micapam | j.l.b

I am not serious about the title - the last thing we need is another portmanteau name for a hybrid subgenre. But it seems to me that the most compelling new moves in music are happening at the margins: between dubstep and funky - F’s releases on 7even Recordings, say, which inject funky’s percussive element to dubstep. Or the very different, yet both extremely stripped-back takes on dubstep from Ramadanman and Shackleton. At the same time there’s fruitful collisions between JA bashment and UK funky, and minimal techno-inflected dubstep from the likes of Headhunter and Blue Daisy, and 2-step is making a return (Martyn and of course Burial). Not to mention all the wonderful sounds coming out of Bristol.

The common thread running through all this is that the exciting places in music are happening in one or another musical no-man’s land - not quite one sound, not the other. Kode9’s recent set in Sydney was a brilliant and eclectic demonstration of the swirling currents in today’s underground.

I agree 100% with Blackdown’s comment earlier this month:

I think it’s probably also pretty clear from my writing, which I’ve tried to keep positive, that I really can’t stand the direction the majority of dubstep is heading in. Mid range distorted heavy metal is a total betrayal of everything we tried to build as a scene, whether the DJs/producers in question invented it themselves or cloned it off someone else. I still believe deeply in what dubstep is and can be, but if that’s it, count me out.

I guess it’s become clearer to me recently where Dusk and I stand, musically summer ‘09, and that is some kind of intersection between dubstep, grime, funky, wonk and 2step…

This intersection is where great things are brewing. Check out Untrue’s recent mix for Fact Magazine, or the “Order of the Day” mix by my Inna Riddim compadre Slice.

The campaign for bass not midrange begins!

It wasn’t too long ago when it seemed like dubstep was in danger of being drowned in the output of enthusiastic but unimaginative tracks that all seemed to be clones of each other: what I called the “Look Mum I can use an LFO” effect: all cheap dancefloor thrills and no substance, about as far from the understated menace of, say, Loefah, as it’s possible to get and still be in the same genre. Living in Sydney I’m a long way from the action, but I think it’s the same old story: people sniff a bit of cash and start churning out “product” rather than really engaging with the music for the love of it.

Happily, dubstep is now evolving rapidly in many different directions. Sure, the crappy generic wobble is still with us, but there’s plenty of new styles cropping up. It’s an exciting time. Bristol, a city that time and again puts itself on the map with a new take on a genre, is leading the way with dubstep-techno crossover, a welcome development - people like Headhunter most obviously. Two-step is back as well, although it tends to be less dancefloor-oriented than it was in its first incarnation, more reflective, following in the footsteps of the inimitable Burial. The Martyn album Great Things is another milestone for dubstep’s maturity.

In terms of new tunes that will mash up the dance, though, any DJ would be silly to sleep on Akira Kiteshi, who have only released one 12″ so far that I know of, Pinball / Noglitch. It’s all about the A-side: a glitchy, Nintendo-inspired track with little J-Pop samples, building up a frenetic energy before a crazy gangster heavy drop out of nowhere, then going nuts with the edits. Mental. Looking forward to more releases … the other stuff on his MySpace sounds good also.

In terms of the underground, there’s a whole next generation of producers ready to take the sound in unexpected new directions. Check out the underground showcase we did - just a small sample of the stuff we’ve been receiving from people from as far as afield as Russia, Norwich, Finland, California and even over here in Sydney.

I need to stop blogging and get back to work but I can’t resist mentioning Starkey’s ‘Gutter Music’ (maybe it’s technically a grime track, but so what - it drops great into a dubstep set) - especially the vocal cut with Durrty Goodz. What a tune!

Tanya Stephens, maverick reggae singjay, is coming to Australia! This is something every reggae fan should be excited about, and in fact any music lover. She is not your typical dancehall diva – her songs don’t just move your feet, they touch your soul – refreshing the parts others cannot reach.

Her debut album Big Tings a Gwaan in 97 established herself as a distinctive figure in dancehall, her often caustic wit and lively sense of the ridiculous offset by the beautiful quality of her voice. She has always been willing to think laterally: after her first three highly successful reggae albums, she left Jamaica for a sojourn in Sweden and dabbled for a while in rock and folk. Her triumphant return to the reggae scene was heralded by the anthem ‘It’s a Pity’, sung over the ‘Doctor’s Darling’ riddim by German reggae outfit Seeed, a revisiting of the Gregory Isaacs classic ‘Night Nurse’.

She is also unconventional in terms of lyrical content; while not shy of the sexually charged topics common in dancehall (‘Boom Wuk’, ‘Freaky Type’), she’s willing to tackle much deeper subjects. ‘You Keep Lookin Up’ on her most recent album, Rebelution, challenges religious orthodoxy (a brave move in highly conservative Jamaica) and even homophobia (again, rampant in Jamaica, where gays are outlawed) on ‘Do You Still Care’. “I know it’s not the most welcome thing to say,” she says, “when you are who I am, and come from where I’m from, but I worship logic. I adore the ability to see beyond a singular human existence to what I interpret to be the divine, which is everything and everyone combined. I understand that we don’t have to agree on everything to co-exist, so I respect the rights of monotheists to believe in what they believe in. It doesn’t work for me though. And since by every measure of every belief system we all agree that we all have the same basic human rights, then I think I have the right to be a non-believer! Logic has taught me this.”

This focus on lyrics with real meaning – the lack of which in the music industry she pointed out on Ghetto Blues’ ‘Way Back’, comparing the unthinking output of many of today’s artists with the substantial content of songs by an older generation of artists like Marvin Gaye – is a characteristic of Rebelution that will be continued with her next LP: “I call it a continuation because I am doing basically the same thing I started doing a few years ago, which is discussing topics which are of extreme interest and importance to me and which I think other people share an interest in also. I believe discussion is the beginning of every solution and I dedicate my life to solutions so I will be taking on more topics which unfortunately too many humans tend to avoid.” It’s near completion, but don’t hold your breath, there’s no deadline: “For me, when I’m done means when I’m satisfied that it’s a good representation of my thought process and not just when is a good time to drop an album.”

Tanya’s Sydney show will be at the Oxford Arts Factory, 23 February 08. We asked her if she’ll be playing mostly the songs we know, or whether she’ll be bringing new tunes: “I won’t be introducing any unknown material if that’s what you mean by ‘new’. As a consumer I am disgusted when I pay to go sing along with my favourites and instead get some unfamiliar new stuff that I can’t possibly be expected to get my mind around in three minutes. I find that most people I know personally agree with me so I don’t subject people to what I don’t like myself. I’ve never been there before so we have a lot of catching up to do!”

We look forward to catching up!