Some brief thoughts on Dubstep

• Dubstep aims for visceral thrill as with Jungle before it (all dance music?), mixing in the regimentation of twostep
• Frequently full of dread, harking back to roots and the flip-side of redemption leading to an overriding sense of the uncanny (for more see k-punk, reynolds)
• Intend upon innovation, incremental, organic, gradually pushing at the boundaries of the form, but no sudden movement
• inter-relationship, as with glitch, each dubstep producer is only subtly different from his neighbour (this is probably my ignorance)
• Dubstep, like its antecedents, rides the wave of the (un)familiar
• As a form, it’s reductive, focusing upon essence, thematic variation, multiplying of convergent strands
• There’s an absence, an emptiness at its centre – when it’s (occasionally) filled, as with The Spaceape’s vocals, I feel a real sense of relief
• I can’t stand the, admittedly fairly rare, tracks that use vocal film samples, I’m still finding that an entirely exhausted trope
• Are there any women making dubstep?
• Textures are determinedly synthetic, plasticised, not roughened or distressed (looking back to the digi-dub explicitly referenced on Skream’s long-playing debut?
• Comparisons were made between Burial and Chain Reaction/Basic Channel – perhaps I missed this – but I sense a much closer connection to cousins Rhythm & Sound. Almost surprised Mark and Moritz didn’t include some dubstep mixes on the See Mi Yah remix project.
• As well as the Virus Syndicate, I reviewed the two Rephlex Grime compilations (here and here) a couple of years ago, at a time when the music lacked an agreed name, Grime nowadays referring to the MC-led arm of a music wider than just Dubstep. I recently listened again to Grime 2 and stand by my original view, the Kode9 tracks still sound unengagingly empty and I much prefer them with The Spaceape’s vocals.