Skream and dubstep: the two words are practically inextricable. Or at least they were. As a teenager, the Croydon-raised Oliver Jones was instrumental in taking a sparse, forbidding musical form and turning it into a world-beating behemoth. Tracks like “Midnight Request Line” showed that dubstep could do hummable melodies just as easily as urban paranoia. Jones’ career has since gone stratospheric. In 2010 and 2011 he had chart success as part of Magnetic Man, a trio with fellow Croydonites Benga and Artwork. Last year he produced tracks for Kelis and Miles Kane and landed a weekly Radio 1 slot.
As a figurehead of contemporary British dance music, then, it’s perhaps appropriate that Jones is about to leave dubstep behind. There’s no doubting that UK electronic music is experiencing a boom-time, but the poster boys of the new generation – Disclosure et al. – are increasingly of a house persuasion. It’s a development Jones has been following with keen interest, showcasing an increasing amount of house and techno in his sets over the past year.
With his contribution to Pete Tong’s mix series for Defected out this month, it seems the transformation is complete. The mix is a bold, colourful trip through sunny disco and more aggressive UK sounds, spanning from Dusky and Midland to Justin Martin and Duke Dumont. RBMA caught up with Skream shortly after a triumphant “classics set” at dubstep institution DMZ to find out why such sets will soon be a rarity and discuss the inspiration behind his new mix.
Vice or as I like to call it “The Onion of Hipster news outlets” chimes in with some witty observations about dance music culture in England today.
At some point in 2007, a bunch of people realised that they hadn’t been laid for the entirety of the four years they’d been listening to dubstep, and fucked off to make something that sounded like the exact opposite of it.
It began life without a name, but pretty soon music hacks realised the jig was up for dubstep because no one wanted to feel like they were trapped in a submarine in the Thames having a panic attack any more, and so “post-dubstep” was born. A few years later, and here we are: with the first British club music built on a 4×4 kick to soundtrack a T4 ident since “Where’s Your Head At”.
Modern-day house is undoubtedly the movement of the moment, currently occupying a territory somewhere between the internet underground and the stereo of your mum’s favourite shop on the high street. Some of its facets have broken through into the mainstream, but the heart of it definitely remains in the “sub” part of culture. “Latch” may have made the top 20, Bashmore might be blowing up on your workplace radio, but if they did another Live Aid tomorrow, nobody from the scene’s ready to be up there singing “Let it Be” with Paul McCartney and Emile Sande quite yet.
Tracklisting:
01. SBTRKT – Hold On.
02. SBTRKT – Right Thing To Do.
03. Addison Groove – I Go Boom.
04. Shadow Child – So High.
05. Bugz in the Attic – Hold It Down (Bugz In The Attic Remix).
06.
07. Domu – Worldwide (Solid Groove Remix).
08. Disclosure – My Intention Is War!
09. SBTRKT – Living Like I Do.
10.
11. Machinedrum – No Respect.
12. Jay Electronica – Exhibit C.
13. Flying Lotus – Putty Boy Strut.
14. Frank Ocean – Thinking About You (SBTRKT Remix).
15. SBTRKT – Wildfire.
16. Machinedrum – Alarma.
17. Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank.
Scratcha DVA (a.k.a. Leon Smart) is an animated guy. (We thought so even before he sent over the above depiction of himself as Raiden from Mortal Kombat.) His productions are obviously the work of an extrovert—check the wonky exuberance of his recent Fly Juice EP on Hyperdub for proof. And as the longtime host of Rinse FM’s Grimey Breakfast Show (he’s since switched to Hyperdub’s less frequent program), DVA frequently peppered his sets with his own hilarious charisma. However, there’s nothing funny about this harrowing tale from his early days. At the height of UK garage, Cyprus’ Ayia Napa was the setting for a story of mistaken identity, police brutality, gruesome bloodshed, and more.
You know Ayia Napa, when everyone was going there? Not now, cuz it’s different [now]. But I went there in 2002, so 10 years ago—garage days. I wasn’t a proper DJ or anything like that, but I had records—I wanted to be in the scene, so I just took loads of records out there, and hustled loads of DJ sets at [venues] like Twice As Nice and Faces, known places. Anyway, I played in one club—can’t remember what one—and I was with a few of my mates, cuz it was a bit of a holiday as well. I left my mates in the club—I said, “Listen, I’m going to take my records back [to the hotel].” I took my record bag, winged off on this moped. I go back to the hotel, and the door was open. This is like a chalet as well, it wasn’t like in a hotel where you’ve only got the room—the room was on the street…
BASSIC Boston w/ UNTOLD [London, UK]
DanInAllston (RWD.FM) Boston
C Dubs (Sub.FM, BASSIC) Boston
Good Life Bar
28 Kingston Street
Boston, MA
$5 B4 11pm $10 after
21+
Sneak peak preview of forthcoming tracks on the Phantohm Soundsystem label launch compilation, ‘Bass Behaviour Vol.I’ Featuring tracks from Phantohms, G Notorious, and Jason Mundo among others…
Released by: Phantohm Soundsystem
Release/catalogue number: FNTM001
Release date: Dec 14, 2012
Resident Rinse DJ and Hyperdub affiliate DVA has announced his second release of 2012, an EP of “power house” tunes titled Fly Juice. The record—which is said to straddles the genres of jazz, funk, grime, techno, and more—drops on November 20 via Hyperdub, and includes four tracks on the vinyl version, with the digital package offering four bonus cuts. Like his Hyperdub label mates LV, DVA has been collaborating with South African artists for his forthcoming release, enlisting the help of producer Big Space for the track “Long Street”; he’s also tapped French DJ/producer French Fries for a remix of “Ganja” and Hype Williams’ Inga Copeland to help with “Rumors.”…
Untold’s Hemlock Recordings label – sometime home of Joe and Pangaea, and the label that gave James Blake his break – will celebrate their 20th release with a mix-CD / triple-vinyl package.
Simply titled Hemlock Recordings: Chapter One, we’ve known about the release for a little while – in fact, we referenced it here when audio of Joe’s ‘R.E.K. Bit’ hit the net – but full details have now been sent out to press. The mix-CD finds Untold blending highlights from the Hemlock back catalogue (Ramadanman’s ‘Tempest’, Pangaea’s ‘Fatalist’, James Blake’s remix of Untold’s ‘Stop What You’re Doing’ with new, exclusive material from FaltyDL, Sei A, Randomer, Guy Andrews and Untold himself…
There are very few producers who make such an extreme impact on the dance music scene as Eats Everything (aka Daniel Pearce) has done in the space of 12months. The Bristolian superstar first exploded onto the world stage with his smash hit Entrance Song, receiving huge support from the likes of Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Seth Troxler, Carl Cox and Jamie Jones to name a few. Since then Daniel has featured on BBC Radio 1′s Essential mix show, had further releases on Pets Recordings, Dirtybird, Futureboogie and also won the Best Breakthrough Producer Award with DJ Mag earlier this year. With such an impressive back catalogue of releases and achievements he is one of the must see tickets at Glade Festival this year. We caught up with him over a quick KFC bucket and asked him a few questions about his career so far and what his plans are for the near future!…
