Martini & Jopparelli ’s Music Selections

Once again, let’s talk about some good contemporary music. After all, we cannot live forever in the past (even if it would be great to live -at least musically- in a never ending 60’s and 70’s limbo). Let’s keep an eye on what’s happening in electronic music nowadays. UK’s hottest producer, Skream from Tempa Records, is pumpin out the most original and innovative sound i’ve heard lately. His sound is called Dubstep. It originates from a contamination between Dub music and 2step (what else could you expect from that name? ).

Dubstep music is also called Grime, but i think Wikipedia has the perfect definition for this sound: “The dubstep sound is characterised by the prevalence of sub-bass, heavily syncopated rhythms, and reggae or movie samples, amongst other influences. Like another garage hybrid, grime, the genre uses dark sounds, but it differs from grime in being largely instrumental”.

Skream is now 21 years old and has been producing music since the age of 15: rumors say that he produced more than 1500 tracks. His biography on Tempa web site describes well the origins of his sound: “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.”

I think you can get this kind of mood if you listen his Essential Mix: there are moments of full paranoia but some passages make you emerge from those dark london suburbs and reach the sky in a tripude of psychedelic rainbows. He experiments very much also with the types of sounds he uses. Some of them are sort of alien sounds from another galaxy. I bet this mix is a perfect one to listen while you’re playing Quake 4 on your 42-inch screen: skream’s unusual blips and buzzer sounds could help you getting the right concentration for defeating the Stroggs’ alien army. I’ll try that mission as soon as possible.

In my previous post about vintage reggae tunes you got some serious dubs from the past. In this one, about 45 years later, you’ll realize how that style is still alive and still generating new forms of musical expression. The recipe is the same: sub bass, reverbs and delays. Skream is only 21, but he is standing on the shoulders of giants.

Listen SKREAM Essential Mix On Radio One! …42 killer tracks, 120 minutes as usual

(IF IT DOES NOT WORK, TRY THIS ALTERNATE LINK)

click “more” for full Tracklist:

1. Skream-Hedd Banger-Dub
2. Skream-Percression-Dub
3. Skream-Shake It-Dub
4. Skream-Hurt Them-Dub
5. Skream-Movin Snarez-Disfigured Dubz 001
6. Mark Ashken-Size 3 (Skreamix)
7. Skream N CLue Kid-SandSnake-Disfigured Dubz 001
8. Skream-Lemon-Dub
9. Warrior Queen-Take Time-Dub
10. Skream-Chest Boxin-Tempa
11. Skream-Dubbers Anonnymous2-Tempa
12. Skream-2D-Tempa
13. Zinc featuring Slarta John-Flim (Skreamix)-Dub
14. Coki-Untitled-Big Apple Music
15. Skream/Mala-Anti-Tapped-Dub
16. Unknown-Alicia-Promo
17. Skream-Nemesis-Dub
18. Skream-The Line-Dub
19. Skream-Tortured Soul-Tempa
20. Benga-Skunk Tip(Skreamix)-Tempa
21. Skream-Skwelcha-Dub
22. Skream-Sine-Us-Dub
23. Distance-Nightvision(Skreamix)-Dub
24. Black Ghost-Find Some way(Skream N Plastician Refix)-Southern Fried
25. Rusko-Jah Hova-Sub Soldiers
26. Skream-Losin Control-Tempa
27. Magnetic MAn-What’s Happenin?-Dub
28. Coki-BloodThirst-Dub
29. Skream-Wobble That Gut-Dub
30. Slazenger-8ateBall
31. Skream ft Warrior Queen-Check It-Tempa
32. Coki-SpongeBob-Big Apple
33. Skream-Oskillata-Dub
34. Skream-Murdera-Dub
35. Neon Hitch-Derek(BiPolarMen Refix)-The Beats
36. Skream-Make Me(DistanceRemix)-Dub
37. SeventeenEvergreen-Ensoniq(BiPolarMen Refix)-Dub
38. Skream-Krash-Dub
39. Skream-Midnight RequestLine-Tempa
40. Skream-C.R.O Dub-Dub
41. Klaxons-Not Over Yet(Skreamix)-EMI
42. Benga-Untitled