It all started off as an underground counter-cultural music scene in a town near South London. A new style of music was born, evolving from its pre-descending electronic genres, such as 2-step garage and grime.
Innovators of the genre began producing songs with heavy modulated bass sounds and futuristic sounding synthesizers, complemented by an assortment of digitally altered drum samples and other unearthly sounds and effects computing out to dubstep.
Ball State sophomore Jessica Mangano, a follower of the electronic dance music and dubstep movement, defines dubstep as “dirty, grimy and filthy.”
“Proper dubstep has quick, deep dance beats followed by gut-wrenching drops,” Mangano said. “People like dubstep because it’s not just music you can sing back to someone and have them feel it. It’s music that you have to feel inside your soul.”
Mangano went to more than a dozen electronic dance music concerts and events, catching popular EDM acts such as Bassnectar, Flux Pavillion, Steve Aoki and her personal favorite, Excision, which was the first EDM event she ever attended at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis.
According to Udubstep.com, “Ammunition Promotions, who run the club ‘Forward>>’ are thought to be the first to use the term ‘dubstep’ to describe this style of music.”
Ammunition Promotions and club Forward>>, which are both based out of London’s Soho, have received a lot of credit regarding dubstep culture, because it was one of the first venues devoted to playing the genre. The promotional company also gave the genre constant radio play on a station called “Rinse FM,” as well as managing the release of “Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1,” which has been stated by Udubstep.com to have “solidified the movement and established the dubstep name.”
SPIN magazine classified dubstep as being “the floor-shaking, multifaceted electronic music that began on South London pirate radio nearly a decade ago [that] now peppers U.S. pop radio.”
Since making its way over to the states, dubstep has evolved into something so much more than what early computer music pioneers of the genre could have ever envisioned. The bass heavy sub-genre of EDM has transformed drastically from its under-the-radar origins to it becoming prominent throughout more mainstream music outlets and media platforms throughout the world.
Michael Pounds, assistant director of the music technology program at Ball State, said dubstep and EDM made an impact on some of the electronic music classrooms on campus.
“For the past year or two, my students have been talking about it, posting it on Facebook and making music in my computer classes that is heavily influenced by [dubstep],” Pounds said.
He said he finds it exciting that his students have become more enthusiastic about being more knowledgeable about synthesizers and integrating electronics within their musical projects.
“It has opened their minds to a wider range of sounds that can be used in music,” Pounds said.
Although some originators and early followers of dubstep argue this evolved form of dubstep American fans favor is not the same genre that started off in the underground London scene, some still believe the recent popularity of the culture across the world is full of ideologies saturated with positivity, diversity and relativity.
“EDM and dubstep are so much more than just genres of music,” said Antonio Davis, an Indianapolis dubstep producer and disc jockey. “It’s a movement that is focused in spreading positive energy and could very possibly play a big part in bringing a paradigm shift in our country, which we truly need.”
Davis has been producing and spinning dubstep under stage name Ninja Toji at venues across Indiana for a year and a half and has become acquainted with the dubstep and EDM culture.
Attending a live EDM event is claimed by followers as something one must experience within a lifetime.
“If you have not attended any EDM festivals, I would recommend it for everyone regardless if you’re an electronica admirer or not,” said Huso Selimovic, a political science and criminal justice major.
