The State of Play In the Bay and Beyond

Its been an interesting summer so far for Dubstep and Bass music in general. There must be 10times the amount of producers and djs playing and making Dubstep music worldwide and in the USA it seems the entire country is at it. The harder sound has caught on big time. We already knew this was the case last year. Now its everywhere. Beaport charts are showing a steady combination of heavy heavy midrange monster tunes the occasional deeper track and new releases by the classic Dubstep Dons from the UK. Bigger festivals are awash with mosh pits to Dubstep. Dubstep goons are everywhere armed with Ableton, bad you tube rips, bootleg tunes and Beatport top 100 purchases. Wheres the Dub?

This summer in San Francisco the dances have so many new faces younger kids and younger crowds and the hard sound is running the show. New weeklies are allowing anyone to be able to go out to dance to "Dubstep" everyday of the week period. All these events are all showcasing the filth and fury of the newer sounds. Older promoters like Redline, Soundpieces, Surefire, Big Up and my own Brap Dem! are still throwing the occasional big show and monthlies with great headliner talent from all over but with diverse fromats. Crowds have been thin and fickle this summer and it seems a bit less attended then last summer for sure.

I personally still play Dubstep and get tons of fresh tunes but have to dig for better tunes. I am also pushing deeper and also slower bpms. I am just really feeling different sounds right now. the music is bathed in funky ghostly deeper minimal bass laden riddims with house elements and also north of 150 bpm oddness that has really caught my ear.

Right now San Francisco has a few great alternatives to straight all Dubstep nights. I personally will never do an all Dubstep event unless there is good reason to and the present and future is all about all formats in my opinion. Below I've listed the events that I have been attending this summer for my post Dubstep hangover that are worth checking out. Not to say there aren't any good all Dubstep events there are tons (check this Facbook group) but not everyone is looking for a bassface each and every time they go out:

ICEE HOT - a monthly at 222 Hyde in Sf that showcases 2-step, funky, garage, house, bass, tropical, future, and great pizza. Residents are Ghosts on Tape, Low Limit, Disco Shawn, Rollie Fingers.

CHANGE THE BEAT - a weekly party at SOM bar in the Mission. Great diverse local and international talent playing Beat, Glitchy, Lazery, Hiphop, Future bass, Funky, Dubstep and other hip-Hop bass driven music. Residents are Dials, Salva, Centipede.

SOUNDPEICES - any party this crew throws is fire period. The Crew of Sparkuhl, Dials, Bogl and Sarah really do a kick ass job of presenting something fresh and new each and every time.

Of course my own Surefire Sound we have moved to a Bi-Monthly format starting in August with Scuba.

Dubstep like D&B will never die it will continue to mutate and whatever event and environment it is played in will always be receptive to it. The one thing this summer that reminded me what I love about Dubstep is the new DMZ LP. This lp has been on repeat next to my bed almost nightly programming me with serene waves of good dub and bass and the title Return to Space is so crucial.

Comments

Unknown said…
oh how i miss the reggae sounds in my dubstep.
NocturN said…
the weeklys are the scene, everytime i go out to a "big" party its at 1015 or it just doesn't have the feel. the campouts i went to were epic, especially the psytrance "gemini" campout where the big stage was all about psy but they had a dubstep room where there was a bigger crowd. it was nice to have a dubstep room because i felt like i was at the kids table at a family thanksgiving. the weeklys have the energy and i can feel the goddess presence but there is sound problems. "anu" has bass problems, "seed" sounds a little better and jai tells me they will be adding additional amp to power up the subs. i will be in europe until sep 3rd, when i come back i hope they get their sound right because bass is the mother of energy. blessed be sam, and once again thank you, if it wasn't for you i would have never melted my face at the bordello last summer. cheers!!

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