Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had a post devoted entirely to dubstep. Jake and I talked this over last night and came to a conclusion: Who the fuck is still producing good dubstep anymore? I mean, that’s a huge overstatement but seriously. Maybe it’s me or maybe it’s the music but I’m just not finding the kind of quality dubstep I used to find say, I don’t know, a year or two ago. By all means, I encourage you to disagree. I mean, don’t get me wrong, so far Flux’s and Dr. P’s “Louder” remix, “Bass Cannon”, “King Kong” by Bare and Datsik, and Rusko’s “Everyday” have all made huge contributions to the summer’s list of dubstep anthems. I just can’t help thinking about the good ol’ days with songs like Flux’s “Gold Dust” or “Cracks” remixes (still arguably my favorite dubstep songs of all time) and Sub Focus’ remix of “Hold On” by Rusko (and the list goes on and on). I feel like production has become an element of dubstep music that I just can’t help but feel has fallen to the wayside. It seems like anyone who can make loud bass music can be a producer these days and, as a result, the music has lost the art and soul of dubstep. Check out this interview with Rusko from about a year ago. He says everything that needs to be said better than I could ever say it.
OK, the only purpose that rant really serves is to lead me into my post, which happens to be some good (f that, great) dubstep I’ve come across and there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of before. While I must say that this isn’t strictly dubstep and still features a good deal of electro elements, this is some really stellar production in these tracks. From what I can ascertain from 501’s Facebook page, it seems as if he’s a dubstep producer from Finland. Well, he seems to know what he’s doing and these tracks certainly prove it. Here’s two of my picks from the album and you can find the whole EP here. First one is a banger dub tune (with some of the coolest arpeggio’s I’ve heard in a minute) and the second one is a little more electro with some killer vocals.
501 – Black & Blue (Original Mix)
Dare I say this is the year of Electro House? Now, that is a post for another time…