing was endemic, with sections of the scene competing in harder-than-thou production contests with mid range noisy post-metal wobble, deemed necessary in large clubbing venues. The upshot of this was an abandonment of many of the aspects that gave the genre such promise, namely the ability to take rhythmic and energy-level risks and for audiences to remain appreciative. The balance and diversity in sets began to suffer under the “smash it” mentality, with deeper, riskier and emotional tracks often sidelined. Abandoning this risks reducing dubstep to just another faceless, functional dance genre, a fate it was opposed to from its inception. A few more years in this direction and dubstep will have led itself, eyes open, down the same cul de sac drum & bass did, rendering itself formulaic and irrelevant.

Essential dubstep releases 2007:

1. Burial: “Archangel” from Untrue
2. Mala: “Forgive” [Deep Medi] / “Miracles” [unreleased] / “Bury Da Bwoy” [DMZ]
3. Pinch [ft. Rudey Lee]: “One Blood” from Underwater Dancehall [Tectonic]
4. Skream: “2D” from Skreamizm 4 EP [Tempa]
5. Peverelist: “Roll With the Punches” [Punch Drunk]
6. The Bug [ft. Flowdan and Killa P]: “Skeng [original and Kode9 remix]“ [Hyperdub]
7. Martyn: “Velvet” [3024] /“Broken” [Revolv:R]
8. Appleblim: “Vansan” [Skull Disco] / Soundboy Punishments [Skull Disco]
9. D1: “Mind & Soul” [Tempa]
10. LV: “Takeover (dub)” [Hyperdub]
11. Geiom: “Phlei Nazir” from Island Noise [Berkane Sol]
12. Dysfunktion: “Canton” [Kursed]
13. Quest: “Forever” (Dub Police) /”Stand (Deep Medi dub)”

Dusk + Blackdown’s new single featuring Trim is entitled “The Bits/Northside Cheng Dub” and is out now on vinyl and digital. For a free Geiom mix and more www.blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com.

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