who's got?

The way I battle/I battle like I’m in Iraq.
The way you battle/you battle like you’re a beginner, star…

-- Ghetto, "Who's Got?"

So on the whole I don’t, and I won’t, be reviewing my own gigs: come along if you can, but me reviewing them just doesn’t feel right. However last Sunday was a special one for Dusk and I, as it was the launch party of our debut album at the very club that inspired us to make music.

Now I know when you stick your head over the parapet, you can expect to get shot at, and you know what? It’s a fair cop. But check this little beauty of an email I received on Monday…

Sunday set at FWD‏
From: XXX (XXX@gmail.com)
Medium risk: You may not know this sender.
Mark as safe | Mark as unsafe
Sent: 14 July 2008 19:04:11
To: martin_clark7@hotmail.com

Hey,
FWD was quite strange last night: One Man and Joker were fantastic - Joker's set really peaked up at the end, and I was looking forward to some Blackdown / Dusk beats to round it off perfectly.

I know you've been a leading proponent of FWD moving back to Sunday night, and returning to its dubby / non-wobbly roots, and I've got a lot of time and respect for that position. I also recognise that good DJs try to stay dogmatically true to their own brand and style. In your recent interview with Appleblim he said Sarah gave him the advice:

"don't play to the crowd [...] you're here because you have a certain
selection and taste"

However, like many things, I believe compromise is the way forward.
Yes, a DJ needs to carve a niche for himself, and develop a unique
sound. However, this does not preclude giving the crowd what they
want. It's about responding to the atmosphere and vibe in your own
way, which is personal, and yet pleasing.

Unfortunately, I have to say you really missed this mark last night.
Joker's set finished with that banging Roni Size remix, and the crowd
was really hyped up. We were all expecting a more laid back, dubby set from you, but to go from that energy down to nothing was disastrous. The final nail was not to grow the set's energy at all, leaving it at the "warm milk and slippers" level for the full 30 minutes that I stayed for.

I don't know if the metaphorical and actual lights were shining in
your eyes too much for you to see, but the dance floor ground to a
halt, with the only movement being that of people leaving.

I don't know if it was just a bad set or if you actually achieved what
you set out to do last night. If it's the former, then I wish you the
best of luck for next time. If it's the latter, then I'd ask you to
limit your crusade for a return to the roots of dubstep to your blog,
and when you're playing the closing set in a busy club full of paying
punters, give them what they want, because unfortunately, they don't like what you've got.

Well, well, well. Seems General Doughnut here thinks I should “give people what I want” by “limit[ing] your crusade for a return to the roots of dubstep to your blog.” Alright mate, you want to have it right here, you got it…

Let’s take it blow by blow. First para, nothing to see here: move on. Second para:

“I know you've been a leading proponent of FWD moving back to Sunday night, and returning to its dubby / non-wobbly roots, and I've got a lot of time and respect for that position. I also recognise that good DJs try to stay dogmatically true to their own brand and style.”

Ah OK, nice. We’re on the same page. DJs Lead and not follow. Moving FWD>>, never backwards eh?

However, like many things, I believe compromise is the way forward.
Yes, a DJ needs to carve a niche for himself, and develop a unique
sound. However, this does not preclude giving the crowd what they
want. It's about responding to the atmosphere and vibe in your own
way, which is personal, and yet pleasing.

Ah. Now hold on. So it’s about carving your own niche, being unique and responding in your own way, but somehow compromise is the way forward?

Now, let’s not pull any punches here so Junior Spesh here doesn’t get the wrong chicken in a box. When it comes to music, especially dubstep, I absolutely, 100% do not fucking want anyone who’s anyone right now to do any more fucking compromising. Now, of all times in dubstep, please could everyone just not compromise, whatsoever, about anything? Burial, Kode, Mala, Shackleton, Martyn, Zomby, Joker, Sully, Guido, Darkstar, Ikonika, Appleblim, Quest, Starkey, TRG: could you all please just do you, to the max.

There should be no pandering to Johnny-come-latelys, no getting bogged down in formula, no forgetting your lines when you get on the big stage, no policy U-turns now we got elected - otherwise what the hell was all that time spent in the wilderness for, when we could have fucked off to breaks and toured Australia’s superclubs with Tayo?

Cos this is the thing, right. Dubstep’s got it superclub moment right now – hand up even I’ve played a few of them myself this year (who would have thought it!). Dubstep’s finally got the audience it deserved, but if I’m honest, quite a few people who got us to the main stage have found themselves bricking it while looking into the bright lights.

It’s been a great source of personal pain to see innovators deviate from what made them exciting and vital. I’ve had to deal with it and move on and accept that things have changed. So those left who still have “it,” please: no aligning “compromise” with “forward,” or is that Forward>>, motion.

"Unfortunately, I have to say you really missed this mark last night."

OK fine, that’s your view: fair comment.

"Joker's set finished with that banging Roni Size remix,"

He didn’t actually, but I’ll let you off.

"and the crowd was really hyped up."

They weren’t actually – I was in it until 5 minutes before my set half worrying that they weren’t going off to “Holly Brook Park” and “Snake Eater” and feeling responsible because I’d booked him to play, but half thinking “fukkit, this is FWD>> and people are committed to exiting new sounds. Stop worrying.”

"We were all expecting a more laid back, dubby set from you, but to go from that energy down to nothing was disastrous. The final nail was not to grow the set's energy at all, leaving it at the "warm milk and slippers" level for the full 30 minutes that I stayed for."

Well done Police Chief Wiggum, better call for extra doughnuts and cancel the backup because this is a prize piece of detective work: you came to see a 2 hour set and judged its entirety on 30 mins. You going for detective of the month were ya?

Now sure, we were the last set of the night, which you might expect to come a little harder but consider the circumstances. It was a) Sunday night b) our own launch party c) a two hour set and d) Forward>> - a place committed to new sounds not full of “’ave you got ‘Cockney Thug’ mate?” types.

We started with an Appleblim anthem, Pev’s “Waterfalls remix,” a DJ you seem to rate. We mixed it into our own “Con/Fusion ft Farrah” which got rewound in Dub War in New York – and we were coming off the back of the Bomb Squad, not doing the warm up set. We played some of Grievious Angel’s 2step, not dis-similar to the garage you enjoyed Oneman playing, followed by my 2step remix of Martyn’s “Broken.”

I don't know if the metaphorical and actual lights were shining in
your eyes too much for you to see, but the dance floor ground to a
halt, with the only movement being that of people leaving.

But I’ll definitely give you it, it was a mellow start and we should have mixed quicker. So?

Here’s the thing right: if you want someone to rip the arse off it from the get go, go see someone else. Our thinking is twofold. Firstly, without the mellow, there’s no hard. Without the gentle, there’s no hectic. Without the quiet there’s no rowdy. Our sets build, because we don’t want to end up in some harder/faster contest that’ll lead dubstep into some 150bpm, zone-of-fruitless intensification (© Simon Reynolds) tear-out-competition that deadout genres like d&b now find themselves in.

Secondly - and this point is the main reason why I’ve chosen to blog this piece in public – this harder/faster issue goes to the heart of what dubstep promised to be and now is. Dusk and I were happy with the new dark swing era, the Velvet Room, Zed Bias, El-B, Horsepower era. Then Ghost imploded, Zed went broken and a new era began, which was dominated – production wise - by Skream, Benga, Mala, Coki and Loefah. And in came the halfstep era, which I admit, took some getting used to. For two or three years, literally no one but producers and friends of the DJs came to the gigs and the subzero temperatures of the dancefloor felt at first alien. But I began to appreciate them for being genuinely unique within dance music, that this form of urban music could exist that didn’t need to always “go off.” It was something unique at a time when a lot of other critics were saying dubstep was less than the sum of it’s influences.

Had no one come to the gigs indefinitely, it might have not worked out, but the concept was proven as Mala, Loefah and Coki brought scale to the equation, with the success of their night, DMZ.

Things have moved on from then, I fully appreciate that, and Dusk and I are not looking to win a halfstep contest these days: quite the opposite, as we’ve championed the return of percussive and 2step flavours, amongst other vibes yet have tunes that go far lower than these on the album – one has only one kick and one hat per bar! But I don’t see why this unique element in dubstep needs to be abandoned totally, just because the scene got popular, as truly unique elements are hard to come by, trust me

"when you're playing the closing set in a busy club full of paying punters, give them what they want, because unfortunately, they don't like what you've got"

If you’d stayed a little longer Wiggum, you’d have noticed our sets, as they tend to do, got a little wonkier and grimier. By the time I’d dropped the Durrty Goodz “Concrete Streets” accapella/Joker/grime anthems/UKG rollout mashup dub I’d spent week damaging my sleep patterns making last week, it was pullup time. “Focus VIP” and “Focus” did what they do and “Kuri Pataka” got the rewind.

Then we went old school, into Reach n Spin and then the pullup on the ultra deep Steve Gurley’s “Hotboys” vox which did something to Soulja I have never, ever seen. I double dropped Dizzee’s “I Luv U” into Skream’s “Request Line” which had hands reaching for both decks, as did the MAW mix of “Sounds of the Future”. By the time we rolled into “Splash’s “Babylon” and Omni Trio “Renegade Snares” I was literally, physically fighting people off to let the tune roll out, rather than get pulled again. And this isn’t me giving it the ‘bigun (NO EGO), this is simply a statement of the facts about our set.

So bruv, the way we battle we battle like we’re in Iraq: it’s going to be a long grind, but ultimately we got the big guns. The way you battle, you battle like you’ve been kept in the dark…