Bish Bash Bosh...

Bash
Originally uploaded by failme.

...What a night. A huge congrats to The Bug and Loefah whose first “Bash” not only saw an impressive first night turnout despite yesterday’s snow and ice, but also had an immensely refreshing vibe too it. A few people commented how good it felt to be at Plastic People and actually see a dancefloor gettin loose instead of the usual graveyard of dub zombies that it often is. To that I say true dat.

All three sets (Kode9, The Bug, Loefah) were a mash up of dub, bashment, ragga, dancehall, rockers, lovers, roots plus a small dose of dubstep to keep us junkies happy. All were hugely enjoyable, none more so than The Bug's expansive selection which was awash with good vibes thanks to his tag team of mc’s and toasters that included the aforementioned Seany T, Ras B, Smiley Culture and South London’s legendary Ricky Rankin.

To those that have emailed this morning, yes that was I on the door during Kode9 and Space Ape’s set (which sounded heavy even from upstairs), but the infinite multi-tasker spent the rest of the time skankin in her hardly worn heels during Loe and Pokes set, giggling at Seany T’s cheeky comments on the mic and wrestling with a merry DJ Pinch who’d made it all the way down from Brizzle for the night.

Good to see some familiar Fwd>> faces too... big up all in attendance. For those who didn’t make it, I recommend you walk your soles down to the next one cos I can confidentially guarantee that if you like your bass warm and easy, you’ll have a good time. Just make sure you’ve got your neurofen ready for the next day, it aint about the subsequent sore feet and hangover.

Drumz photos from the night will hopefully be online sometime in the future- in the meantime, click on the above image to see photos by Failme.

Bristol Catch Up

The next installment of Ruffnek Discotek is on the way headlined by the pseudo mysterious Scuba, Rooted Records is now online, and if you wanna know about last weekend's Dubloaded feat. Mystikz, Pokes, Pinch and Bubonic, go and see the original 'Dad blogger' ,Gutterbreakz for an honest, amusing review and photos by Jack Rampling. Looks and sounds truly heavy weight but then again, I expect no less from Brizzle which is continuously hot on the heels of London in it's quest to saturate the earth with sub bass.

Drumz of Canada

subtrac21
Originally uploaded by subtrac_images.

Like many Dubstep fans Canada's Sek was heavily involved with the dnb scene for a long time before discovering dubstep through a search for "instrumental grime' on www.dogsonacid.com. Two years on and he's spreading the sound via the Toronto based night Subtrac, the first of which on the 10th of Feb marked what his blog describes as 'a series of events for 2006 all of which aim keep things informal, unique and underground.'

For further info and online mixes check www.subtrac.blogspot.com or take a peek at Sek's photos. Canada and North America's online dubstep community can be found at www.riddim.ca

Universal love

The Earth from above
Originally uploaded by infinite.

"St Valentine never had much of a romantic life. Nor, as far as we know did he ever send or receive a single card. The love that filled his heart was of a higher, more spiritual kind”

With this in mind, my advice is not to restrict your love to a single red rose with a two day life span or a shop bought card that a thousand other people will own before tucking away into a box to be forgotten about. Like good art, good, healthy love knows no boundaries and cannot be measured. Why should it be any other way when even the very universe that we exist in is timeless, weightless, edgeless, vast? Like good music, love is infectious so try sending it to the world and in one form or another the world might send it back.

Happy hearts day x

Love-step?

Uncompromising sub bass, dark basement clubs, skunked out vibes, dub zombies, barking MC's that wanna merk ur mum.... all are stereotypes of Grime and Dubstep that no doubt scare people from reachin the nights before they've even heard the music. In my humble experience the sound draws out a mixed bag of emotions hence in the past I've practically moshed to Mystikz Neverland and New Life/Baby Paris, hugged a friend in elation during Loefah's Mud, and shed a tear during Kode9's Blues and Cyrus's Prayer. As for Youngsta's sets, well, I'm keeping schtum on that one but I'm pretty sure I aint the only woman who knows about their power. So with emotion in mind and Valentine's Day on the rainy horizon I'm interested in the relationship between the dark sounds of Dubstep and love in whatever form, leading me to pose the following question to the users of the dubstep forum:

"Any tunes you associate with your partner / special person? Any tunes filled you with such elation that you had to turn around and hug the person standing next to you on the dancefloor? Which tunes turn you on? Anyone gotten down and dirrty to a particular tune? Any dubstep babies been made yet? "

Whilst the topic produced an unsurprising lack of stories (afterall it's largely men on the forum), it did produce a nice chart of tunes that dubstep fans for whatever reason relate with feelings of lurve.... Funnily enough the majority of the chart is made up of two soundmen- Distance and Toasty. So if you wanna get jiggy tommorrow, you know where to turn. Thanks to all those who took part:

Dubstep forum Love-step chart

Dubchild- Take me
Pinch - Quawali
Dubchild - Voodoo
Distance - Swarm
Distance - Saints & Sinners.
Hawerchuk - Camel Toe
Skream - Lightning dub
Boxcutter - Gave dub
L Wiz - Habibi (means lover in arabic)
Digital Mystikz - Summer Dreams
Boxcutter - Sunshine
L-Wiz - Egyptic
Toasty - Like Sun
Search & Destroy - Candy Floss
D1 - Envy
Cyrus - Prayer (Distance rmx)
Various Productions - Hater
Wonder / Kano - What Have You Done
Toasty - The Knowledge
Distance - Saints & Sinners
Scuba - Dream
Toasty - Skinny

Marseille Connection

Road, Car, Ledge, Wall
Originally uploaded by infinite.

In 2001, the film French Connection inspired the Horsepower tune - Marseilles Connection and now despite Marseilles apparent lack of dubstep I've borrowed the title for this set of photos taken during a recent trip to France's second largest city.

Whilst the film focuses on the city's drugs and gangsters (no longer such a big problem), my trip focused quite simply on breathing after a long, hard year stuck in the big smoke. Luckily, Marseille's location on the Mediterranean sea allowed for plenty of fresh air, the french's tremendous hospitality allowed pure indulgence and the scenery allowed for a whole lot of wandering around with my camera in hand. The highlights? Coming across the work of Parisian based street artist 'Space Invader' who I've only ever seen in London before and being greeted by the huge and rather surreal image of Zidane that is slapped on to the side of some ye olde French buildings by the sea. Much love to 'French Franck' and his family for looking after me during my stay.

Marseille Connection >

Beware Narcissism