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Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music which has its roots in London's early 2000s UK garage scene. The genre's name was coined by Ammunition Promotions. Musically, dubstep is distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on bass. Dubstep started to spread beyond small local scenes in late 2005 and early 2006, with many blogs and forums devoted to the genre appearing on the internet. Simultaneously, the genre was receiving extensive coverage in music magazines such as The Wire and online publications such as Pitchfork Media.

Interest in dubstep grew further after BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs began championing the genre, devoting a show to it entitled "Dubstep Warz", in January 2006. By October 2006, the genre was being covered in the UK national press, where the Daily Telegraph wrote of "the latest development in British dance music... yet another sound stemming from London's garage scene, a bass-heavy instrumental form rather confusingly known as Dubstep."

Characteristics

Template:Sound sample box align left

Template:Sample box endDubstep's early roots are in the more experimental releases of UK garage producers, seeking to incorporate elements of dub reggae into the South London-based 2-step subgenre. These experiments often ended up on the B-side of a white label or commercial garage release. Like another, more vocal garage hybrid, grime, the genre's feel is often dark; tracks frequently use a minor key and often feature dissonant harmonies such as the diminished chord. Other distinguishing features often found are the use of samples, the fact it is a largely instrumental genre, a propulsive, sparse rhythm, and an almost omnipresent subbass.

Rhythm

Dubstep rhythms are usually syncopated, and often shuffled or incorporating triplets. The tempo is nearly always in the range of 138-142bpm. Dubstep rhythms typically do not follow the four-to-the-floor pattern common to many other styles of electronic dance music, but instead tend to skip beats and repeat sets of two bars rather than single bars. Often, a track's percussion will follow a pattern which when heard alone will appear to be playing at half the tempo of the track; the double-time feel is instead achieved by other elements, usually the bassline. An excellent example of this tension generated by the conflicting tempi is Skream's Rutten, which features a very sparse rhythm almost entirely composed of kick drum, snare drum, and a sparse hi-hat, with a distinctly half time implied 69bpm tempo. The track is instead propelled by a constant subbass following a four to the floor 138bpm pattern.

In an Invisible Jukebox interview with The Wire, dubstep artist and label owner Kode9 commented on a DJ Mark One track, observing that listeners "have internalized the double-time rhythm" and the "track is so empty it makes nervous, and you almost fill in the double time yourself, physically, to compensate".

Bass drops and rewinds

Many dubstep tracks incorporate one or more "bass drops," a characteristic inherited from drum and bass. Typically, the percussion will pause, often reducing the track to silence, and then resume with more intensity, accompanied by a dominant subbass (often passing portamento through an entire octave, as in the audio example).

Rewinds (also known as "reloads") are another technique used by dubstep DJs. If a song seems to be especially popular, the DJ will 'spin back' the record by hand without lifting the stylus, and play the track in question again. Rewinds are also an important live element in many of dubstep's precursors; the technique originates in dub reggae soundsystems, and is also used at UK garage and jungle nights..

Structure

Early dubstep releases inherited a structure similar to those used in drum and bass and UK garage, typically comprising an intro, a main section (often incorporating a bass drop), a midsection, a second main section similar to the first (often with another drop), and an outro.

This rather rigid format has evolved in recent times, unlike in grime, where the focus tends to be on providing a musical framework for MCs to rap over. As a result, some grime DJs, such as Plastician, have begun playing more dubstep, and some grime MCs, such as JME and Durrty Goodz, have released tracks with a dubstep sound or MCed directly over dubstep beats. Coki and Mala of Digital Mystikz have experimented with abrupt, 16-bar intros and have produced tracks with dub vocalists, and dubstep artist and label co-owner Sam Shackleton has mentioned in interview that his latest, unreleased productions entirely lack the traditional bass drop, and fall outside the traditional dubstep tempo altogether, typically having a tempo around the 100bpm mark.

History

Origins of the sound: 1999-2002

The sound of dubstep originally came out of productions by El-B, Oris Jay, Steve Gurley(who all feature on Tempa's Roots of Dubstep compilation) and Zed Bias in 1999-2000.

The term dubstep was first used by Ammunition Promotions, who run the influential club Forward>> and have managed many dubstep record labels (including Tempa, Soulja, Road, Vehicle, Shelflife, Texture, Lifestyle and Bingo). The term's use in a 2002 XLR8R cover story (featuring Horsepower Productions on the cover) contributed to the term becoming established as the name of the genre. It gained full acceptance with the Dubstep Allstars Vol 1 CD (Tempa) mixed by DJ Hatcha.

The club Forward>> was originally held at the Velvet Rooms in London's Soho and is now running every Friday at Plastic People in Shoreditch, east London. Founded in 2001, Forward>> was critical to the development of dubstep, providing the first venue devoted to the sound and an environment in which dubstep producers could premier new music. Around this time, Forward>> was also incubating several other strains of dark garage hybrids, so much so that in the early days of the club the coming together of these strains was referred to as the "Forward>> sound".. An online flyer from around this time encapsulated the Forward>> sound as "b-lines to make your chest cavity shudder".

Forward>> also ran a radio show on east London pirate station Rinse FM, hosted by producer/DJ Kode9, owner of the Hyperdub label. The original Forward>> residents included Hatcha, Youngsta, Kode9, Zed Bias, Oris Jay, Slaughter Mob, Jay Da Flex, Slimzee and others, plus regular guests. The line up of residents has changed over the years to include Youngsta, Hatcha, Geeneus and Plastician, with Crazy D as MC/host. Producers including D1, Skream and Benga make regular appearances.

Another crucial element in the early development of dubstep was the Big Apple Records record shop in Croydon. Key artists such as Hatcha and later Skream worked in the shop (which initially sold garage and drum and bass, but evolved with the emerging dubstep scene in the area), while Digital Mystikz were frequent visitors. El-B, Zed Bias, Horsepower, and a young Loefah regularly visited the shop as well. The shop and its record label have since closed down and reopened under the name Mixing Records.

Origins of the scene: 2003-2005

Throughout 2003 Rinse FM and through his sets at Forward>>, DJ Hatcha pioneered a new direction for dubstep, one that established the scene as a new sound. Playing sets cut to 10" one-off reggae-style dubplates, he drew exclusively from a pool of new South London producers - first Benga and Skream, then also Digital Mystikz and Loefah - to begin a dark, clipped and minimal new direction in dubstep. Digital Mystikz followed by bringing an expanded palate of sounds and influences to the genre, most prominently reggae and dub, as well as orchestral melodies.

The south London collective Digital Mystikz (Mala and Coki) and Loefah soon came into their own, bringing sound system thinking, dub values, and appreciation of jungle bass weight to the dubstep scene. After releasing 12"s on Big Apple, they founded DMZ Records, which has released thirteen 12"s to date. They also began their night DMZ, held every two months in Brixton, a part of London already strongly associated with reggae. DMZ has showcased new dubstep artists such as Skream, Kode 9, Benga, Pinch, DJ Youngsta, Hijak, Joe Nice and Vex'd. The evening that queues at DMZ exceeded the capacity of the venue, prompting an immediate move to a larger capacity venue upstairs, has been described as a pivotal point in dubstep's history.

In 2004, Rephlex (assisted by Ammunition) put together two compilations that included dubstep tracks, named Grime and Grime 2. The first featured Plasticman, Mark One and Slaughter Mob, with Kode 9, Loefah and Digital Mystikz appearing on the second. These compilations helped to raise awareness of dubstep at a time when the grime sound was drawing more attention, and Digital Mystikz and Loefah's presence on the second release contributed to the success of their DMZ club night. Soon afterwards, the Independent on Sunday commented on "a whole new sound", at a time when both genres were becoming popular, stating that "grime" and "dubstep" were two names for the same style, which was also known as "sublow", "8-bar" and "eskibeat". In the summer of 2005, Forward>> brought grime DJs to the fore of the line up.

Growth of the scene: 2006 onwards

2006 saw interest grow in the sound. Building on the success of Skream's 2005 grimey anthem "Midnight Request Line," the hype around the DMZ night and support from online forums (especially Dubstep Forum) and media, the scene gained prominence after Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs gathered top figures from the scene for one show, entitled "Dubstep Warz", (later releasing the compilation album "Warrior Dubz"). The show created a new audience for the scene, both in the UK and worldwide, after years of underground hard graft. A successful year for the genre culminated in Burial's self-titled album appearing in many critics' "Best of..." lists for the year, notably The Wire's Best Album of 2006. Dubstep was also featured prominently in the soundtrack for the 2006 sci-fi film Children of Men, which included Digital Mystikz, Kode 9, Pressure and DJ Pinch.Ammunition also released the first retrospective compilation of the 2000-2004 era of dubstep called "The Roots of Dubstep," co-compiled by Ammunition and Blackdown on the Tempa Label. Template:Sound sample box align rightTemplate:Sample box end

Dubstep has recently been receiving substantial international attention, with the help of ambassadors such as Baltimore DJ Joe Nice and Matt Carl from Canada. Regular Dubstep club nights have been held in cities like New York, San Francisco, and Denver, while Mary Anne Hobbs curated a Dubstep showcase at 2007's Sónar festival in Barcelona. Non-British artists have also won praise within the larger Dubstep community. Joe Nice has played at DMZ, while the fifth installment of Tempa's "Dubstep Allstars" mix series (released in 2007) included tracks by Finnish producer Tes La Rok and Americans JuJu and Matty G.

Techno artists and DJs are now assimilating dubstep into their sets and productions. Shackleton's "Blood On My Hands" was remixed by minimal techno producer Ricardo Villalobos (who has also included Dubstep tracks in his sets) and included on a mix CD by Panoramabar resident Cassy. Ellen Allien and Apparat's 2006 song "Metric" (from the Orchestra of Bubbles album) and Roman Flugel's remix of Riton's "Hammer of Thor" are other examples of dubstep-influenced techno. Berlin's influential Hard Wax record store (owned by Basic Channel) has also championed Shackleton's Skull Disco label, later broadening its focus to include other dubstep releases. Techno has influenced dubstep as well; Skream has stated in an interview that he believed the dubstep and minimal techno scenes were merging. Some critics have also seen a dubstep influence in the Britney Spears song "Freakshow" (from her 2007 album Blackout), which Tom Ewing describes as "built around the 'wobbler' effect that's a genre standby."

Burial's most recent release, Untrue, features extensive use of heavily manipulated, mostly female, 'girl next door' vocal samples. Burial has spoken at length regarding his intent to reincorporate elements of musical precursors such as 2-step garage and house into his sound.

See also

• List of dubstep artists

References

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External links

• DubstepForum
• FWD>>
• Tempa Records
• the Dubstep Directory lists the contact information for all people and organizations involved in the dubstep music scene
• Riddim.ca long-running North American Dubstep site with reviews, interviews, and articles
• BBC Collective dubstep documentary filmed at DMZ 1st Birthday, 2005. Interviews with Mala, Loefah, Skream, Kode 9, Youngsta...
• Mary Anne Hobbs
• Blackdown blog by UK music journalist Martin Clark
• The Month In: Grime/Dubstep Columns by Martin Clark on Pitchfork
• Gutterbreakz long-running Dubstep blog

• Dubstep
• Electronic music genres
• Music from London