dis-integration has written the following articles:
In this latest edition of our regular column on UK bass sounds, we explore the ongoing prevalence of house and techno influences within dubstep in 2010, and chat to rising grime producer Becoming Real about his new EP, Spectre, eskibeat and recording with Trim.»
It’s hard not to wonder whether the reason Undeniable doesn’t quite match expectations is down to the tough benchmarks Terror Danjah's set in the past. »
The late raga master Pandit Pran Nath seems to have been mentioned an awful lot recently, what with last month’s long-awaited reis»
Unsurprisingly for such a consistent band, it’s as essential as anything they’ve ever released.»
Foreign Landscapes' similar tone throughout ensures it can quite quickly drift pass pleasantly without making too many demands on the listener.»
After taking a look at the last twenty years of London’s hugely influential Ninja Tune imprint, chatting to founding duo Coldcut about the way the label’s mode of operation has shifted over the years and how they’ve managed to stay alive and kicking where so many similar collectives have fallen by the wayside. This second half looks towards the future of the label, as it cements a host of new connections that further break down limiting stylistic notions of genre and aesthetic.»
London’s Ninja Tune imprint has recently celebrated its twentieth birthday, and has done so with a ludicrously packed boxset they’ve dubbed a ‘futurespective’: instead of focusing on what’s come before, they’ve elected to draw together a veritable who’s who of current dance music trends. Close relatives of the dubstep/post-dubstep explosion feature heavily – from Ninja stalwarts like The Bug to newly signed tracks from the likes of Zomby, Dorian Concept, Mala and Dark Sky – alongside earlier label classics twisted into bizarre shapes by a host of newer names. As well as offering a pretty comprehensive overview of what’s currently going on around the peripheral zones of UK dance music, it functions as a snub to those who tend to pigeonhole the label as just putting out slightly kitsch, stoned breaks and hip-hop variants. »
Reykjavík is a beautiful city. That’s the first thing that springs to mind when we arrive within its limits during the pitch black early hours, virtually nonexistent street light during the drive from the airport sending a striking vista of stars rolling out across the night sky. Despite Friday morning dawning cool and cloudy, it’s no less impressive in the morning light: old-style buildings and expanses of green are interspersed with modern touches and unfinished constructions, perhaps continued relics of the country’s monetary collapse. But for all that event’s devastating economic and social impacts, the city’s yearly Iceland Airwaves festival couldn’t feel more open and welcoming in 2010, with a diverse and friendly crowd and an almost unnerving volume of excellent music. »
Less one for the completists, more a set of insights into the mind of one of the UK’s most talented musicians, and an intriguing set of rough sketches for something far grander but so far out of earshot. »
As far as developments of musical genres (or subgenres...) go, The Nordic-originating skweee is a interesting as it is recent. We thought it'd be worth a deeper look at such an intriguingly-named type of music although, as it turns out, the music and its genesis is far more intriguing than its name. Rory Gibb investigates...»
In this edition we trace the twilight paths explored by Hyperdub's Darkstar. Their debut album North is released later this month, and has proved to be one of those deceptive records that quietly embeds itself in your consciousness and quickly becomes imp»
Gold Panda's music is packed with subtle eddies and at times touches on the sublime, but can come across as frustratingly transient, like glistening smoke that drifts from a shisha before vanishing into thin air as it rapidly diffuses.»
The Caliph’s Tea Party lacks the cohesive sense of spirituality that bound A Sufi & A Killer together.»
Salem's debut album King Night is the aural equivalent of that point where the body’s journey into sleep turns sinister.»
As well as featuring the usual round-up of notable releases, this second edition of the monthly column on UK bass music explores the ethereal world of LHF, a seven-strong London collective that evoke the heady spirit of the past while simultaneously looki»
Everything In Between is undoubtedly a step onward from its predecessors – it’s more developed in every way, though admittedly lacks a little of the sheer raw bite that made Weirdo Rippers in particular so exhilarating»
As part of our 10-week “DiS is 10!” celebration, we’ve asked 50 of our favourite people to tell us about one of their favourite albums of the past 10 years. This is not a best or "top" anything list, merely a list of individuals sharing one of their personal highlights. Here, DiS contributor and editor of our recent week of content dedicated to Dubstep (compiled here) Rory Gibb shares his choice...»
This week, for the first of 10 weeks celebrating Drowned In Sound’s tenth birthday, we put together a week of features about the explosion of sounds currently emerging from the scene surrounding dubstep. This list gathers together all of the articles for easy browsing, ranging all the way from interviews with the likes of Mala and FaltyDL though lists of labels and artists, to exclusive mixes and more.»
So, at the end of DiS’ Subliminal Transmissions week, which has largely been focusing on the development of sounds up to this point, it seems appropriate to open the floor a little and look forwards at what the future holds. The last eighteen months or so»
As the author of DiS’ regular (though admittedly lacking in recent update) Drowned In Bristol column and a rabid enthusiast of our city’s thriving underground music scene, the Subliminal Transmissions week seemed an ideal opportunity to put together a spi»
Out of everything featured this week, Thorsten Sideboard’s Highpoint Lowlife label stands out as an anomaly, not least because it has existed in some form since before what became known as dubstep had even begun to escape from its South London crucible. A»
For anyone keeping even a casual eye on the ongoing development of London’s post-garage music styles over the last few years, Martin Clark’s name ought to set bells ringing. His involvement with the scene surrounding Rinse FM and London’s bass culture run»
As part and parcel of this week’s set of features exploring the myriad sounds and styles that have emerged out of dubstep and grime, this is the first in a monthly column series that will look at the same regions. As the broader bracket of ‘bass music’ ha»
One of the most prohibitive – or exciting, depending on your perspective – aspects of UK urban dance music is dubplate culture: the circulation of unreleased tracks between tight-knit circles of producers, which then are played out at club nights. Prohibi»
Part of the brief for our tenth birthday celebrations was to cast a critical eye back over Drowned In Sound’s decade-long existence and draw out strands we felt had been overlooked, artists we felt were under appreciated or hadn’t been given due column in»
Convergent evolution, in biological terms, describes the process of two unrelated species evolving the same physical or behavioural traits due to similar environmental pressures. Say, hedgehogs and porcupines, which both evolved long spines for defence ag»
Even though dubstep’s popularity has certainly skyrocketed in the last year or so, in the wake of the Hotflush label’s successes and the continued rise of Skream, hosting a week of content like this on Drowned In Sound is still a real step into the unknow»
Subliminal Transmissions: An introduction Ten or so years ago, when this very site was the merest glimmer in the eye of an internet still largely running at 56k, UK garage was at the peak of its commercial power. Rising from the ashes of the original ra»
Rory Gibb reviews this year's edition of the Primavera of the east. Photos by Helen Boast.»
Rory Gobb meets Sumach Ecks - aka Gonjasufi - the man behind one of the year's most arrestingly idiosyncratic records, A Sufi and a Killer.»
