Monday 2 January 2012

M:UD the first edition

Hey guys, so let's start with a hello. I'm Alek Rose, I'm primarily a dubstep producer and i go by the name of NumBoy. But I produce with my fellow DJ and producer Sam Wilson who goes by the name of Wilso. Together, we make DUBPLEX! I've recently turned 16, but by no means does this mean that i won't know my stuff. I'll be blogging about the whole spectrum of dubstep, whether it’s the dark, dungeon dubs from the likes of J:Kenzo or N-Type, to the dancier sounds of Dismantle, all the way to the likes of Funtcase and Genetix.

So basically, Dom - the main man at M:UD said that this first blog will be summing up all things dubstep from the year 2011! A large task which I aim to seize and conquer, maintaining a severe bassface throughout. Let's go.

Before I start, I’m gonna get the whole Skrillex situation out of the way. He’s an extremely talented guy, and I have nothing against him. However, I won’t be blogging about him as much as many of you may want. I’ll mention him, as sometimes he drops a banger, but I don’t feel that his music represents the dubstep that I love and am passionate about and I don’t want my blog to spiral into a Skrillex hate club. Okay, seriously, let’s go now.

I'm going to start off by telling you who my main producers were in 2011. The first name that pops into my head is J:Kenzo. If you haven’t heard of this man, GET TO KNOW! He will be growing in the scene, I can tell. His deep, dark, sub-heavy sounds are extremely unique and each of his tracks is as good as – if not better – than the last. When will this end? I hope never.  If I had to choose one track for you to go and listen to in order to portray his sound, from this year, I’d have to say ‘The Roteks.’ Released on Tempa, in April. An eerie intro in which you can make out the sounds of insects buzzing about is the perfect start, then the sample comes in: ‘If the roteks are like other insects, they emit a very specific ultrasonic vibration...’ This is followed by a solid weight of sub bass rolling down into your ears. The rest of the track is indescribable, the snare drum is snappy and echoes off into the background each time. Everything in this track adds to the atmosphere and Mr. Kenzo has come out with an absolute smasher that is sure to shake any sub you hand it.
(http://soundcloud.com/jkenzo/the-roteks)

My second producer/producers of the year have to be KOAN Sound. This duo have had an amazing year in the production world. They have proved that they can produce spacey, yet atmospheric tracks with their beautiful remix of Ed Sheeran’s ‘A-Team.’ But don’t be fooled, they can bring the filth. This was more than proved with the release on Inspector Dubplate’s label: Inspected. Their release, entitled: The Max Out EP consisted of 4 tracks and was released on the 23rd of May. They explored the world of 100bpm music in this EP. As you may know, dubstep is based at 140 beats per minute (bpm) but KOAN reduced the speed to 100 BPM, but increased the frequency of their beats, almost replicating the sound of drumstep (half time DnB) My favourite track from the EP would have to be ‘Trouble In The West’ in which they showed their full talent by infusing cowboy-esque sounds with their unique style of punchy drums and start-stop basslines.  They’ve really developed their own style this year and further proved this with their ‘Funk Blaster EP’ released on Skrillex’s label ‘OWSLA’ on the 1st of November. This EP was entirely 100 bpm (except remixes) and I feel – and hope – that they will develop this sound in the year to come!
(http://soundcloud.com/koan-sound/sets/insp002/)

I feel I’ve waffled on for long enough about the first two artists of 2011 so I’m gonna give a quick list of my favourite tracks of 2011: Stinkahbell – Something In Your Eyes; Brownz – Padawan; Dismantle – Computation; Doctor P – Tetris; P-money – I Beat The Tune EP; Vodex – Deranged, STFU, Madman; Eptic –Fools; Buraka Som Sistema – Hangover (Caspa Remix); Subscape – Turn Me On;  Trampa – Alien Curry; Requake – Waterdrops. For me, a dubstep collective called Monsters have absolutely smashed it this year. Monsters consists of the likes of Vodex, Vylex, Subfiltronik, Shiverz, Antikz, AD, Young Kay, and others. If you find the time, check them out.
(http://www.facebook.com/#!/MONSTERSDUBSTEP)

This has been a very hard blog to write because so much has happened in the past year to dubstep as a genre. It’s obviously impossible for me to mention every track that I have loved or the producers that are doing something new but I’ve done my best, without even scratching the surface.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and continue to support the scene! I’ll be writing monthly from now on and I’ll be able to make them more to the point and snappy, so watch out for them. If you want to check out any of my stuff (Dubplex) which is very much influenced by the darker side of dubstep rather than the Skrillex-y filth idea, then check us out on:
-Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dubplex/206048452753994 (‘LIKE’ US!)
-Soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/dubplex (Our own productions)
-Mixcloud: http://www.mixcloud.com/dubplex (Our mixes)
-Twitter: @Dubplexsound (Just... Twitter really.)
-U-Stream:  http://www.ustream.tv/user/DubplexUK (We do live mix broadcasts every so often, so catch one of them! Get info of when they’re on from the Facebook!)

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