This Friday, September 16th, Dubspot will welcome Mad Professor to their New York City home for a discussion of dub, dubstep, the links and history of the two genres and his own personal production and performance strategies. Like all of Dubspot’s workshops, worldwide access is available via live streaming on the Dubspot Blog.

Mad Professor, London-based founder of Ariwa Sounds, is bringing his years of experience in the reggae roots of dub, expanding across numerous musical genres and sharing his insights into live performance and mixing. There is arguably no DJ with more skill or authority in dub and its countless forms than Mad Professor, nor another musician who stands more true to the roots of these genres. Mad Professor will demonstrate live dub and speak about his forthcoming “Roots of Dubstep” project on his own label, Ariwa Sounds.

Mad Professor will be playing later that night as part of Dub Invasion Festival, with Twilight Circus Dub and Majestic Twinsound at The Knitting Factory.

Tonight (Friday, January 7), Bass Fueled Mischief takes over Webster Hall for a night of, well, bass fueled mischief.  Headlining the racket are OGs Brand Nubian.  Hip-hop titans Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar have demolished mikes all over the globe and collaborated with everyone from Handsome Boy Modeling School to the one and only, the most flamboyant, Big L.  Friday night is their first dubstep show supporting their “Enter the Dubstep Vol. 2” which features remixes by Hellfire Machina and Dem Soul.  Also on the bill are dubstep journeymen Hellfire Machina, who have been killing it all over NYC in recent days, and two of L.A.’s finest, 12^th Planet and Bombabaman.  RSVP for the soundclash HERE to get in for only a dollar before midnight.

If you were wondering what the kids were doing Wednesday night, then you weren’t at Music Hall of Williamsburg for an injection of Bass—straight to the main line.  The 18+ show was packed with dub heads, rave kids, hip-hoppers and hipsters. Heads nodded.  Arms waved.  Bodies moved. New York-based openers Hellfire Machina threw down a massive two-hour set.  Building steam with jittery break-beats and dubbed-out sirens, the pair unleashed wave upon wave of bombastic bass and got people on their feet.  Remixes of Dead Prez, Wu-Tang and Brand Nubian had the crowd shooting along, bouncing off the walls buoyed by that ever-present bass.  UK dubstep mega-hits like Doctor P’s “Sweet shop” had hands in the air.  The duo’s Jody Shires and Tom Williams swapped turns at the decks, dropping bomb after bomb, grabbing the mike at times to proclaim, “Dubstep is a revolution and it’s because of you lot” and to remind of everyone that the house was overflowing on a Wednesday night.  With bass so thick you could hear it in your nose, ravey drops, and shout-along samples, they rained hot bass fire down upon the sea of heads before them.  Simply put, Hellfire Machina killed it.  If your NYE needs a bass boost, you can catch these guys at Bass Fueled Mischief’s all-night throw-down in Greenpoint.  Cop tickets and peep the flier here.

Up next, Bronx-born J Rabbit brought his house-heavy dub to the masses.  The beats he dropped were huge.  Monster cuts like his “Satisfaction” remix that has been doing the viral thing on the interwebs had the kids jumping.  His sound built on what Hellfire had started.  The whole night, a thick layer of bass coated the room and didn’t dissipate until Boregore’s last cut around 3am.  J’s dub is the new dub—bass-fueled of course, but with huge, danceable drops.  He’s bringing dubstep out of the bassment and into the club with high-energy bangers.

Borgore closed out the night with dark, dirty bass bubbling.  His set was heavy on originals with the Israel-based artist taking mike in hand and shouting his joke-rap vocals about cumming on faces over several cuts. Behind him, girls in full stripper gear slithered and teased. The crowd—synapses blown, ears blown, heads blown—kept bouncing, at this point lulled into a sort of trance by the hypnotic bass assault.  “Gorestep” –the label Bore has coined for his patented brand of aggressive bass bombast—means a barrage of thick bass breaks not for the faint of heart.

With a packed house on a Wednesday and a fully amped and very young crowd, the bass that shook the Music Hall announced load, long and low that bass-culture is on the rise.  No matter what the mainstream mags say, dubstep has landed in the U.S., fixed itself firmly in that nebulous space between jam and rave—between festival field and underground club—and it’s going to be around for a while.

This Wednesday, December 29, Powerline, The Good Thing, GBH and Bowery Presents have all come together to bring you a bone-rattling bass-culture bill at Music Hall of Williamsburg.  Headlined by Israel’s Borgore and his pioneering brand of dubstep—“Gorestep”—the night will also feature sets from Hellfire Machina and Bronx-based young gun J Rabbit, who just dropped a new mix-tape for Mad Decent last week (CLICK HERE for a free download).  Advance tickets are available HERE.

A trip to London would not be complete without a stop at Fabric, the world-renown superclub that not only hosts top electronic acts week after week, but has also spawned over fifty FabricLive compilation mixes. Fabric was certainly preceded by its reputation, but nothing could have prepared me for the actual experience. The line outside the club was unlike any I’d seen, but it wasn’t until I walked into Room One – the largest of Fabric’s three – that I realized the sheer mass of the dubstep scene in London.

I chose Friday, July 16th (and subsequently planned my entire trip to London around this date) for the line-up, which included the Dub Police (Caspa, Breakage, The Others, Emalkay, et al) along with Egyptrixx, Mumdance and over a dozen other artists. Upon my entrance the crowd went crazy for Caspa’s remix of “I Remember” by Deadmau5, and later Emalkay dropped pieces of his hit song, “When I Look At You”, throughout his set, building the anticipation.

Fabric is so large that it wasn’t until I had been there for over an hour that I finally came across the other two rooms. Room Two was so full that the party practically spilled out into the corridor. A sea of bodies, taking up every square inch of space and perched on platforms on both sides, danced furiously to the drum and bass breakbeats issuing from the speakers.

I came up for air and found myself in Fabric’s third room, where Egyptrixx was spinning a (comparatively) low-key set. Small but dynamic with a multi-level design, Room 3 felt like an oasis from the madness, accented with blue lights and fog.

While I am no stranger to dubstep parties in New York, (thanks in large part to our friends at Trouble & Bass), the London scene is a completely different animal. Sure, there were some familiar elements – the music, of course, and the sweaty bodies dancing in a manner that only dubstep can instigate – but Fabric managed to capture dubstep in a way that went beyond the music, an “essence” if you will, that has to do with the surroundings, the people, and the overall vibe.

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The line outside Webster Hall stretched around the block on Friday for what turned into an epic night. Girls & Boys resident DJs Alex English and rekLES had the crowd going crazy early on with a rare dubstep set. Kid Sister took the stage at around 1:15 and performed several songs off her debut album, including “Right Hand High” and “Big ‘n’ Bad”. For the encore, Rusko took over the decks as Kid Sister performed his remix of “Pro Nails” along with “Step”, which he produced.

MeanRed had it right when they described Rusko as the “tasmanian devil of dubstep” – his boundless energy had him moving so fast it was sometimes difficult to capture the moment on camera. The audience had no problem keeping up, throwing sweaty fists into the air and gyrating to Rusko’s wobbles.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL ALBUM

The first Мишка mix of the decade comes from the DJ/production duo Crookers. This installment rolls across dub, grime and electro with tracks from Hudson Mohawke, Untold, Eskmo and Ramadanman. The duo have been touring across the globe dropping some of the most eclectic mixes and edits destroying music festival left and right. If you have never heard of these artists below consider this a bangin’ introduction!

Мишка Presents Keep Watch Vol. XV: Crookers [Download]

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This Friday, Bassnectar stops by The Fillmore to dose our fragile nervous systems with bass wobbling adventures. Fresh off the release of his eighth album Cozza Frenzy, Lorin Ashton continues delivering quality concoctions laced with dubstep, electro and hip-hop madness.

As HiFi Cartel readers, you have the chance to score a pair of tickets to see this mad-scientist in action along with a free copy of Cozza Frenzy. Click through to find out how you can win. Continue Reading

Mishka delivers another heavy hitter with Rusko banging out the twelfth installment of the Keep Watch series. Keep a look out for a new spin on Kid Sister’s “Pro Nails”, a wobble tossed Dire Straights dub, and fresh re-edits from his current North American tour. You can catch him in New York October 10th, for the Hard NYC Festival with Crookers and Major Lazer.

Mishka presents Keep Watch Vol XII

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When I first arrived on dubstep’s doorstep, two names stood out amongst those forging bass drenched rhythm in South London… Skream and Benga. Both began producing music at an early age with Benga (Beni Uthman) pumping out lo-fi goodies from his Playstation at the age of 12 and Skream (Oliver Jones) crafting his wobble with Fruity Loops by age 15. Once they started pressing dubplates (a vinyl release for those not familiar), both shared the “do-it-yourself” philosophy which allowed them to shape their sonority as they saw fit.

These two are now the rudeboys of the dubstep scene, an honor that seems stronger than ever, so it’s no surprise they’ve teamed up to serve their dubby gospel worldwide. Benga has only this request of your speakers: “To preach this music, which is bassline music, you need a good system. Hook me up with that and I’m happy.” Of course, a worldwide jaunt would not be complete without a stop in the Big Apple, so be sure to catch them drop the heavy at Le Poisson Rouge next Saturday for Trouble & Bass’ anniversary party. And who knows, we might let you in for free.

Few Tracks for your aural pleasure, please listen with a bit of sub bass.

La Roux – In For The Kill (Last Japan Skream Re-Edit)

Benga – Crunked Up

Last.fm interview with Benga & Skream on the jump.

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