Dub World Wise

A discussion has sprung up on dubstep’s forum suggesting that the scene’s been in a bit of a lull recently, something which I agree with to a certain extent. Personally I’ve been a bit bored of hearing the same tunes over and over again but I guess that's a lot to do with the fact that I’ve spent so much time within the scene this year. From an international point of view however, things couldn't be better. The forum is chokka with heads from all over the world talking about the scene, and there are new nights springing all around our spinning globe:

France

Paris' Sonic Design managed to reach the last DMZ of which he took some pics. He also writes for www.rootspeople.com where you can read about the Rephlex Party's out there, a review of Dubstep Allstars Vol.2 in French as well as plenty of DnB news.


Germany

Germany’s Orson has been following the scene for a couple of years now and has recently played in Berlin and Dusseldorf which he reports was a strange event due to the fact that he was on after a band who played Ramone's covers. Thankfully, he still had great fun as the whole place was rattling from the bass and he had lots of people asking what the incredible music was, his comments reminding me how wonderful it is to hear dubstep for the first time.

Belgium
Bugklinik

Netherlands
Next months Dubstep at a place called Risk sees South London in the form of Kode9 & Space Ape, Loefah and Digital Mystikz reachin Tilburg

Spain

Rascal Beatz@xpressing club, c/Valencia 196, Barcelona on Friday 25 Nov. From midnight till 03.00. Free entry.

23hz - dubplate session
Howie Roach - bass n beat underground 4 beginners set
Josh Brent - electronica + leftfield set

Check www.dostreceradio.net/index.html for radio shows and more.

Portugal
Check www.conspira.com for Portugal updates and links to UNIDADE SONORA, “a weekly live transmission dedicated to the coldest flavors of BrokenBeat, Grime, Breakstep, Dubstep and beyond...”

Every Wednesday live at RIIST, from 23h>00h [GMT]
It repeats every Saturday at RIIST from 21h>22h [GMT]

Last weeks tracklisting:
00:00 - Intro
00:22 - BOXCUTTER - Brood (12" Hotflush)
06:13 - KODE9 FT. THE SPACE APE - Kingstown [vox]
(10" Hyperdub)
10:30 - COKI - Officer (12" DMZ)
14:34 - LOEFAH - Truly Dread (12" Promo - Tempa)
18:37 - PRESSURE - Money Honey [remix] (12" Hyperdub)
23:50 - SKREAM - Request Line (12" Promo - Tempa)
28:22 - PLASTICMAN - Cha (12" Terrorhythm)
32:41 - ROLL DEEP - Heat Up [instrumental] (12" Relentless)
37:44 - KAHIL EL'ZABAR & THE KEMIT SOURCES - Our Time Is
Now [IG CULTURE remix] (12" Deeper Soul)
45:18 - YELLOWTAIL FT. IAN FISHER - What's Real (CDR-Dub)
49:25 - BASEMENT JAXX - Do Your Thing [SEIJI remix] (12" Promo)
54:54 - DIRTSMAN & MISSY ELLIOTT - Get Impeccable
[HEATWAVE remix] (7" Punchline)
58:44 - BURIAL - Broken Home (12" Hyperdub)

[ TUNE IN ] COPY/PASTE to REAL PLAYER or iTUNES
[LOW - 32Kb/s] http://ri3.ist.utl.pt:8000/riist32.mp3.m3u
[MEDIUM - 64Kb/s] http://ri3.ist.utl.pt:8000/riist.mp3.m3u
[HIGH - 128Kb/s] http://ri3.ist.utl.pt:8000/riist128.mp3.m3u


Czech Republic
www.webpark.cz/audio-virus/?X is home to Prague based Priapus and E.S.P. Kode9 recently played out there, and I hear from many UK artists of all genres that the Prague dancefloors go off everytime they play.

Hungary
Big Ups to Budapest's Dubster, spreading the sound to a whole new audience: http://dubster.blogspot.com

Stateside

Benny Ill and Dinesh are working together in an NYC studio as reported by Blackdown. I received word of their new projects from Dinesh who also sent me a link to his Tasty Grits myspace site where you can hear some impressive new Grime and Hip-Hop beatz. copy and paste: http://www.myspace.com/tastygritsmusic

www.signalstation.com is a great place to keep up with US happenings. Most recently he’s posted up photos of the recent Grime City party where Joe Nice dropped in from Baltimore to loosen up the dancefloor. I found this link to a San Francisco Bay Guardian article that gives a good idea of how Grime and Dubstep is being received over there, with a focus on the Superheroes and Villains party that I mentioned couple of weeks ago.

Baltimore's enigmatic Joe Nice has been with the scene for many years now and was one of the first DJ's I locked into when I got into it. A true souljah, amongst his many gigs, he's the first U.S DJ to have played at DMZ and one of the only ones to have done Rinse FM. You can access his world via www.joenice.blogspot.com and www.gourmetbeats.com Check some of his radio shows and mixes at www.dubstep.blogspot.com

Shouts also to BIG crew who are reppin Grime and Dubstep in San Fran proppa. Megatron is partial to sending me AIM updates but you can check him at www.megatron.com which contains a wealth of audio and visual material for your pleasure.
www.riddim.ca is an online dubstep and grime community set up a few months ago. Based in Canada, it now has nearly 300 members and features a great archive of interviews, mixes and general chat via their forum.

Amongst the diverse sets that San Fran's Kid Kameleon and Ripley play is a whole lof of dubstep and grime. Ripley (who's surely one of the first female DJ's pushing dubstep?) has also recently started a new column for http://sonicheart.com/ so say hello to that too.

Also worth checking is www.dubliminal.net/words.html where you can find links to radio shows, photos and flyers and www.dubquixote.blogspot.com, home to promoter of Dubwar, DQ whose recent announcment of DUB WAR 3 feat Joe Nice and Kode9 has had me itchin to get out there.

Finally, if you can get hold of XLR8R magazine, you’’ll find a guest review by Loefah alongside some portraits I took a while back. Next months issue sees the Hotflush boys on guest duties.


Brazil

Bruno Belloumini is pretty much the ambassador for all things Dubstep in Brazil.

A DJ, producer and promoter his site www.submusica.com promises fresh, new forms of music and like the others is worth checking for audio links as well as great photos of great looking people.

BRUNO BELLUOMINI (SAO PAULO, BRAZIL) TOP 10 GRIME, DUBSTEP, BREAKSTEP CHART 1ST WEEK OCTOBER 2005

1. Dogzilla & Danny Weed "Hello" OT
2. Ruff Sqwad "Together Jumping" Ruff Sqwad
3. Moving Ninja "Shellcode" Tectonics
4. N Double A "Monsta Riddim" Mastermind
5. Majestic MC "Kebab Riddim" Maj Funk
6. Fumin "War" UD
7. Emalkay "Missile" Morphic Sounds
8. Slaughter Mob "Tinji" Boka
9. Emalkay "Rain" Morphic Sounds
10. Scuba "Timba" Hotflush

Australia
Everyone needs good neighbours, my favourite Aussie neighbour being Kodama who runs www.southernsteppa.com Check it for interviews with Joe Nice, our very own SLT Mob, Digital Mystikz, Martin Clark and mixes including a recent one by Cogent who spent some time down there.