Katy on a Mission

This is yet another example of crossover succes for a sound that currently (still) rules the british underground and club scene. The name Dubstep stuck to this sound evolving out of southeast London sometime since 2004 and ever since then it keeps gaining more recognition: bigger clubs, larger festivals, influencing producers and mainstream productions.

Sounds like the typical underground-electronic-dance-culture to crossover-succes story?

Yes and no. While the worldwide spread means the familiar return to schematic productions and boring stardom attitudes, the context of music production in the late 21st century has changed quite a bit:

(Note: The following post is a rather long text about the characteristics of crossover music production in the 21st century as apparent in ‘Katy on a Mission’. If you just want to hear the newest hottest british dance songs, feel free to just scroll to the end of the post and listen to the examples of this development)

First: Electronic Dance music has been developing in a structure that is bigger than a single sub-genre ever since it’s early succes in Detroit, Chicago and the british summer of love. This larger skeleton has been rightfully termed Hardcore Continuum by Simon Reynolds, in view of the UK’s dance scenes (How unmodified the term could be transfered to other counties could be an interesting question, but might also run the risk of ignoring the trans-national characteristics apparent in electronic dance music). And second: Ever since the emergence of mp3, Napster and the development of the Long-Tail-Music Industry there is a number of different means by which hits are made, stars are born and subcultures turn mainstream. (Jan Delay is a german example for that)

Both of these defining characteristics of music production in the 21st century (aesthetically and industrially) are quite apperant in the succes of ‘Katy on a Mission’:

First: The instrumental track is a typical example for the sound labelled Dubstep which is situated at 140bpm in the Hardcore Continuum. This sound evolved as a combination of the UK Electronic Dance Sounds called Drum’n'Bass / Jungle (160-180bpm) and UKGarage / 2Step (125-135bpm). Both influences can be heard in ‘Katy on a Mission’ in the broken and layered drumstructures (check the hi-hats), the mostly-triplet rhythm (!) of the main mid-frequency sound element (that thing sounding a bit like an electronic guitar), the sub-bass (also triplet (!!)) and the dub-typical use of echo on the snare and delay on her voice. (I shall post a mix and a text about the sound combination of DrumNBase and UkGarage in the near future to make this continuity more clear)

And secondly the characteristics of the changed music industry are quite apparent in the way by which ‘Katy on a Mission’ became a hit: The DJ and producer Benga has been and still is a protagonist in the underground forward-sounding emergence of Dubstep, and the Label releasing the Track are Rinse and Ammunition, thus the people responsible for the structures dedicated to pushing ‘Dubstep’ with the ex-pirate radio station rinse.fm, the club FWD, and proto-Dubstep Labels like Tempa. This means that the ‘music-industrial’ responsibility, work and profit resides completly in the hands of the very people that have built and still participate in the underground scene. Thus here we have a typical example for a non-major-label-dependent success story, as possible within the music industry 2.0. The marketing strategies employed are also ‘very 2.0′: Massives Web- und Pirateradio Promo-Airplay, Frühzeitiger YouTube Musikvideo Release, ReTweets und Twitter HashTags.

To bring my theorising on ‘Katy on a Mission’ to perfection there are specific aspects of this Song where the contemporary charaterstics of electronic dance music and the music industry actually combine: Only a few key-figures of the scene were given a copy of the song about three month in advance of the actual release. This Dubplate culture (historically first apparent in Jamaica) is on one hand typical for Drum’n'Base, Garage and Dubstep and has to be regarded as a part of the artistic-production process. The 1oinch phonographic materialisation should be understood as more or less consciously included in the creationally processes of the artists and is a definite part in the aesthetics of these underground scenes. On the other hand the dubplate culture is simply a very effective way of marketing a tune.

In the case of ‘Katy on a Mission’ there has been a very exclusive Dubplate (only Benga, Hatcha, Skream, Ramadanman and very few others have a copy) smashing up dancefloors. It is entitled ‘Benga on a Mission’ and has been appearing in the sets of the named few DJ’s since the summer of 2009. In proper 21st century Dubplate style i can only give you a snippet of this tune from a radio set, which got uploaded on youtube:

The 1-year-late-addition of vocals to an underground instrumental hit, to make it a crossover success is a very consequent combination of the sound aestetics of the hardcore continuum and the possibilities that a long-tail music industry holds for small labels: The sound material is already underground approved, gets slightly modified within the aesthetics of the hardcore continuum (bit more ‘poppy’, ’songy’ and ‘catchy’, but sounding still uncompromisingly ‘hardcore’) and is promoted through a combination of the underground-looking structures (ex-pirate) and user/listener-generated-hype means. Of course both of these mediums are actually intertwined and largely popular themselves and not actually underground in its strict meaning anymore at all.

So here we are at a point where those schematic, never-quite-true and boring Realness/Fake, Underground/Commercial, Subculture/Mainstream dichotomies seem far away.

(By the way this reminds me of a post i wrote about a year ago about ‘20 years of Loveparade’ and the exhausting Dubstep Sell-Out critic that Skream’s La Roux Remix received.)

Now there are more examples of a dancefloor-approved dubplate getting voiced (as the jamaican practice of singing over an independently existing sound material, a riddim, is called) to make it a crossover succes:

‘Ms Dynamite feat. Redlight – What you talkin about?’ is going to be released on August 31st. The pseudo M.I.A. looking video will help to bring the expactable crossover succes. The tune is based on one of the UK Bass Music Hits of early 2009 called ‘MDMA’ by Redlight, and in this case the original instrumental track will be included on the released single, which is a smart sales-improving move if you ask me. Until then i can only give you another youtube Link:

Last but not least there is Wile Out from Ms Dynamite from earlier this year which sounds more like another new thing evolving in the Hardcore Continuum: FunkyHouse that is; played at roughly 130bpm, taking the broken but more shake-your-hip rhythmstructures from Garage and combining it with off-centered house-trends like Kwaito.

The Song Wile Out peaked on position 38 in the UK single charts in february this year and got a lot of play by a variety of bass music DJ’s.

The track is produced by DJ Zinc (yes supersharpshooter) and is based on his instrumental called ‘Blunt Edge’, which was played by DJ’s allmost a year earlier than Wile Out and got released some months earlier.

The new Party-Mix from DJ Suro. From new funky stuff and crazy disco mash-ups

to eclectic dance-breaks, dub step and rappy drum n bass!

Mixed with pure freshness in turntable-maniac !  Share it…

Suro

DillaBeats & bounciger Dubstep, ElektikerHip & ExperimentenHop, ProletenGefriggel & MutantenRap.

Zu dem Anlass freuen wir uns besonders besonders geschätzte Kollegen aus Linz zu Gast zu haben, welche dieses musikalische Anforderungsprofil im Vorbeigehen erfüllen. Und abby lee tee und lena bringen nun zu allem Überfluss auch noch ihre bewährte Freundin Laura von neongolden mit, die das Alles aber auch alles verbildlichen wird.

Aber die PromoRhetorik von wegen bombige Party und 1.Mai Krawalle sparen wir uns jetzt mal. Du kannst das ja dann selber überprüfen und am Tag der Arbeit eben nicht ausschlafen.

Diesen neuen Mix von magst du dir als Klangbeispiel anhören. (auch als Free-Download erhältlich):

Und hier spielt abby lee tee östereichischen Fummelbounce Sound in seinem letzten Mix. Sehr Gut:
Mondkultur Podcast Drei: Abbylity – Austrian ConnectionbyMondkultur

Und jetzt nochmal:

DJ Suro
PowerMax112
abby lee tee (hillbilly, trallala)
lena (con.trust / trallala)
VJ: laura (neongolden)

Kurz vor der Veröffentlichung des neue Albums kamen vor einiger Zeit dann diese 4 Tracks per 12inch White Label ins Haus:

Open Up

Breakage – Open Up

Foundation

Breakage – Foundation

Old Skool Ting

Breakage – Old Skool Ting

Over (Breakage Remix#40644D

Breakage feat. Zarif – Over

Releasedate des Albums Foundation ist der 15.3. auf Digital Soundboy mit Burial, Donae’o und Roots Manuva Features.

Und diesen Massive Attack Remix Heißmacher werfen sie als gratis auch noch oben drauf (hör dir die ‘Run’s House’ Gedächtnis Drumloop für Step Kompatibilität nach – nun ja – 3:45 ruhig auch noch an)

Starkey ist aus Philadelphia auf Europa Tour und kommt neben vielen UK Terminen und einem Holland Gig, genau in einem deutschen Club vorbei. Ja und der liegt doch tatsächlich mal in Hamburg.

Ok Methode Fremdveranstaltungs-Ankündigung per Youtube Links:

Hier bastelt Starkey mit Sängerin, Drummer und eingesendeten Sounds bei MaryAnnHobbs einen Track im Studio in zwei Stunden zusammen. Interesant auch abgesehen von Radio-Story-Hascherei:

Und hier noch ein Favorit vom PlanetMu-AquaCrunkler:

03 Gutter Music VIP

Rustie steht in der ‘Sonic Warfare’ ganz vorne am TranszendenzHopGlitchStreetBass Frontabschnitt. Der Ausdruck Aquacrunk, den ein Schotte mal auf einen Flyer druckte steht ihm auch gut.

Play Doe (Joker & Rustie)

Wie das blubbert hat schon 2008 überzeugt, zum Beispiel in perfekter sitzender Kombination mit dem PurpleStep von Joker.

Rustie at Mary Ann Hobbs Experimental Session

Rustie’s Beitrag bei den Experimental Sessions von Mary Ann Hobbs.

Netterweise haben die Mfoc‘ler ihn am Sonntag in den Pudel eingebucht:

Support Sets werden von Silverman (Semantica // 14HO)
8Bitch (Glasgow Dirty South (d-d-dirty dirty)) und
Superdefekt (MFOC/ Golden Pudel Club) beigesteuert.

Du kannst dann ab 24h draußen vor der Tür die weiteren wichtigen Fragen diskutieren:

Liegt das am Internet, dass jetzt ganz plötzlich Musikszenen in abgelegenen Städten entstehen?

Kennen wir Rustie nur als Innovator seit er auf Warp ist?

Und vor allem: Liegt das alles an den neuen Computerprogrammen, dass die Musik so komisch, fortschrittlich oder unreal klingt (je nach Geschmacksfixierung bitte entscheiden)?

Schlafwandlerisch-Souveräne Grenzgänge zwischen Techno, FunkyHouse, Dubstep und Deepbleep.

Im Interview mit dem Fact Magazin beschreibt der Ex-DrumNBasser interessant und ausführlich seine musikalische Sozialisation und Herangehensweise.

Snippets from Martyn Fabric 50 Mix by MixSnippRecommend

Hier kannst du dir das Ding in voller Länge und in der Qualität die es verdient kaufen.

Im De:Bug Interview erzählt der Holländer von seinem Vorgehen bei der Mix-Erstellung:

“Martyn: Zu Beginn habe ich direkt einen Part, der sehr stark auf Glasgow und somit den derzeit zu Recht gepushten Hudson Mohawke fokussiert ist. Später folgt eine Episode, die sich implizit mit Berlin beschäftigt, von Ben Klock über Redshape und sich in den UK auflöst – Zomby, Kode 9, Joy Orbison. Ein Rundumschlag des internationalen Angebots gewissermaßen.

Debug: Geschieht dies eher intuitiv oder gehört dazu ein gewisses Maß an Konzeption?

Martyn: Natürlich in erster Linie intuitiv, aber wenn ich nach einem Set auf die genaue Folge der gespielten Stücke gucke, finde ich es irgendwie bemerkenswert, wie sich da eine ziemlich klare Linie durchzieht, ohne das es im voraus beabsichtigt ist. Gibst du dich vollkommen dem Mix hin, verschwimmt alles in einer Ganzheit. Das ist doch letztenendes das, was jeder mit seinem Set erreichen will.”

Übrigens betreibt Martyn auch noch den spannenden 3024 Blog.

He got some nice releases out on Argon and Black Acre and got some big things coming up on Skreams Disfigured Dubz Label.

His dreamy but ever forward-pushing Dubstep-Sound can be heard the melodic way on ‘Show Me’ which has been a solid hit of the dubstep 2009 seaseon and the bouncy way on ‘Like a Bird’, his collab with Riskotheque. That was one of those tunes, that became my instant favorite right after hearing it on the radio last november. Unfurtunatly it still isn’t released yet.

Hear it on a big stereo this friday night.

Von D feat. Phephe – Show Me

Von D – Like a Bird (Mixtape Snippet)

Here are two Mixes by the man for your listening and downloading pleasure:

Bass Music Mix 8 – Von D by bassmusic

Von D – Guestmix for Skream’s “Stella Session” on Rinse FM by Von D

Download Link

Last week there was this web-word about Kito being the Australian Joker.

So it’s only fair to post about the producer and DJ from Bristol himself. Since his first EP Release in 2007 you could hear that dreamy vision of purple sky’s.

Plus he also has quite a creative style of mixing.

joker-guestmix-on-bbc-1xtra-091019

Best check this guest mix on redlights 1xtra show! Gotta love how he drops the Jakes Rhytme Dubplate, or how he fades into ‘when i look at you’. (Download here)

Joker and MC Nomad explain their approach to music: “I’m here as a Dubstep guy, but really i’m not making Dubstep, something in beetween what Garage used to be like, whats called Grime now.

I tend to think of it like a scene and people. You can say you got Drum’n'Base tempo and maybe you have a little bit of Soul to it, but the people that listen to it is HipHop Culture, it’s HipHop.

For me they dont need to be changing their name. For me even Dubstep is HipHop because thats what i’m listening to, thats my perspective.”

Check the whole interview and some live footage here:

cityhopper-ripped-from-stellasession

And here is a piece of production, presumably from his forthcoming Album, so i can only provide the song as a radio rip.

If you are annoyed by the talking in between, then you probably dont know about Skreams Radio Show Stella Sessions on rinse.fm which airs sometimes on wednesdays between 21:00 and 23:00 (London time that is). Anyways you should always check the rinse podcasts (rss feed link). Strong recommendation if you slept on that one up until now!

The Joker bbc guest mix comes via www.n3k4.com, which is another advise for friends of bass music. Here’s the specific post with the tracklist as well.

Download the Mix Here.

(via Discobelle)

And here’s her myspace

Click for Tracklist.

Kito – On The Floor (Forthcoming Disfigured Dubz)
Kito featuring Reija Lee – LFO (Forthcoming Disfigured Dubz)
Skream – Rollin’
The Others – Karma (8 Bars Of Soul)
Kito – What If (Disfigured Dubz)
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – Thou Shalt Not Kill (Vaccine Remix)
Adam Freeland – Do You (Joker Remix)
Kito – Don’t Wanna Lose You (Forthcoming Disfigured Dubz)
Joker – Psychadelic Runway
JKamata, 2000F – You Don’t Know What Love Is
Matt-U – Compass
Kulture – Tonight
Riz MC & Sway & Plan B – Shifty (Sukh Knight Remix)
Starkey – Miracles (Jamie Vexd Remix)
Phetsta – Dance All Night
Starkey – Spacewalk
Kito – Spill (Unreleased)
Burial – Endorphin
Stephan Bodzin – Luka-Leon
Kito – Cold (Disfigured Dubz)