Innovations and Explorations - Dubstep

Dubstep is a music genre that some really enjoy and others don’t understand. Dubstep is noted with its basslines and rhythms that really allow it to stand out. Dubstep started out around the late 1990s to the early 2000s as a genre from South London. Dubstep is a mixture of UK Garage, reggae, and other elements. UK garage is a genre of music specific to the UK with deeper bass.

Here is an example:

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Flowers x Sweet Female Attitude x 03 April 2000 x Manchester, England

I think this song is so fun and boppy if you will. This was just the start of dubstep though there were other elements that had to be mixed in with the vibes of the UK Garage such as the reggae roots and dub like this piece Park Lane by Augustus Pablo in 1975 with the Jamaican breeze blowing.



 https://youtu.be/4-2zduEN-DQ?si=lDZ7jdHVBMUbljvf

Now when we combine these two (and many other musical elements) along with the artists that first started putting their spin on the music such as Digital Mystikz with Anti War created in 2006 in Jamaica.

https://youtu.be/G9H3i0T1iN4?si=Jbld6vIfSITO2TCO

Digital Mystikz music started circulating around different clubs in the area and started spreading.

 


Dubstep started as an underground genre. It took time to build this baby up into what it is today. All of a sudden, it’s late 2010 and Skrillex hops on the mainstream trends with Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and it takes my generation specifically by storm! (if you know, you know!)

https://youtu.be/WSeNSzJ2-Jw?si=_phd3mk68ndmqB-P

 


Now it’s not backed in anything that I have researched but I truly believe that dubstep also was bred from a little bit of techno as well with the electronic sounds that come into play more than what you hear in the other genres like the UK garage.

 

Musical Analysis

Two important elements that draw out the evolution to modern dubstep are bass timbre and rhythmic structure.

Bass Timbre

Across all of the pieces mentioned above, the bass goes through a significant transformation. In Park Lane, the bassline is steady and has an echo effect that created depth. The bass in the reggae and dub is warmer than the dubstep by far.

In Flowers, the bassline is very harmonic and in tune with the melodies of the artists’ voices.

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