Written by: Jason Botha and Yetunde Dada
Urban dictionary defines dubstep as a number of things. The music is dirty, hard hitting, intense and for lack of a better word orgasmic.
The dubstep scene is really gaining popularity in South Africa. A few years ago it more of an underground scene,but lately the music has crawled out of its soundcloud/myspace shackles and come to see the light. To this end more parties and gigs are featuring South African dubstep DJs. HAEZER, Double-Adapter and Sibot are already big headlining acts and can draw massive crowds to watch them perform. Dubstep has evolved to a place where it's not just the indie or alternative crowds that experience the music. Unlike say a few years ago when the electro/dubstep scene was home to creepy goth kids who had to find a new way to hang out since Zeplins (a local goth nightclub/hang out spot) closed down.
A few local artists to look out for:
Double-Adapter [link]:
The writers of this article are quite biased towards this duo so unfortunately this article cannot be completely fair in terms of discussing all artists mentioned equally. These guys are amazing, there is no other way to put it. To prove this you can check them out for yourself. At the moment they have free mixtapes up online. The best of which is mixtape 4 because it includes songs by Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones and a great rip off of the famous Duck Sauce song "Barbara Streisand". This isn't to say the the music is not original. The group just use short excerpts from various songs. The problem with the mixtapes is that no one knows which song is which as they all just flow into one long song unlike most other artists who have set songs in a more traditional sense.
Probably the country's most influential Electro/Dubstep artist Haezer has toured and collaborated with many European artists for his first few releases. Without the help of the European influences it is doubtful that anyone would have the drive to carry on and pioneer the genre like this man has done. Most of his tracks so far have been released for free download and he has an EP for his track "It's Not Our Fault" which includes his original mix and includes 5 remixes from influential DJslike F.O.O.L. Unfortunately he is focussed on tours and singles at the moment so seeing an album (ie. commercial success in South Africa) is still somewhat of a farfetched future plan.
Crossman and Phizicist [link]:
A fresh on the scene young DJ duo who have released two of their tracks as free downloads on their facebook page [link]. The songs are remixes of popular songs and you can see that they're still new to the scene and are experimenting with their unique sound. They regularly perform in collaboration with Dubstep SA and have been seen at Grietfest.
Tommy Gun [link]:
Tommy Gun features elements of electro house and dubstep in his sets. He is based in Cape Town but tours around South Africa for specific events like Oppikoppi and the Annual Griet Halloween Party. He is accompanied by an amazing dancer, Danielsun, who will dance in front of his DJ booth for his entire set.
South African dubstep has established places and events that you can attend to experience the amazing vibe and listen to the DJs. They are: Ramfest (March), Oppikoppi (August), Rocking the Daisies (October) and parties hosted by Dubstep South Africa, Griet and We-Are-Awesome. The best of these is probably Griet, an events company that coordinates events in Gauteng and Cape Town areas. You can follow them on twitter: @Griet_SA. A regular place here in Pretoria is Arcade Empire, a relatively new venue which has been used pretty much exclusively for live music and crazy parties. In Johannesburg you will find Town Hall. Griet has a Young Blood brand which consists of upcoming DJs and use one of the stages at Town Hall to showcase them. Town hall also has a Science Frikshun stage for drum n bass artists and a main stage for dubstep acts. Town Hall has hosted two of Griet's major events this year, Grietfest and the annual Griet Halloween party. Take note of Grietfest because it is South Africa's only pure electrofestival.
Internationally, Dubstep has become commercial, and commercial music (according to Haezer) is dead! Popular artists include: Deadmau5, Skrillex, Flux Pavilion, Magnetic Man, Noisia and Chase & Status. Even old players in the game such as Benny Benassi (famous for Satisfaction, released in 2003) have dabbled in dubstep to widen their reach. The advent of Lady Gaga, who makes use of an electro pop style, can be said to have sparked the electronic music revolution back in 2008. Since then more and more artists worldwide have turned to include electronic beats in their songs. This effect has spilled over into genres that wouldn't have normally needed the electronic factor such as hip-hop as seen with Timbaland. The electronic effect has also deepened from plain pop beats to the dubstep bridges and beats that are seen today. Something rather shocking is Britney Spears' "Hold it against me". She has tried to infiltrate her genre with something original and although the dubstep influence is subtle it is still there, she uses dubstep to make her song and album extremely popular by making her fans think they have become 'cool' by listening to this 'new' genre of music.
In the US, dubstep has even infiltrated dancing television programs, series and movies. This year saw So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew featuring dubstep. There is a specific way of dancing to dubstep, called isolations. Isolations in dance consist of moving one part of the body while keeping the rest still. There is focus on clean and precise movements while creating pictures with the body. Melanie Moore and Sasha Mallory on So You Think You Can Dance (Season 8) did a jazz performance to a dubstep song and got a standing ovation [link]. In terms of movies, dubstep was present in Step Up 3D. There is a scene that features dubstep and the group that danced in the scene did the isolations [link]. So dubstep has evolved, or rather been accepted by mainstream pop culture.
Dubstep as a genre has come a long way from its beginnings to where it is now internationally and locally. We’ll probably see big things happening over the next few months in the local scene, especially after all the hype of the deadmau5 gig in December. Until then just keep dubstepping.
The dubstep scene is really gaining popularity in South Africa. A few years ago it more of an underground scene,but lately the music has crawled out of its soundcloud/myspace shackles and come to see the light. To this end more parties and gigs are featuring South African dubstep DJs. HAEZER, Double-Adapter and Sibot are already big headlining acts and can draw massive crowds to watch them perform. Dubstep has evolved to a place where it's not just the indie or alternative crowds that experience the music. Unlike say a few years ago when the electro/dubstep scene was home to creepy goth kids who had to find a new way to hang out since Zeplins (a local goth nightclub/hang out spot) closed down.
A few local artists to look out for:
Double-Adapter [link]:
The writers of this article are quite biased towards this duo so unfortunately this article cannot be completely fair in terms of discussing all artists mentioned equally. These guys are amazing, there is no other way to put it. To prove this you can check them out for yourself. At the moment they have free mixtapes up online. The best of which is mixtape 4 because it includes songs by Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones and a great rip off of the famous Duck Sauce song "Barbara Streisand". This isn't to say the the music is not original. The group just use short excerpts from various songs. The problem with the mixtapes is that no one knows which song is which as they all just flow into one long song unlike most other artists who have set songs in a more traditional sense.
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Double-Adapter (left) vs. HAEZER (right) at Grietfest 2011
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Crossman and Phizicist [link]:
A fresh on the scene young DJ duo who have released two of their tracks as free downloads on their facebook page [link]. The songs are remixes of popular songs and you can see that they're still new to the scene and are experimenting with their unique sound. They regularly perform in collaboration with Dubstep SA and have been seen at Grietfest.
Tommy Gun [link]:
Tommy Gun features elements of electro house and dubstep in his sets. He is based in Cape Town but tours around South Africa for specific events like Oppikoppi and the Annual Griet Halloween Party. He is accompanied by an amazing dancer, Danielsun, who will dance in front of his DJ booth for his entire set.
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| Tommy Gun and Danielsun at Oppikoppi 2011 |
South African dubstep is not popular on local radio stations but this will probably change over the next few months with the growing popularity of the international artists. That coupled with the fact that the major players have all seemed to be progressing at a similar rate in terms of content and skill which means that when these guys release CD's we're going to get loads amazing music which will have had more than sufficient live music exposure. Along with that Double Adapter is set to release their first music video for the song "Eat You Alive", it should be aired on MK. Hopefully all of these factors will lead to local radio play.Local dubstep has grown to include sub-genres such as: electro trash (made popular by Double-Adapter), bass rap (P.H. Fat) and electro house (Tommy Gun). Electro trash contains the hard and fast beats of dubstep but is coupled with heavy metal. Bass rap uses slow dubstep beats as backing music and artists rap along to the beats. Electro house is house music that has progressed to include dubstep; music from electro house tends to be less intense as compared to mainstream dubstep.
South African dubstep has established places and events that you can attend to experience the amazing vibe and listen to the DJs. They are: Ramfest (March), Oppikoppi (August), Rocking the Daisies (October) and parties hosted by Dubstep South Africa, Griet and We-Are-Awesome. The best of these is probably Griet, an events company that coordinates events in Gauteng and Cape Town areas. You can follow them on twitter: @Griet_SA. A regular place here in Pretoria is Arcade Empire, a relatively new venue which has been used pretty much exclusively for live music and crazy parties. In Johannesburg you will find Town Hall. Griet has a Young Blood brand which consists of upcoming DJs and use one of the stages at Town Hall to showcase them. Town hall also has a Science Frikshun stage for drum n bass artists and a main stage for dubstep acts. Town Hall has hosted two of Griet's major events this year, Grietfest and the annual Griet Halloween party. Take note of Grietfest because it is South Africa's only pure electrofestival.
Internationally, Dubstep has become commercial, and commercial music (according to Haezer) is dead! Popular artists include: Deadmau5, Skrillex, Flux Pavilion, Magnetic Man, Noisia and Chase & Status. Even old players in the game such as Benny Benassi (famous for Satisfaction, released in 2003) have dabbled in dubstep to widen their reach. The advent of Lady Gaga, who makes use of an electro pop style, can be said to have sparked the electronic music revolution back in 2008. Since then more and more artists worldwide have turned to include electronic beats in their songs. This effect has spilled over into genres that wouldn't have normally needed the electronic factor such as hip-hop as seen with Timbaland. The electronic effect has also deepened from plain pop beats to the dubstep bridges and beats that are seen today. Something rather shocking is Britney Spears' "Hold it against me". She has tried to infiltrate her genre with something original and although the dubstep influence is subtle it is still there, she uses dubstep to make her song and album extremely popular by making her fans think they have become 'cool' by listening to this 'new' genre of music.
In the US, dubstep has even infiltrated dancing television programs, series and movies. This year saw So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew featuring dubstep. There is a specific way of dancing to dubstep, called isolations. Isolations in dance consist of moving one part of the body while keeping the rest still. There is focus on clean and precise movements while creating pictures with the body. Melanie Moore and Sasha Mallory on So You Think You Can Dance (Season 8) did a jazz performance to a dubstep song and got a standing ovation [link]. In terms of movies, dubstep was present in Step Up 3D. There is a scene that features dubstep and the group that danced in the scene did the isolations [link]. So dubstep has evolved, or rather been accepted by mainstream pop culture.
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| How to dubstep dance |
Due to this growing popularity locally we've seen a huge facebook petition by means of an event which asked the simple question 'If deadmau5 were to come to South Africa would you attend'. After the event gained something like one hundred thousand attendees I guess the artist couldn't refuse. Tickets went on sale and sold out in a week. And this is no Mickey Mouse concert either, the deadmau5 gig has drawn bucket of people already, keeping up with the likes of Coldplay and Kings of Leon who came to South Africa in October this year. This shows that the genre definitely does attract fans and judging by the ticket prices (which are on par with those of the aforementioned bands) it is evident that the genre is definitely on par with more commercial music.
Dubstep as a genre has come a long way from its beginnings to where it is now internationally and locally. We’ll probably see big things happening over the next few months in the local scene, especially after all the hype of the deadmau5 gig in December. Until then just keep dubstepping.
