A Brief History of Dubstep

With influences from the Jamaican culture and DnB, dubstep has become its own unique form of music. As put by Christoph Harter "...dubstep music does not simply apply forms of sound system culture, but transforms the aesthetics of the sound system with the sound system's own narrative means." In general tracks have a darker feel, and deep bass that is often coupled with minor keys and dissonant harmonies. It is also common for a wide variety of music samples to be mixed into the tracks. The tempo is normally around 140 bpm; and rhythmically uses a 2-step drum beat. 2-step is used to describe the irregular rhythms used, most commonly a drum kick sounds on every first and third beat. The rhythms in dubstep are different than those used in other electronic music such as techno and house. Those styles use what is known as four to the floor and feature a 4/4 time signature with a bass drum thump on each beat. Gradually the use of a 2-step rhythm declined, in favor of a half-step rhythm and hip hop styled beats. Losing the jerky rhythms made the music and rhythm easier to feel. In dubstep the percussion is also on a longer loop to achieve a double time feeling. To keep the song from sounding too slow the piece is often driven by a faster bass line. Early on DJ's used their available means to alter the music, and because dubstep had fewer layers and textures than DnB other sounds could be added without making the music too complex. Now there are an abundance of computer programs and other hardware that allow a producer to modify the sound in many new ways that weren't previously possible. Even for dubstep remixes to be made of other non-dubstep songs, by taking key parts of the song and adding dubstep bass lines and rhythms. Before computer technology spinning the record backward to rewind a portion was a common technique particularly useful and popular in performances. Dubstep has become mainstream in recent years, and where it goes and what it becomes is limited only by the artist's innovation.

Dubstep was created not too long ago. Although the sounds are somewhat different, the early origins and inspirations of dubstep can be traced to the Jamaican dancehall. The fusion of reggae rhythms and pounding bass with forms of DnB made dubstep. The attraction to a deep wobbling bass is apparent across cultures and present in numerous musical styles. Dubstep is not the first to feature such a persistent bass line and it certainly won't be the last.

Zeds Dead Baby

Here's a freshly packed bowl of Zeds Dead for you guys. Remember to puff puff pass that shit, and then show your friends.

Oh That Filthy

So the dubstep crowd is getting a bit younger these days. If you haven't heard of Vexare well then start playing the video below. This kid is only 15, and he drops some of the nastiest bass I've heard in awhile. He started learning production when he was in only 7^th grade; while everyone in his music production class was dicking around on internet games, he was getting warmed up making beats.

Like a good many of us he got into the electronic scene not from dubstep, but from trance, hardstyle techno, and das House music. That stuff certainly aint bad, its just that dubstep raises the bar to a whole new level of awesome. Once show coordinators and others on the scene started to hear his music his fame exploded. Though he wishes his age was less of a factor in booking shows, he actually landed his first gig when he was contacted over soundcloud and played dubchella.

Dubbing out in Cali, Vexare has played with top names like house dj Porter Robinson and Helicopter Showdown. Lets hope this dude gets some more filth out for us. Check out his album Robot Noises in the mean time.

Gl!tch Mob

Alright guys, I'm gunna start her off with a bang:

To the right is a movie called The Apple Tree featuring The Glitch Mob


This track slams hard; I know its not as grimy as it could be. But seriously turn up your subs, enable your equalizers, and crank this shit!

Fifteen minutes of nonstop awesome awaits.