Music
10 great British dubstep albums from the genre's golden age
Before the sound when global, dubstep was gritty, underground and enormously innovative. We run down 10 standouts from its first five years.
As dubstep continues to enjoy one of its most exciting creative periods in recent years, we revisit some of the classics that helped to shape the sound that rumbled out of Croydon during the turn of the century and proceeded to take over the world, and influence almost every corner of electronic music.
Released over the course of five years between 2004 and 2009, these albums are some of the many long players that shaped dubstep’s first golden age, made history and, most importantly, still sound exciting, innovative and blow minds to this day.
1. Dubstep Allstars Vol.1 – mixed by DJ Hatcha (Tempa, 2004)
Dubstep was bubbling since the turn of the century as the likes of Horsepower Productions and El B carved UK garage into dark sculptures. But it was Hatcha’s inaugural Dubstep Allstars mix that documented the movement outside seminal dances like FWD>> and DMZ. Joining the dots from upbeat skippy two-step to the jazzier end of breaks, via early halftime jams from the young likes of Benga, Skream and even Mark One (AKA tech house giant Solardo), if you want to hear where dubstep came from, this is the original blueprint. See also Youngsta’s Dubstep Allstars Volume 2 which truly galvanises the genre’s most enduring dark, halftime characteristics.
2. Burial – Burial (Hyperdub, 2006)
No list from this era would be complete without Burial’s debut album – or referencing the even further reaching follow-up LP Untrue. The enigmatic artist’s dissected, dystopian take on UK garage ran in parallel with the genre’s club explosion, adding to its narrative with a fittingly immersive and bleak post-party chapter. Burial just the right point of the genre’s development, offering textural inspiration through its grainy atmospheric soundscapes and rhythmic variation around the two-step drumbeat. Echoes of Burial's influence can still be found across all shades and shapes of bass, from wave music to jungle.
3. Mary Anne Hobbs – Warrior Dubz (Planet Mu, 2006)
Burial, JME, Benga, Digital Mystikz, Loefah, Amit, Distance, Kode9, Plastician, Terror Danjah, Virus Syndicate, Spor – all at exciting breakthrough moments in their young careers, all to be found on one genre-establishing/transcending album. Warrior Dubz packed in some incredible innovative talent. But if anything, it feels even more epoch-defining than it did at the time of release. Hobbs’s visionary selection didn’t just capture one genre but identified an attitude, aesthetic and approach across a variety of genres, joining the dots of a much bigger UK dance picture that took in grime, drum 'n' bass and techno.
4. Skream – Skream! (Tempa, 2006)
After years of singles on Big Apple and Tempa (and many more unreleased dubplates besides), the 20-year-old Oli Jones came correct with this, his debut album. Released amid his much more club-focused Skreamizm EP series, the album showcased the breadth of his palette at the time. From the bouncy theatrics of Auto Dub and laser blazes of Tapped to the hazy sax of Summer Dreams and the sad skank of Dutch Flowerz, this album gave a glimpse of the unpredictable turns that Skream would take in the years following. And that’s before we even get to the small matter of Midnight Request Line.
5. Benga – Diary Of An Afro Warrior (Tempa, 2008)
Benga’s debut album is a genuine trip. One of the most well-articulated and thought out albums from the big dubstep pioneers; the range of styles and textures is immense as it stretches from hip-hop to electro to aggy club cuts. But it’s the attention paid to the arrangements that really make this album. See how brutal robo stomper The Cut winds up into the open gusts of Emotions, or the final breaths of Benga and Coki’s Night – the first dubstep instrumental to enjoy big daytime radio airplay – seeps into the sci-fi tape stop intro of the battle ready B4 The Dual. Many dubstep albums felt like a collection of singles, but Diary Of An Afro Warrior really packed an album punch.
6. Fabriclive 37: Caspa & Rusko (Fabric, 2007)
Caspa & Rusko’s Fabriclive session was the first internationally available, high profile dubstep mix CD, and may be the most famous dubstep mix of all time, taking the genre global and influencing a whole new generation of acts in its wake.
Capturing the heavier end of the dubstep spectrum with iconic cuts such as Coki’s Spongebob, at the time this mix was criticised by purists for being too noisy. Sure, it became a future echo of the boisterous, supercharged ‘bro’ sound that was to develop several years later. But at the time this was capturing the intense, sweaty moments taking over clubs across the country – and by today’s standards it’s really good fun and loaded with funk. The story behind it is just as hectic. After Fabric famously declined a mix from Justice, Caspa & Rusko stepped in and had a weekend to create this historic mix. The rawness was real.
7. Pinch – Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic, 2007)
Dubstep pioneer Pinch helped to secure Bristol’s crown as the genre’s second spiritual city. Building on his hometown’s longstanding sound system culture, and the legacy of The Wild Bunch and Smith & Mighty, his label Tectonic was responsible for early cuts from all of the scene’s largest protagonists – Digital Mystikz, Skream, Loefah, Distance and more.
This debut album represents just where he, Tectonic and Bristol were at in 2007 – a deep space free-for-all, with no expense spared on the subs or soul and no care for formula. Vocals from Yolanda and Jukali give the album a warmth and narrative that have matured incredibly well. And once you’re done with this, dig out 2562’s debut album Aerial. Released the following year on Tectonic, it’s another pivotal and ageless moment in dubstep history.
8. Kromestar – My Sound (Dubstar 2008)
Ricky Kalsi is the rare electronic music producer capable of one minute making you tear your hair out with gully, the next minute making you cry (look up his Kromestar album Tears Of Joy). He's gone under a variety of aliases over the years, including Droid, Iron Soul and Dark Knight. But Kromestar is his most well-known, and My Sound was where he really hit on his signature sound. Laced with melodica vapour trails and deep meditative sub rhythms throughout, My Sound is rootsical and traditionally dub at its base. But there are exceptional moments where it flares up into something much darker – see the techno-influenced System Log and rolling sci-fi skanker Repitched.
9. Dusk & Blackdown – Margins Music (Keysound Recordings, 2008)
Martin Clarke was reporting the movement from the London trenches on his Blackdown blog since dubstep’s birth, documenting the genre as it grew out of dub, garage, grime, jungle and soundsystem culture. In 2008, though, he made the transition from documenter to artist, joining up with longtime production partner and fellow Keysound Recordings owner Dusk for a singular odyssey that celebrated London’s large Desi influence and Asian soundtrack. Indian instruments, rhythms and the voice of vocalist Farrah fuse with shades of grime, foreboding basslines and shattered beats. It's an album that's aged exceptionally well, and still offers a unique and honest snapshot of the UK capital, 10 years on.
10. Silkie – City Limits (Deep Medi Music, 2009)
Alongside Joker and Swindle, Silkie remains one of the funkiest, most soulful operators flexing in the 140 field. His debut album City Limits consolidated his versatile status, thanks to a slick arrangement that gradually lured you in with the instant bounce charm of loose limbed openers such as Concrete Jungle before slapping you with bulbous wobbles on cuts like Sty, or firing you into out of space with alien creepers like Techno 22. The variety, eclecticism and open mindedness of this LP ensure it still feels relevant today.
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