Hot Flush/Scuba

Leo

Well-known member
haven't had the chance to investigate any of this stuff but heard good things...where does it fit into the scheme of things? any recommendations? thanks.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I think Paul Scuba/hotflush posts here.

The Podcast #1 is a really nice mix. (Get from the site: http://www.hotflushrecordings.com/)

I don't know that much of HF catalogue but I really like Scuba - Twista.

Also the remixes 12" with Vex'd / Loefah mixes of Toasty / Search & Destroy is total class.
 

Ned

Ruby Tuesday
I passionately hate the stuff Scuba is doing with live guitar and bass, I can't think of a less promising direction for dubstep to go in. Obviously I can't confess these sentiments on Dubstepforum or I'd get banned for life.
 
I passionately hate the stuff Scuba is doing with live guitar and bass, I can't think of a less promising direction for dubstep to go in. Obviously I can't confess these sentiments on Dubstepforum or I'd get banned for life.

crikey! i had no idea Paul was doing that! haven't heard it, but just the thought is terrifying!

there's been some wicked tunage from Hot Flush in the past, though. HF002 is still one of my fave DJ Distance records. for a while it seemed they were single-handedly championing the breakstep sound - Toasty's 'The Knowlege' was the big 'un. The Scuba stuff is a bit up and down but I personally think 'Plate' is a wicked little number. Paul's a top bloke too. I once had the pleasure of pissing in the urinal next to him at a club, and he wasn't even vaguely offended when I, in a show of drunken biligerence, called him a 'cunt'. It just slipped out, sorry Paul.

Not that you should let amy of that influence your decision to buy, of course.
 

elgato

I just dont know
i think that dub 'low slung' is the worst thing ive heard to come out of dubstep, i cant stand it

i personally dont rate scuba's productions, a matter of taste i guess, i like Plate but thats about it... clipped and clinical, which could be very good for me, but for some reason it just doesnt float my boat. which is weird, cos the stuff he made as Spectr is quite the opposite, and i love it

the new gravious 12 on scuba is sick, he's one to watch in my opinion

and hot flush as a label is amazing, consistently incredible releases, pretty much all their back cat is worth searching out
 

Paul Hotflush

techno head
Hi guys,

To be honest, I'm a bit unsure about the guitar stuff as well. The main reason it happened was because I completely changed my studio set up about 6 months ago from an fairly lo-fi thing with a lot of outboard to just using software. Obviously that frees you up to do a lot more stuff, but it creates as many problems as it solves. I did Twista ages ago in my old set up and wanted to explore that direction a bit more, but the only thing I've done on that tip that I really like since then is Frisco (last track on podcast#1). I guess the main point is that if you want to take the music further than minimal half step with sub and fx you need to experiment, and that's always going to bring varied results.

Respect for the views though, it would be much better if people felt more able to make constructive criticisms elsewhere.
 

elgato

I just dont know
props for taking that so well, very impressive

and i do rate the experimentation, its important

big up
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
I've always liked the Scuba stuff: I like how it seems to all come from a similar sonic palate, espcially the drums. It sounds very coherant.

And, despite how I really have little time for indie and rock, the Scuba and also Distance riffage stuff is kinda fun esp in relation to all the featureless minimal dark halfstep that's about. It reminds me of Joe Nice leaping about at DMZ. It also reminds me of the momentum of grime's riffs (momentum usually comes from drums/bass), without actually sounding like grime of course.

All that said, if dubstep went down some kind of indie-fusion path, that would be a disaster. But riffage is definitely a welcome exploration in contrast to too much textural FX and straight halfstep.
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
er, well shouldn't it be Hot Flush = R & S
Yes. Errr, work, I'm afraid.

which makes Paul Rose the Renaat Vandepapeliere of dubstep, then?

please expand, Paul...

I've always thought that Hotflush had a similar relationship to the other big dubstep labels as R&S did with the big house and techno labels - successful but slightly left field, doing a mix of different styles, and always trying to break the norm, not always successfully but always intriguingly.

Notice how Hotflush tunes tend even to demur from the reggae-based orthodoxy of dubstep, taking its cue as much from electronica and breaks - without doing shit records. I really shouldn't enjoy that, because I am determined to see dubstep as being as much a modern variant of reggae as much as it's a part of "dance music", but I really do love a lot of their records, and really appreciate the individuality of the label.
 
how can this actually be possible, given there are next to no cultural links/connections between the dubstep scene and reggae?

Erm, that's debatable, isn't it? anyway, i always saw a spiritual link in terms of dubstep aspiring to the culture of reggae/soundsystem music. It wants to be seen as coming from that lineage, rather than from E-culture etc, surely. Maybe it's a romantic link, rather than a technical one, but it stills counts for something, doesn't it? Ask Loefah about it next time he's spinning at Bash...
 
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Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
how can this actually be possible, given there are next to no cultural links/connections between the dubstep scene and reggae?
You're joking aren't you?

Direct linkage from Brit reggae and soundsystem culture through acid house, jungle, garage and thus dubstep. Just look at the role Peter Bouncer played through most of these scenes.

Not to mention dubstep's saturation in reggae style, attitude and form.

And the way some of its most important producers have their own reggae night.

I think you have to squint pretty hard not to see dubstep as being deeply linked with reggae. You don't have to go as far as I (partisanly) do and see dubstep as actually being a form of reggae, but to see no links at all is... a bit... odd. :)
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
It wants to be seen as coming from that lineage, rather than from E-culture etc, surely.
It comes from both. "We just wanted to put on the biggest jungle dance around... everything I know about reggae is from jungle"... But historically, the link from reggae to acid house and this to ardkore et al is direct.

Ask Loefah about it next time he's spinning at Bash...
Or Coki, who's made a lot of dancehall.
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
i can see the heritage but going back that far you could connect pretty much any UK dance music to the reggae scene.

i guess i should be more specific: culturally and sonically fine, there's a lot of dubstep but talking about scenes and communities, there's little or no connection. sure there's some dub reggae sampling going on in dubstep now and the mystikz have their links to JA vocalists but Coki's never put out an actual dancehall tune afaik (just remixed some) and Loefah spinning some dub at Bash in Shoreditch hardly makes him an extension of JA dancehall scene anymore than a Hatcha set at Plastic People is.

I really dont mind the suggestion that dubstep is dubby, either in direct samples or in dub-as-process, but i just cant see the suggestion that 'dubstep is a type of reggae'.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
i can see the heritage but going back that far you could connect pretty much any UK dance music to the reggae scene.

If you stick around, Paul will actually try to do this. :)

There is a connection to UK dub via the interest of people like Mark Iration.

Sonically there is more in common with 1990s Jah Shaka than 2006 JA dancehall.
 
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