Anyone who's interested in delving into two-step -- pat dismissals like
"it's the hip-house of the 90s" aside -- should check out the excellent
sites www.hyperdub.com, for interviews and criticism, and www.dubplate.net
for recent and upcoming tracks. Both sites feature underground styles of
two-step that are worlds away from the commercialized crap that's given the
genre such a bad name for so many. Try Horsepower Productions or any of the
Tempa records, which apply a dark, dubby aesthetic that's not so far off
from plenty of dubby, German minimal techno; or try Zinc (aka Jammin,
Runnin) for a tougher breakbeat aesthetic that'll appeal to d'n'b heads.
***
Gonna have to resumup/retype since MSIMN crapped the bed (I love my eMachine
and the guy who stole my previous computer).
"Tales From the Bass Side" - not as interesting as the description or the
name merited.
Most of the Tempa stuff, not much to it. "Fists of Fury" was good, though.
Soulo and Steve Feelgood, "True" - eh, I hear this on the Latin House Party
show on the local community station. I'm not seeing that it's that great,
it's alright for a pop club tune, I suppose. The silly melody at the start
and later... too cheesy. I guess it gets better when they bring the
counterpoint in.
El-B, "Cover Me" - NAFF!
"Pussy Track" (darkside rmx) by Naughty on Naughty3 - like it, like it a
lot. Could do without the patois, though. I like patois sometimes, but all
this stuff about "bloodclots" and "bombaclots" has always reeked of the
inherent misogyny/homophobia I've perceived from the jungle/DnB scene.
Beat Freaks, "Speaker Track" - alright, but still not much to it.
DJ Zinc, "Treats" - nice melody sample. The other DJ Zinc track left me
bored.
Horsepower, "To The Beat" - the watery washes of synth on this are nice, the
beats are a little off kilter fro the norm on this one, it might could grow
on me.
Best thing I can say about Tempa is that if those are really the labels they
put on the records, then that's very cool.
"Log On" by Horsepower and somebody else... yuck.
"Fire" by Unknown - yeesh, sounds like slowed down gabber with a Michael
Jackson feel. It gets a little better as you go in, but scared me off early.
"Planet Vol 2" by Reservoir Dogs is alright - I know somewhere on the page
before the crash I had listened to something that reminded me of "Raincry"
by God Within, and of course I liked that.
I dunno, dubplate.net didn't exactly convince me of the genius of 2step, but
then I suppose I couldn't point most of you to Skint and expect you to like
that, either.
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