Grievous Angel

The idea behind the Dubstep Sufferah series was that while dubstep is fantastic when it’s mixed live and hyped up, there’s still scope for mixes that are coherent, long-form pieces of music, in the manner of house or techno mixes. For Volume 3, I was originally going to do an all-vinyl mix, but it wasn’t really unique enough, and then Paul Autonomic said he wanted to hear some of the unreleased stuff that I have, so I went in another direction. Simultaneously there was an explosion of creativity in grime, and I found that loads of it actually went really well with dubstep. So Dubstep Sufferah 3 turned into a dubstep versus grime cross over mix, while also showing how dubstep doesn’t have to be this narcoleptic, mordant trough of despondency that some people are trying to turn it into.

This mix has already gone out to a bunch of people over email and well over two hundred people have got it – it seems to be going down fairly well.

It’s now up as a fairly heavy 180Mb LAME-encoded 320K mp3. I didn’t bother to zip it this time – you know the score, download it by right clicking (PC) or ctrl-clicking (Mac) on the link, don’t play it in your browser. If it gets caned I may have to put up a more light-weight version. You can get it here. 

Dubstep Sufferah Volume 3

00:00 Narcossist: No Love (CDR)
03:36: Caspa: Homesick (CDR)
04:24 DQ1: Gud Money (CDR – forthcoming on Tectonic)
05:24 Kano: Mr Me Too (Kano Mixtape)
10:43 Side 9000: Dhun (CDR)
13:42 MASSIVE MUSIC: Find My Way (Kode 9 remix) (Hyperdub)
16:52 TimeBlind: Copy Copy
18:31 Roll Deep: Celebrate (Rules and Regulations CD)
21:28 DJ JSL: Coyote Dub (CDR) / Slew Dem: Bumbaclaat Badman
23:19 Monochrome: Mine a Kill Dem (CDR)
26:44 Narcossist: White Lotus (CDR) / Scare Dem Crew Featuring L.G., Pointer, Ears, Lassy, Scotty D., Muscles, J.P. & Flamin’: Take Off
30:18 Skream: Make Me (Tempa) / Timbaland & Magoo: Get Crunk / JME: Deadout / Caspa : LFO King (CDR)
33:36 Cloaks: Dark (Version) (CDR) / Kano & Jammer: Tapout (Jah Mek The World The Classics Mixtape)
37:40 Komonazmuk: Fear (CDR) / Roll Deep: Babylon Burners (Rules and Regulations CD)
40:55 Coki: Tortured (Tempa) / Ruff Sqwad: Down (Gun an Roses Mixtape)
43:44 Cloaks: Too On Top (CDR) / Trim: But I Still (Soul food mixtape)
47:17 Loefah: Voodoo (666) / Lord Finesse: Check the Method (DJ Premier Scratch Mix)
52:20 Loefah: Natural Charge (Grievous Angel Edit) (CDR)
56:40 Loefah: Disko Rekah (Deep Medi) / Cluekid & Cotti: Sensi Dub (White)
59:41 Cluekid & Cotti: Flashback (White) / Ruff Sqwad: When Itz On (Guns and Roses Mixtape)
63:07: Skream: Losing Control (Grievous Angel Edit) (Tempa)/ Trim: In the Ghetto (Soul Food Volume 1 Mixtape)
65:28 Grievous Angel: Culture Killer (CDR) / Trim: Wot Part One (Soul Food Volume 1 Mixtape) / JME: 96 Bars of JME
70:39 TRG Vs Selector DubU: Losing Marbles (CDR)
73:37 Kode9: Magnetic City (Hyperdub)
78:33 ENDS

Now, let me tell you a little bit about each of the tracks…

00:00 Narcossist: No Love
A very, very fresh, very hot new track – Joe only finished it a week or so before putting this mix up – and it’s a lovely bit of bleepy rolling dubstep. More at www.myspace.com/narcossist – Joe has loads of dubz…
03.36 Caspa: Homesick (CDR)
Dunno when or if this is coming out. I really like Caspa when he’s in more reflective mood, and I’ve dubbed this heavily too.

04:24 DQ1: Gud Money (forthcoming on Tectonic)
I’ve had this for absolutely ages. Really top notch dub, almost as good as wear the Crown, be interesting how it sounds after Pinch has had it mastered.

05:24 Kano: Mr Me Too
One of the standout tracks from the Kano mixtape – minimal heaviness, screwed and chopped a bit. Bit of a “statement” track which I’ve used to signify that this is more than just another dubstep mix – this is a mix that brings dubstep and grime back together.

10:43 Side 9000: Dhun (CDR)

A rarity from Czech producer DJ Side, which came out on mp3 over a year ago – I thought it was one of DJ JSL’s lost classics but it’s my memory playing tricks with me. It’s certainly good enough to be one of JSL’s – yes, it’s THAT good. It’s a corking bit of Indo-dub. Lots more over at http://side.skate4you.cz/.

13:20 MASSIVE MUSIC: Find My Way (Kode 9 remix) (Hyperdub)
is this the first Kode track to feature his new trade mark, Augustus Pablo-style melodica? I don’t know but this remix (has anyone heard the original?) is wonderful.

16:52 TimeBlind: Copy Copy
From a flawed EP, but this is Enochian, glitchy, hermetic dubstep at is best. Surprisingly popular too, no wonder it got a repress, and it’s the perfect foil to…

18:31 Roll Deep: Celebrate (Rules and Regulations CD)
This is where we stop lolling around in a dubby fug and start jumpin around the room. SUCH a huge party tune.

21:28 DJ JSL: Coyote Dub (CDR) / Slew Dem: Bumbaclaat Badman
JSL is going to be a MASSIVE producer one day if he carries on pumping out huge, eminently danceable and listenable tunes like this. Slew Dem go over the top fantastically well. More over at here.

23:19 Monochrome: Mine a Kill Dem (CDR)
And the utterly wonderful Monochrome slide in there really well too. Monochrome is Tom Churchill’s new dubstep outfit who have a HEAP of fantastic tunes, I nearly put them all on here and probably should have. Tom if you don’t know him is an absolute don in deep techno and house circles with his Emoticon imprint and is also a serious broken beat man too. Get a fabulous mix by Tom of most of his work as Monochrome here.

26:44 Narcossist: White Lotus (CDR) / Scare Dem Crew: Take Off (Fresh Breath of Ears mixtape)
One of Joe’s best tunes from last year (and there were a few!) gets ripped to shreds under the onslaught of the highly gifted Scare Dem Crew. More taut bouncy grime set in counterpoint to heavyweight dub. I love this bit…

30:18 Skream: Make Me / Timbaland & Magoo: Get Crunk / JME: Deadout / Caspa : LFO King
Yeah, some serious mixology on this one. Bassline swaps between Skream’s Make Me and Caspa’s unreleased LFO King, which I still think will be a huge tune. Total LFO-frenzy sickness. Plus JME and Timbaland over the top. Not a bad little cut up. But it’s merely a warm up for…

33:36 Cloaks: Dark (Version) / Kano & Jammer: Tapout
Oh my god, how good are Cloaks? We at DustScience got to know them through techno wunderkind Derailleur, who’s done some releases with us, and Cloaks are mates of his. Vast rhythmic invention and overwhelming industrial soundscaping go just perfectly with Kano and Jammer’s unbelievably paranoid riffing. Total heaviosity, I just love this. Turn it up!

37:40 Komonazmuk: Fear (CDR) / Roll Deep: Babylon Burners (Rules and Regulations Mixtape)
And the dread vibes get ratched up significantly by Komonazmuk, who is one of the very, very few refugees from drum’n’bass to really get dubstep in my opinion. Part of the HENCH crew, he’s got form, having had a string of releases on Moving Shadow, Tech Itch, Hard Leaders and his own imprint Ice Minus Recordings. This tune goes just great with Roll Deep’s yardie flow special, here cut up to fit. Another great moment, especially the way it flows into…

40:55 Coki: Tortured /Ruff Sqwad: Down
Every grime MC’s favourite dubstep tune to toast over, so it had to be Roll Deep to start, and a Ruff Sqwad classic to finish! Some great jazz intervals with the combination and one hell of a climax, the mix just goes on and on, with Cloaks bassline gettin more and more syncopated as it goes on, Trim’s string riff glidin over the top… mental

43:44 Cloaks: Too On Top (CDR) / Trim: But I Still (Soul Food Volume 1 mixtape)
Yes yes yes! More metallic, grinding industrial funk from Cloaks – it just sends me into spasms every time I hear it! MASSIVE swing when you lay Trim on top too. This is a good bit.

47:17 Loefah: Voodoo (666) / Lord Finesse: Check the Method (DJ Premier Scratch Mix)
Voodoo was a bit of disappointment when it came out (should it have come out?) but it’s full power comes out in combination with an MC. And, well, it wouldn’t have been right to combine Loefah with grime, not when it’s just soooooooo tempting to layer his beloved hip-hop over it. I had a bit of a Premier fixation at the start of the year and just fell in love with this tune, which was on an early Premier mixtape. I’m always telling Loe he’s the DJ Premier of dubstep so the combo was made and I really like it.

51:07 Loefah: Natural Charge (Grievous Angel Edit) (CDR)
Surely this will come out some time? (Assuming he’s finished it!) I’ve had this a long time, over a year, and it goes just great with Lord Finesse. I really stretched it out though – that one note 808 bass drop is just addictive.

54:24 Loefah: Disko Rekah (Deep Medi) / Cluekid & Cotti: Sensi Dub
This mix was going to be mostly vinyl mixing until Paul Nomos / Autonomic persuaded me he really wanted to hear some of the unreleased stuff in a computerised mix, and what he say goes, so the vinyl mix will have to wait for a bit. This is the only bit that survived – it’s just got a few bits of the Disko Rekah CDR in there. Some intense EQ refixing going on here. There’s a whole story about Disko Rekah and how it ended up on Deep Medi but this isn’t the time to tell it!

59:41 Cluekid & Cotti: Flashback (White) / Ruff Sqwad: When Itz On (Guns and Roses Mixtape)
Banging acid mentalism from CLueKid and Cotti here, going a long way from the dancehall refixing they’re famous for, and it’s just mental! Cuts into and out of Ruff Sqwad’s classic

63:07: Skream: Losing Control (Edit) / Trim: In the Ghetto
Yet more acid mentalism, this time from Skream! I cut this up so much, I love it, it’s so banging, we’re heading deep into acid techno territory but with wobble bass and Trim whispering in your ear and fucking with your head. Pogo-tastic – anyone who thinks dubstep is all slovenly monging should hear this.

65:28 Grievous Angel: Culture Killer (CDR) / Trim: Wot Part One / JME: 96 Bars of JME
Probably my favourite of my own tunes, here massively pitched up so its ragga techno rhythms are utterly pounding, working neatly round Trim’s bleeps. But this track takes on a whole other aspect when JME comes in. This is the peak of the mix. There’s so much space in JME’s tune you think it’s just laid back but it there’s intense deep funk going on and that intensity really comes out when you put it over something uptempo.

70:39 TRG Vs Selector DubU: Losing Marbles (CDR)
Another incredibly fresh tune – it was only finished a few days before closing out the mix. It’s ragga techno but a lot deeper than my stuff, easing the heaviness down a bit.

73:37 Kode9: Magnetic City
And now the long drift down into silence. The Nine’s utterly spellbinding melodica journey kills it every time and here it is dubbed to fuck. Includes the ghostly presence of Flow Dan drifting through the background, from Loefah’s remix of The Bug’s Jah War, bringing the MC presence in the mix to a natural conclusion.

78:33 ENDS