Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 9:00pm
Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 7:00am
The Hifi
125 Swanston St
Melbourne, Australia
Skream:
Croydon's musical wonderkid (not the melbourne one!). At 15 he discovered making music. Five years later he's changed the course of UK urban music, having helped build the foundations of London's most exciting new musical style, dubstep. But he's barely started yet: because right now, Skream is an artist on fire.
Skream's story begins in Croydon, in secondary school year 11. He wasn't getting on with teachers and they weren't getting on with him: but he was getting on with his music. But two friendships cemented then would start him onto the path to musical success.
First he met Benga, another talented Croydon kid who was starting to make music. Then he met Hatcha, soon to be one of the most influential and pioneering DJs in urban music. Around 2000 Benga and Skream set about building on the early dark garage flavours that were to be found on the pirate airwaves around Croydon. Through Hatcha's sets at club Forward» and releases on the seminal Big Apple label, they were about to create a new phase of dubstep.
At first Skream specialised in one flavour of dubstep: dark. His clipped, techy minimal style became a trademark sound. Long before grime existed, it reflected dark murky streets and sinister nights, the sound of decaying London and its frustrated communities, stuck out in satellite towns and sink estates with nothing but a PC and freely available software to channel their frustration into. Stuck in front of a PC for days on end, that's exactly what Skream did.
Then two years ago Digital Mystikz burst onto the dubstep scene, expanding the sound with new flavours and vivid colours. Skream became even more inspired. It not like he wasn't prolific already - rumour has it he's made over 1500 tracks - but out poured a host of bright new tracks from the wonderkid. "Indian remix" took him into trippy Asian territories, "Cheeky..." into Arabia, his unreleased mixes of Sunship fused Jamaican dancehall smut with hooky Kraftwerk melodies. "Smiling Face" broke out cheerful reggae skanks on dancefloors.
But his biggest toooooooon was yet to come. Enter "Midnight Request Line" - on Tempa records - an anthemic explosion of electro arpeggios and dub sub-bass. It's a toooooooon you can sing along to: Skream has it as his own ringtone. When it got dropped by DJ Youngsta at club Forward» grime dons Wiley, Jammer and the rest of Roll Deep began to shock out, flashing their lighters out of hard earned respect. The flip of this mighty release is bassline boomer "I," an excursion into deep dub basslines and shifting cinematic textures.
Benga:
Imagine the first club you ever get into is, as you step inside, in the process of changing the face of urban music? Imagine you’re only 14 at the time, yet you’re already a producer. Well, Croydon dubstep star Benga doesn’t have to imagine: that is his life.
Age 14 the afro-haired producer went to his first club, Forward>> at London’s now defunct Velvet Rooms, the night widely acknowledged for founding the bassy UK garage hybrid, dubstep.
Having put in years of graft, Benga, now age 21, is a leading light in the rising global dubstep movement alongside his childhood friend, Skream. This year he drops his debut album proper for Tempa, provisionally entitled “Diary of an Afro Warrior,” after the mighty mane that sprouts from his head. “If I cut my afro off, I’d have to start again musically,” laughs Benga.
Aside from the best haircut in dubstep, Benga has a lot to be happy about. At 15 he released his debut 12” “Skank/Dose” on one of dubstep’s founding imprints, Big Apple. A&Red by one of the most influential DJs in dubstep, DJ Hatcha, the label was run out of the Croydon shop of the same name, the hangout for much of the early pioneers and future stars such as Artwork, Horsepower, Hatcha, Chef, Plastician and Skream.
For years Benga, alongside first Skream, then Loefah, Coki and Mala Digital Mystikz, built exclusive musical ammunition for DJ Hatcha. It was this material, aired by Hatcha alone at Forward>>, that propelled dubstep from UK garage offshoot to innovative genre in its own right
After early mentoring by Arthur from Artwork, Benga refined his trade working for a professional studio, linked to the biggest labels in the world. He produced for grime MCs such as Crazy Titch and Ghetto, before concentrating his output on dubstep in 2005.
Since then he’s had releases on electronic stables Planet Mu and Hotflush, self released his own CD and become a respected DJ in his own right, playing throughout Europe and Australasia. Now, all eyes are on Benga’s debut album proper for Tempa, not least because it contains this summer’s largest anthem in Aiya Nappa and Malia. Co-produced with Coki Digital Mystikz, the toooooooon “Night” is a hit not just with the dubstep heads, but with both grime and funky house crowd. With this between its pages, it sounds like the “Diary…” will be a must-read.
Sub-Bass are proud to present these 2 Dubstep heavyweight's together for one night only at the Hifi Bar on January 3rd. With an extra Bass heavy soundsystem for the night, this will be a great gig to start the year off with! With some of Melbourne's best local Dubstep talent to supprt - Bass Bin Laden, Camo, The Shredder & Baron Von Rotton... get your tickets from thehifi.com.au, Missing Link or Polyester.
kudos to the organisers
Fantastic night. and holy shiiite soooooo many people.
