A step into the future

The honest truth is that Dubstep and Drum n Bass has consumed my sole and I'm currently unable to live without it and consider myself as theee biggest fan in South Africa. Yes that’s a very bold statement indeed, but wa'eva. I have good faith in the genres and think they will be around for ever.

I took the opportunity on Friday at a party at Fiction called “Not U2” to have a quick chat with the great Funafuji. I guess I should have taken down some notes as I can't remember much about the “interview”. I asked her about her plans for the future, knowing that she’s graduating this year from med-school, my worries were confirmed. Obviously stuff like that comes first in life. She says (in that cool accent of hers) that she’s not going to be gigging that often anymore but will definitely be making appearances at festivals and focusing on production. Very understandable!

IN MY OPINION, no-one comes close to Funafuji's talent, unique style and pure awesomeness when it comes to the art of DJing Dubstep at the moment. I have realised that our top DnB and Dub DJs have so many years of experience in their respective genres, and that's why they are so good!

What’s going to happen when the top dogs retire? What’s going to happen to the history stored on their vinyl? There are a lot of new guys in the scene, its growing so fast, but is it growing properly? Is money becoming more important than the music?

I would love to see these guys pass on their knowledge to worthy students and keep their legacies alive. Paying to learn how to DJ sucks.

Anyways back to the present!

Here's a mix by Funafuji. I was listening to it while writing this.

Zulu Chamber by DJFunafuji

Some events that shouldn't be missed:

*See You Next Wednesday FB event page - Wednesday @ The Assembly

STONE AGE CITIZENS
NISKERONE
GEORGE DANIEL
DUBLUSION

R10 for girls and R20 for guys.

BTW big respect to the guys behind this party! They took marketing to a new level. Perfect entry fee aswell :)

*Adventures In Bass FB event page - Saturday @ Club Voom Voom
MAGNUM HI-FI - GLITCH/UK BASS
REMY GOLD - GLITCH/DUBSTEP/UK BASS
WHITENITE - UK BASS/DNB
CARD ON SPOKES(LIVE) - BEATS/GLITCH/BASS

PLAIGARHYTHM(BTEAM) - GLITCH/DUBSTEP

R30 bucks entry, KILLER sound system!! :)

*Cold Turkey FB event page. - Sunday @ District 6 Cafe

SPOEK MATHAMBO
RICHARD THE THIRD
DANK
FLETCHER
O'LTAK
BLOTCHY
REBEL CLEF

Bring and braai + cash bar :) R20 entry

Some cool links to check out:

Auditory Vision - Electronic music blog

Bass Steppaz - Some guys throwing parties up the on the Westside

Catch me on Facebook for regular updates and some quality tracks I find on the net:
http://www.facebook.com/drumstepcpt

Keep skanking
Catch you on the d-floor
STD

Step Up @ Fiction 18 Dec

Definitely the best monthly Dubstep party in South Africa! PERIOD!

At first I was comparing Step Up to RubADub but quickly figured out that it's impossible to compare the two. I enjoyed RubADub because it was insanely full and more of a "jump-up" kind of vibe. Step Up took me back to when I was more into the chilled out, bassy, wobbly kind of dubstep, you know… the good stuff. The crowd was fairly light, no shaky floors or congestion but I could see that everyone there LOVED Dubstep. By the way, if you count yourself as a regular, count yourself spotted.

The line up was as follows:
FUNAFUJI
ISH
7FT SOUNDSYSTEM
DR SHADE
BINARY
BLOTCHY

I got there reasonably early but not early enough to catch my favourite local DJ, Funafuji, who was up first. I was very disappointed but there will always be a next time.
http://www.facebook.com/Funafuji

When I arrived Ish was on the decks. Originally from the UK, she was raised in a Rasta community… how cool is that? Ish started off her set smooth and chilled with just a few of us floating on the floor. She then dropped some hectic beats which naturally drew a crowd. I really enjoyed it. She knows her stuff and is definitely worth taking a GOOD listen to. *Side note* We might have been over thinking it but my friend and I noticed that Ish had some crazy mixing skills! My friend described it as “the sound a jigsaw puzzle would make”. Check it out for yourselves.
Ish - FB

Next up was 7ft Soundsystem. Because I never really was a huge fan of reggae and I heard 7ft were more reggae inclined (Dub if I’m not mistaken), I never really took notice of them in the past. When I saw that they were playing at the party I was a bit sceptic, however, I trusted that the guys at Step Up would give me nothing but quality. Quality is an understatement in this situation, they were pure class! A live Dubstep crew? Yes. Awesome! What a cool experience. Can’t wait to check them out at Rezonance.

7ft Soundsystem live gear:
1. laptop
2. edirol midi keyboard.
3. Novation launched (controlling ableton live)
4. Kaoss pad kp3
5. Roland 404 fx and sampler
6. Korg monotron
7. Melodica

Very tallented guys! This is art!

Here's a quick video taken with my Sony Ericsson Vivas Pro (Good Quality).
7ft-Soundsystem - FB

Dr Shade aka The Bulgarian was a bit of a letdown for me. I guess its personal taste but I will have to take another listen to him some time and make up my mind. It could have been that I sobered up when it came to his set which in turn was the reason for me missing the Binary set. I thought I would be back in time from the local drinking hole, Cadiz. FYI: if you are lucky, you can find some Dubstep and DnB at Cadiz, for your listening pleasure. Unfortunately I missed this legend of the Dubstep scene.

http://www.facebook.com/thebulgariandj
Binary - FB

Blotchy – the guy that made my night. I got back in time to catch the start of Blotchy’s set. I didn’t know who he was to be honest but he absolutely blew me away when he played one of my favourite tracks: Scuba - You Got Me. Lots of respect right there!
facebook.com/josiah.bourguet

What I love about fiction is that if you stay for the last set, you will be blessed with huge tracks and they never disappoint. Blotchy had the smallish crowd in the palm of his hand and like puppets we danced to his beats. I could feel the love for Dubstep in the air as the remaining hardcore fans gathered on the floor for the last couple songs. As the lights came on and the music switched off, the crowd begged for one more track, Blotchy dropped Flux Pavilion’s “Can’t stop”, unfortunately the subs were turned off, but it was still a jam.
Fiction - FB
Step Up - FB

 
BIIIIG ups to Fiction and the crew at Step Up!