Dubstep

The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot[1] that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass.

The term "dubstep" in reference to a genre of music began to be used by around 2002 by labels such as Big Apple, Ammunition, and Tempa, by which time stylistic trends used in these remixes became more noticeable and distinct from 2-step and grime.

Around this time, producers also began to fuse elements of the original dubstep sound with other influences, creating fusion genres including future garage and the slower and more experimental post-dubstep.

[10] The music website AllMusic has described dubstep's overall sound as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals.

"[11] According to Simon Reynolds, dubstep's constituents originally came from "different points in the 1989—99 UK lineage: bleep 'n' bass, jungle, techstep, Photek-style neurofunk, speed garage, [and] 2 step.

Similar to a vocal garage hybrid – grime – the genre's feel is commonly dark; tracks frequently use a minor key or the Phrygian mode, and can feature dissonant harmonies such as the tritone interval within a riff.

Typically, the percussion will pause, often reducing the track to silence, and then resume with more intensity, accompanied by a dominant sub-bass (often passing portamento through an entire octave or more, as in the audio example).

Rewinds are also an important live element in many of dubstep's precursors; the technique originates in dub reggae soundsystems, is widely employed by pirate radio stations and is also used at UK garage and jungle nights.

[22] Taking direct cues from Jamaica's lyrically sparse deejay and toasting mic styles in the vein of reggae pioneers like U-Roy, the MC's role in dubstep's live experience is critically important to its impact.

[32] Ammunition Promotions, who run the influential club night Forward>> and have managed many proto-dubstep record labels (including Tempa, Soulja, Road, Vehicle, Shelflife, Texture, Lifestyle and Bingo),[8][17] began to use the term "dubstep" to describe this style of music in around 2002.

[8] Key artists such as Hatcha and later Skream worked in the shop (which initially sold early UK Hardcore / Rave, Techno and House and later, garage and drum and bass, but evolved with the emerging dubstep scene in the area),[12] while Digital Mystikz were frequent visitors.

[8][31] Playing sets cut to 10" one-off reggae-style dubplates, he drew exclusively from a pool of new South London producers—first Benga and Skream,[31] then also Digital Mystikz and Loefah—to begin a dark, clipped and minimal new direction in dubstep.

[38] At the end of 2003, running independently from the pioneering FWD night, an event called Filthy Dub, co promoted by Plastician, and partner David Carlisle started happening regularly.

South London collective Digital Mystikz (Mala and Coki), along with labelmates and collaborators Loefah and MC Sgt Pokes soon came into their own, bringing sound system thinking, dub values, and appreciation of jungle bass weight to the dubstep scene.

[46] These compilations helped to raise awareness of dubstep at a time when the grime sound was drawing more attention,[30] and Digital Mystikz and Loefah's presence on the second release contributed to the success of their DMZ club night.

[50] The sound was also featured prominently in the soundtrack for the 2006 sci-fi film Children of Men,[51] which included Digital Mystikz, Random Trio, Kode 9, Pressure and DJ Pinch.

[17] Berlin's Hard Wax record store (operated by influential[62] dub techno artists Basic Channel)[63][64] has also championed Shackleton's Skull Disco label, later broadening its focus to include other dubstep releases.

[16] The summer of 2007 saw dubstep's musical palette expand further, with Benga and Coki scoring a crossover hit (in a similar manner to Skream's "Midnight Request Line") with the track "Night", which gained widespread play from DJs in a diverse range of genres.

BBC Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson named it his record of 2007, and it was also a massive hit in the equally bassline-orientated, but decidedly more four-to-the-floor genre of bassline house,[65] whilst Burial's late 2007 release Untrue (which was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize in the UK) incorporated extensive use of heavily manipulated, mostly female, 'girl next door' vocal samples.

[68] In the summer of 2008, Mary Anne Hobbs invited Cyrus, Starkey, Oneman, DJ Chef, Silkie, Quest, Joker, Nomad, Kulture and MC Sgt Pokes to the BBC's Maida Vale studios for a show called Generation Bass.

Alongside Soulja of Ammunition Promotions and Mary Anne Hobbs, an influx of female producers, writers, photographers and DJs all have broken through in the up-til-then male orientated scene.

With key 12" releases on Hyperdub, Immigrant and Hotflush Recordings, producers Vaccine, Subeena and Ikonika have introduced a palette of new sounds and influences to the genre, such as double-time bass drums, 8-bit video game samples, hand percussion and lushly arranged strings.

[74] Mary Anne Hobbs commented that, unlike "Grime and drum 'n' bass raves, the mood at dubstep nights is less aggressive, or more meditative, leading to a larger female attendance at events than with the genre's precursors.

[87] In a move foreshadowed by endorsements of the sound from R&B, hip-hop and recently, mainstream figures such as Rihanna, or The Bomb Squad's Hank Shocklee,[88] Snoop Dogg collaborated with dubstep producers Chase & Status, providing a vocal for their "underground anthem", "Eastern Jam".

However, given the links, interaction, and free-flowing ideas ... you can't dismiss all these acts as unrelated"[104] The production duo Mount Kimbie is often associated with the origination of the term post-dubstep.

[105] In 2011, dubstep gained significant traction in the US market, by way of a post-dubstep style known as brostep,[citation needed]with the American producer Skrillex becoming something of a "poster boy" for the scene.

[111][112][113] In September 2011, a Spin Magazine EDM special referred to brostep as a "lurching and aggressive" variant of dubstep that has proven commercially successful in the United States.

[114] Unlike traditional dubstep production styles, which emphasise sub-bass content, brostep accentuates the middle register and features "robotic fluctuations and metal-esque aggression".

"[117] According to a BBC review of his 2012 album Songs, the record was a muddled attempt by Rusko to realign his music with a "Jamaican inheritance" and distance it from the "belching, aggressive, resolutely macho" dubstep produced by his contemporaries.

Their production style has been described by Mixmag as "a viciously harsh, yet brilliantly produced sound that appealed more to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails fans than it did to lovers of UK garage".