Archive for the ‘dubstep’ Category
History of Dubstep Music
Wikipedia gives the following definition of dubstep:
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as “tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals”
Although unlike the general believe the dubstep music is not actually a music genre. It is more a subgenre of electronic music. Unlike a serious genre, this one is relatively young and not that famous. Over the last years the fans decided it is one of the subgenres of electronic music to be promoted. Lately it became the most popular style in this area. The history of dubstep is very short and includes about 20 mentionable artists. It also has no message and doesn’t transmit anything. Unlike some other genres people use to transmit a feeling, a state or a rhythmic base, a dubstep beat doesn’t suggest transmission. It is a robotic genre that most people cannot understand anything out of it. The fans think differently though.
The history of the music goes back to 1999, in the southern part of London. Some of the initial producers include Zed Bias or Steve Gurley. The term was more used after 2002, around the Ammunition Promotions productions. From that moment on the term became the official name for this subgenre. Ammunition Promotions was also popular in the area for running the Forward>> club. The club used to give the residence to the less popular artists from the London surroundings. It concentrated on a specific music with a specific sound that slowly turned in what people know today as dubstep. The history of dubstep is also linked to a Croydon record shop, which sold rave and electronic music over the years, to switch to dubstep as soon as the genre became more popular around the British capital. At first the musical subgenre had to go through a lot of critics. An article in the popular The Guardian claims that this music is connected with the ketamine consumption, otherwise you cannot actually understand it.
In 2003, DJ Hatcha began to give a new direction for dubstep on Rinse FM… using 10″ dubplates (reggae-style) to form a clipped & minimal sound that is mostly used in dubstep nowadays. An event in 2003 called “Filthy Dub” started happening regularly, and was where quite a few popular DJs like Skream, Benga, N Type and Cyrus made their debuts.
The music has begun to accelerate, and after BBC Radio DJ Mary Anne Hobbs gave it attention on a national circuit across the U.K., we started to see regular dubstep night clubs popping up in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Barcelona. The influence has spread to the commercial market with artists such as Britney Spears adopting the sound in newer tracks. In 2010, dubstep songs like “I Need Air” by Magnetic Man started hitting the pop charts in the UK. With the start of uDubstep.com in 2011… we’d say this music is here to stay.