Tim F said:
isn't it a bit revisionist to only talk about El-B in terms of "roots of dubstep"? He did some awesome poppy tracks and remixes too.
I hope I'm mistaken when I get the impression that most people here are only interested in 2-step garage as a historical footnote preceding dubstep..
El-B's essential idea was to marry Metalheadz dark jungle bass with Twice as Nice r&b swing. Surely that's the roots of dubstep there? Why is it revisionist to mention it?
In general his remixes tended to be less impressive than his original productions. off the top of my head there's the Pink and Angie Stone ones which work, but I could name 10 great GC/Ghost trax.
But perhaps Tim and El-B have common ground, because El-B became frustrated with both the lack of female influence in the sound and the lesser role of r&b & house in dubstep. He then went off to do first El-Tuff and then straight US-influence nu-soul/r&b to remedy this.
interesting Logan says he perceives dubsteppers dont mention El-B. it depends which ones you mean. i think a lot of the *very* recent interest in dubstep, post-Dubstep Warz, means new fans only really know the post-DMZ legacy. This is different for dubstep, where people tend to know their history a little bit more, unlike grime where last week is old school, the youngers rule and the sound evolves at hyperspeed.