DMZ in Sheffield was a revelation

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
Mala absolutely rocked it on Friday.

It was intense, heavy, stentorian, but it was healing music. Spiritual music.

Maladeckle2.jpg


WHAT a DJ. Superb flow from start to finish. Reminded me of great house DJs like Sneak or Derrick Carter for the way the whole two hours flowed, peaked, dropped and peaked again, reminded me of great techno DJs like Jeff Mills for the sheer headcaving intensity, reminded me of the best jungle and garage DJs for the bass science and the interaction with Space Ape...

... but most of all he reminded me of Shaka for the sheer visceral, emotional, spiritual impact. And it takes A LOT for me to compare a DJ to Shaka.

Space Ape rocked it from the dancefloor...

SpApedeclaim.jpg


The crowd loved it - and it was one of the nicest, friendliest, most attitude-free events I've been to in a looooong time.

CrowdBest.jpg


Lots more writing and photos at http://blog.grievousangel.net/?p=330

I'm still walking on air...
 

nomos

Administrator
http://autonomicforthepeople.blogspot.com/2006/04/northern-mystikz.html

Sounds fantastic. I love that pic of the crowd - sincere, non-ironic, no-attitude grins. I'm hoping you exapnd on your reading of dubstep's spiritual side (and links to shaka, etc.) in subsequent posts Paul. I'd be keen to read your thoughts.

Honestly, I'm biting my tongue right now re: this potential backlash you've noted. It would be a shame, since so many people are genuinely excited about the inventiveness and positivity in this scene.
 
Last edited:

adruu

This Is It
this is, almost word for word, how i felt after catching mala and joe in nyc a few months back. i am not one to throw around the word spiritual at all, but that was my immediate reaction at the time. i miss it now for sure.
 

boomnoise

♫
mala at fwd two weeks ago was an intense experience which i certainly felt something i don't normally feel, even at dmz. the way (t)his music connects with you certainly does approach the spiritual. mala's selection and abilities as a dj obviously play a big part in this.

notions of spirituality are interesting with regards to dubstep though because the music is such a physical experience and perhaps it is that which, combined with the fact that your body has to process the bass physically at the same time as listening to the music as a mental process which produces the spiritual feeling?? also combined with the PLUR ;)
 
Last edited:

shudder

Well-known member
wow... sounds amazing. Kode 9 is playing in my home town in May, but I won't be around... pretty bummed about that (especially since I'm listening to Allstars Vol. 3 right now)!! can't wait to cop some of this stuff in a club...
 

Logos

Ghosts of my life
boomnoise said:
how can you tell no one is from new zealand?

lol ;)

@ 2stepfan glad you dug Mala...there was something increible about his set at fwd the other week, polyrhymic grace and a sense of balance in the beats and sounds on a serious sub bass foundation, it touched me.
 
Last edited:
boomnoise said:
how can you tell no one is from new zealand?

heh...

nah, you know what I mean ???

I had a mate went to forward a while back and even he said it was weird, the total absence of black people apart form the DJ's and MC's...
 

Logos

Ghosts of my life
HELL_SD said:
heh...

nah, you know what I mean ???

I had a mate went to forward a while back and even he said it was weird, the total absence of black people apart form the DJ's and MC's...

1. fwd does not have a total absence of black people in the crowd, its a lot more mixed (in all sorts of ways) than the average drum and bass night in London these days

2. Sheffield is not London: (as far as I know) it has a strong black community as well as, in common with lots of Northern towns, a significant Asian community. But - and this is my experience of growing up in the North of England - there is not as much racial integration as you would find in London though this depends on the particular situation, context etc.

3. Sheffield has a strong student population who I suspect are majority white, and dubstep is probably perceived along the electronic/drum and bass axis - and of course dnb has quite a big student following.

Part of me feels I am over reacting by posting this - I'm not involved in putting the night in Sheff on or connected in any way, but I think your unhelpful, offhand comment needed to be addressed with some facts.
 
Last edited:
unhelpful...WTF ???

so what are you saying ???

...Sheffield is a racist town mostly made up of white students into d'n'b who are now looking to dubstep for some spirituality

I'd like to see the black/white thing addressed in dubstep like it is in grime cos from what i understood of dubstep's roots in Croydon is that it is quite a well of white middle class burb...

...where as the grime roots are pretty much council estate based

and maybe my mate went to forward on an off night but that's just what he said...

...of course I can understand the reluctance to deal with the whole black/white thing in music and focus on the PLUR thing but what about afrofuturism and rasta spirituality ???

then there is the culture question as well...

and i'm not relly interested in d'n'b comparisons anymore cos i went over that with conscious comparisons to early raggajungle getting squezzed out when it became d'n'b but it is interesting to note that some dubstep these days does lack a spiritual vibe...
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
I just think the fact that 90% of the set is DMZ produced is the reason the sets have that feel to them.

I can appreciate first hand the touching feeling some of their tunes have on you.

I don't really care for "dubstep" music as a whole. It resides in a place which I can't really access sonically. Some sort of skunk induced zombie line dancing which goes on at the raves I can't really get down with.

But musically I can fuck with a lot of DMZ stuff. Anti War Dub, to pick the most obvious example, doesn't posess any of the superficial musical elements that I would use to ignorantly describe a typical Dubstep track. It just works as a piece of music and I can access it.
 

bassnation

the abyss
HELL_SD said:
unhelpful...WTF ???

so what are you saying ???

...Sheffield is a racist town mostly made up of white students into d'n'b who are now looking to dubstep for some spirituality

I'd like to see the black/white thing addressed in dubstep like it is in grime cos from what i understood of dubstep's roots in Croydon is that it is quite a well of white middle class burb...

no, theres a lot of black people of both sexes that go to fwd. croydons also pretty mixed, its not what i'd call leafy surbubia either - more of a south london vibe to be honest. can't comment on sheffield, but dubstep is more mixed than you'd expect.
 
I only see what I get on the net and TV and what I hear from people...

... of course i don't believe most of it so it pays to ask around

croydon, that's where that dude died in barrymores pool eh ???
 

luka

Well-known member
croydon is straight suburbia. like romford but richer. pedestrianised high streets,shopping centres,conservative attitudes,racism,weekend violence, ugly office buildings, all spread out and fairly soulless,its one of the worst places in london. its got trams though.
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
Logan: I feel you, DMZ, Skream and a few other people are doing a much more colorful, deep sound that I can really get with as well. I think I'm less critical of the other stuff (I can occasionally get down with some skunked out zombie line dancing) but it's those guys and their sound that turned me around from not liking the stuff. And specifically seeing Mala in NYC, as I've mentioned before.

And Hell_SD, you're doing it again... Why polarise along racial lines? If you want to make a point about afrofuturism then make it, lord knows I'd rather talk about that then this. Who cares if there are a lot of white people in a given dance? Dubstep doesn't strike me as a style of music that had a particularly race specific beginning. And from photos I've seen, people I've met, etc Dubstep doesn't seem nearly as white as any other form of electronic music going besides maybe Grime right now. I don't look at pictures of grime raves and say 'where's all my white people at?' What would be the point?
 
that sounds exactly like Christchurch New Zealand where I'm at luka...

... except not so much weekend violence

maybe only when the crusaders rugby team loses to another kiwi team...

straight outta croydon eh ???...so that's the ancestral home of dubstep

...well I never would guessed that, so how does the jamaican thing filter through croydon and out ???

cross pollenating daytrippers from the projects back in the day maybe ???

young hungry grimey mc's hooking up with more affluent mates with studio gears or disenchanted suburban garage heads

is that where big apple records was in croydon ???
 

luka

Well-known member
yeah, i know christchurch, a lot of my family are from there. the energy of the place is somewhat similar,recreational violence etc though croydon isn't as overwhelmingly white as christchurch. (christchurch i remember as the place where kids chuck beer bottles at pedestrians as they drive past) it looks different though. newer. shinier. a lot less traditional,it doesn't feel even half as rooted as christchurch. architecturally its quite a lot like auckland.

there's plenty of west indians in croydon. i remember growing up in stratford every black kid had an aunt in croydon. so that influence would have always been there.
 
Last edited:
luka said:
yeah, i know christchurch, a lot of my family are from there. the energy of the place is somewhat similar,recreational violence etc though croydon isn't as overwhelmingly white as christchurch. it looks different though. newer. shinier. a lot less traditional,it doesn't feel even half as rooted as christchurch. architecturally its quite a lot like auckland.

it's funny how you *mythicalise* places yet when you see it or hear about it, it just becomes another urban shithole...

...and yeah it is rather overwhelmingly white here, salmonella dub, hayley westenra...nuff said

still it's a great place to do nothing in but make beats and babies...

...could be in worse places, hell even croydon doesn't sound all that appealing now cos I can't stand auckland :)
 
Top