The Evolution of Dubstep

Dubstep. It's all getting quite big now. Magnetic Man are in the charts as I write this post, a far cry from when I first heard the sound.

Now, I first got into dubstep in the summer of 2007, so I'm going to describe the journey the genre has taken since then, for me.

I think this song sums up the sound I was hearing when I was first introduced to dubstep. It's a real classic, if you haven't heard it before please take this opportunity. It's Anti War Dub, from Digital Mystikz.



You can hear the reggae influence in this track, it's so chilled and relaxing. A really subtle bassline, and that magic 140bpm speed. It uses a sample on the vocals and the drums, as well as the really simple electronic tune it has running through it.

Another example of early, dark gritty dubstep that I was into at the time was Burial. This guy summed up the scene at the time for me. He was anonymous, dark, and it just had a really underground, unknown feel. His use of sampling is incredible, and many have tried to copy his style. I see him as the Banksy of dubstep. This track, "Archangel" is one of the best examples of his quality of sampling and drum looping. He took influences from UK garage as well. "In McDonalds" is probably my personal favourite tracks of his to date.




Now the following track is the next big classic I remember hearing, but is quite a contrast to Anti War Dub and Archangel. It's Benga & Coki with the unforgettable "Night".



This track always reminds me of my first dubstep nights, whether it be out hearing a set, or chilling at a mates. It really exaggerates that bassline and is actually quite hard on the ears the first time you hear it. It's a weird sensation that makes your ears feel as though they are melting. You need to hear it on the right sort of speakers to experience this, so I may sound a bit crazy, but I definitely felt odd hearing this for the first time.

It makes me realise, that although I felt I had got into dubstep early, it was already creeping into the mainstream.
Benga and Coki's Night was remixed by DJ Zinc, and featured on his Watch The Ride mixtape. It was the remix that I had actually heard first, as I was quite into DnB at the time.




It speeds up the loop, and the bass is more bouncy. The bpm of dubstep allows for that wobbly, ear drum manipulating bassline. This is harder to achieve with the bpm of drum and bass, and with all the drum loops going on it simply wouldn't work.

Around the same time, I was getting into Caspa & Rusko. They used sampling in a completely different way. It gave the tunes more of a shock factor, but also allowed you not to take them too seriously. This tune's called Cockney Thug.



Another example, this time from Caspa, was his "Where's My Money" remix. Originally by TC, Caspa made this track his own, with an unforgettable high energy bassline that went so deep. With a catchy tagline like "Where's My Money?" he could hardly go wrong.



Now we come to this guy, Skream. One of the pioneers of UK dubstep, taking influences from dub, grime, and garage. Skream had a major part in the success of Rinse FM, a pirate radio station now turned above board. This track, Midnight Request Line, was the first major song I heard, produced by Skream.



This song featured on Skream's self titled album, which also featured a collaboration with JME. The grime influence played a big part in the evolution of dubstep in Croydon, where Skream hails from. Another Croydon DJ, Plastician, brought out one of the first dubstep albums I actually went and bought. "Beg To Differ" featured a collab with Skepta, a grime MC, who himself is starting to break into the mainstream scene.

This track's called Intensive Snare.



Skepta actually sums up the idea of dubstep at the time in his spit. "More than Grime" "Bassline in your nostrils". The misconception that dubstep was instrumental grime was being challenged here. Dubstep involves more bass, bass that you can really feel, as well as hear.

Plastician actually went out to LA and promoted the idea of dubstep to West Coast rappers. I am a massive hip-hop fan, so the mixtape that came out of the venture went straight into my collection. Here's one of my favourite tracks from the album. "Malt Liquor" by RX featuring Feat. Chae Hawk.



Another influencial album I bought, was Plasticians Rinse mixtape. This was full of big wobblers that get people moving. The main track I remember from the mixtape was Fick, by Skream.



This was a bit of a game changer for me. I had never heard anything like it before. It felt like there was so much going on in the tune at one time, and I loved it. It remains a personal favourite of mine. It's in my vinyl collection, and I take the utmost care of it.

Now, Skream has been responsible for a lot of the evolution in my opinion. The following track, no doubt you will have heard before. This is Skream's remix of La Roux's "In For The Kill".



This was the first contemporary remix of a major chart tune worth talking about really. For the first time, female vocals had been utilised throughout the track, rather than short samples being looped. The track had a heavy bassline, which balanced out with La Roux's naturally high voice. The instrumental brought in drum and bass influences and loops at the end, which helped draw in a new crowd. I don't like to admit that this is one of my favourite tracks, as it has been ridiculously overplayed, but I am a big fan. For the first time, dubstep had a bit more of a liquid feel. Having been a fan of liquid drum and bass, this was only ever going to be good news for me.

The Skream remix really opened doors to dubstep producers, and even drum and bass producers. Remixes were coming out thick and fast and it was hard to keep up, it's still the case today.
Here's one I remember from Nero, a remix of Boy Crisis' "Dressed to Digress".



The dubstep scene was allowing more vocal samples to be used, and not just looped. Nero have done a lot of remixes, and still do. They've remixed N.E.R.D and DJ Fresh to name a couple.

You can also notice in the Dress to Digress track that there is fair bit of distortion in the main riff. This started to become a major trend amongst producers, to make the grimiest, dirtiest sound going.

This track from Emalkay demonstrates my point. It's quite an amazing sound when you first hear it, and you never forget it. It's so high pitched, and not really like anything you've heard before. As with all the videos I've shared, it remains a classic.



This Flux Pavillion remix of "Cracks" by The Freestylers backs up what I've been saying. It utilises the female vocals, and breaks into a ridiculous montage of different distored sounds. You know it sounds kind of stupid, but at the same time, you can't help but love it.



So up to now, all the singing vocals have been sampled. Where was dubstep to go? Drown in a sea of endless samples? No. This was a time for dubstep to change, and concentrate on vocals that had been so successful as samples. This was the time for vocalists to approach producers, not the other way around.

Step up, Katy B.



Now, this track has had it's critics. It was originally an instrumental produced by Benga, called "On a Mission". Then Katy B came on the scene, and laid down a vocal on the top, it became a smash hit! It has definitely been the latest stepping stone for dubstep to date. I enjoyed it to start with, but it became a bit annoying, especially when I heard endless people singing it and asking me if I was into dubstep based on that tune.

Katy B has come out with a strong follow up track with Magnetic Man, "Perfect Stranger". I actually prefer this to Katy On a Mission, but it's essentially the same format.



I really like the video, as it reminds me of various dubstep gigs I've been to. I like the way the drum loop works and takes influences from drum and bass as well as dubstep. We've come a long way since "Night" and "Midnight Request Line".

So where does dubstep go now?

Well I know for sure that it will continue to grow. I feel the next step would be for dubstep producers to be approached by big artists in the charts to produce their songs. At present, a lot of producers get the call to do a remix, but I think we'll start to hear more original tracks from big pop stars with Dubstep producers backing them. Now, this may not be the way a lot of dubstep producers will want to go, but there will inevitably be those that will. Chase & Status produced some songs on Rihanna's latest album, such as "Wait Your Turn".



Given the success of Katy B's "Katy On a Mission" and "Perfect Stranger", I feel it is only a matter of time before other vocalists follow suit.

Is this a good thing?

In a word, yes. Just because dubstep has evolved, and grown, it doesn't mean tunes like "Anti War Dub" aren't still being made. The more it crosses over to "pop music", the more people it is pleasing. This can only be good, right?

For a long time now, people have been dividing dubstep into several subgenres. I believe the evolving of dubstep is purely adding more subgenres. It happens in all types of music. I love hip-hop, but I don't love all kinds of hip-hop. It's no problem, I just pick out the artists I like, and those that I don't.

So basically, what I'm saying is this. Dubstep has grown to reach a massive number of people. A lot more than anyone could have predicted. It started as an underground, minimal genre, and that genre is still going today. The difference now is, there are a lot more subgenres to please the masses, and make the money.