Without any clear organization, a new sound has been bubbling up from locations as disparate as Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam and Glasgow. It’s not completely coherent, it’s not a genre, and it doesn’t have a geographic locus, but producers and fans are gelling into a kind of scene. Yes, I’m talking about the music described as ‘wonky’.
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Dubstep has gotten me thinking about hardcore lately. Cluekid and LD are doing these retro-themed tracks, Tubby from Newham Generals did a 1994 jungle set for his Rinse show a few weeks ago, and even the BPMs are starting to converge. As Dubstep creeps into the mid-140s, suddenly 155 bpm hardcore records are looking compatible.
All of this has prompted me to go back to my UK hardcore roots. This is the music that got me started as a deejay. When my high school classmates were listening to Guns N Roses, House of Pain, U2, or Boyz II Men, I would play some Nebula II for them and give them a good scare. I borrowed $500 to buy decks at age 15 and was playing out as soon as I could. I followed as hardcore became jungle, and jungle became DnB, and DnB became dreck, but I digress.
Now I listen to Rinse FM all day long and covet dubs and fantasize about making beats. Dubstep has plunged me back into the same musical mindset I inhabited in high school. So I thought it was high time to touch the old vinyl again, and really get back to my hardcore roots.
Whether this sound is new or old to you, all crew get ready to rush!
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Dubstep is insane right now. Many of the old talents who brought the sound to global prominence (Skream, Distance, DMZ, Loefah, Hatcha, and Kode 9) have been very quiet this year. Fortunately, the power vacuum has been good for dubstep.
Until very recently, it was looking like Dubstep might follow the same path as Drum N Bass. Since the late nineties, DnB has been an endless competition between producers to express the same formula in harder, heavier executions.
The present climate in Dubstep resembles the earlier days of Drum N Bass – I’m thinking 1994 here – when nobody really knew what the formula was. Newer producers are working to put their own signature on the sound, and new talent is emerging constantly.
This mix, titled Mavericks, captures some of the madness of the moment. Please enjoy it loud.
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The UK Grime scene is like a mirror-world version of 90s NYC hiphop – every rap is a battle rap, every beat is bigger and harder than the next, and every kid dreams of being an MC. As familiar as this sounds, the sonics of Grime couldn’t be further from the hiphop we’ve known and loved.
While US hip hop has grown fat and lazy at the top of the pop charts, Grime has gotten hungrier since Dizzee won the Mercury Prize in 2003. The scene has virtually no major-label artists, and is instead a network of raves, myspace pages, CDRs, pirate radio and mixtapes.
It’s hard to follow grime outside of London, but buck up. This mix will whet your appetite.
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Disco never completely died, it’s just been living underground for the last twenty years. It slowly turned into house music, it infected rock, and somehow it still bubbles along under the surface in new music.
Part two of my series of Disco Mixes for Disco Haters is a collection of recent tunes which captures the way the Disco template has been repurposed, revered, mutated and warped by a new generation of musicians.
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I’ve had this conversation many times over the past few years:
Friend:
Aaron:
Friend:
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So what music are you into right now?
Disco.
[eyes pop open, gawks]
…
Dude… you’re joking, right?
…
I mean, Disco?
|
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Aaron:
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No no no, you don’t understand…
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This is followed by my long-winded spiel about why disco is important, how it’s one of the few remaining unrevived, under-exposed, unknown dance musics, how disco is directly connected to post-punk, hip-hop, electro, and house, how there’s a huge and varied pool of music from BEFORE Studio 54 and Saturday Night Fever, and after Disco Demolition at Comiskey park in 1979, when disco had to go back underground.
Following the manifesto, my friend usually gives me a blank stare and changes the subject. So for the non-believers, I present “I Hate To Disco”, a disco mix for disco haters.
I’m not promising to convert anybody, but at the very least, this mix might make you think of disco as something more than a white polyester suit. Enjoy.
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If you gaze into the strobe long enough, all thought gradually stops. This mix is pure 2am warehouse business.
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Pressurize your engine. Driving Birmingham techno accelerates until the curved dubstep bass rips the tempo in half, drifting at top speed. Play loud, drive fast.
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