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July 24 2012, 8:00 AM ET by SPIN Staff 30. Jay-Z and Kanye West "Niggas in Paris" (2011) Created by Hit-Boy, the best beat on the lush Watch the Throne wasn't necessarily dubstep — just incomprehensible without it. "Niggas in Paris" is a syncopated take on John Carpenter's Halloween score that bobs and weaves with volcanic echoes, the THX theme, and sounds from a great party, putting a fun-house mirror to dubstep's defining rhythmic move (half-time meets two-time). For American hip-hop and R&B tracks, it became an instantly classic escape route — which, by some means, is what the song's about too. PIOTR ORLOV 29. Rusko "Cockney Thug" (2009) British destructivist Rusko is one of the earliest artists cited as making dubstep synonymous with the chest-massaging "wobble." He helped write the script for arena-dubstep (ahem, "brostep") with heavy, grating bass that walks the line between head-bobbing hypnosis and headache-inducing hysteria. This track from his pre-Mad Decent days is definitive, complete with an extra jaunty set of horns and the snide Cockney accent of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels actor Alan Ford to complete the track's abrasive sneer. PUJA PATEL 28. Excision & Downlink "Existence VIP" (2011) Separately, these two leading lugs of Canadian dubstep peddle the aggro-chug of nü-metal, the blood-on-the-dance-floor abandon of Fatboy Slim, and the gentle grace of an oil-spattered Decepticon orgy. Together, they power up the bass cannon for the wubstep version of "For Those About to Rock," a robo-Neanderthal war anthem complete with alien monologues and a harrowing accelerando. CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN 27. Musical Mob "Pulse X" (2002) The Youngstar-produced "Pulse X" actually predates dubstep itself — technically, the 2002 track qualifies as 8-bar garage (or, as London's FACT magazine called it, part of "grime's year zero"). But it would be hard to imagine contemporary dubstep without the wilting bass tones at its center. "Pulse X" is so fundamental for bass music that it's become practically a folk standard: In 2010, Austin bassmaster Dubbel Dutch flipped it into a tribal guarachero tune called "Pulso." PHILIP SHERBURNE 26. Flying Lotus "Glendale Galleria" (2009) A track that finally saw the official light of day in 2009 as part of the Tectonic Plates ten-inch series, "Glendale Galleria” features a beat and Silent Hill 4 sample that had been floating through Steven Ellison's sonic world for a few years (check his remix of Kanye's "Love Lockdown"). These micro moments encapsulate how the California genre-masher has been informing dubstep for the past five years, eschewing anything resembling one grand statement for a series of finely tuned, constantly evolving rhythm'n'texture interactions. P.O. 25. Peverelist "Roll With the Punches" (2007) A lesson in restraint by Tom Ford, the label head of Bristol's Punch Drunk, luring you into a smothering labyrinth of queasiness and chilling your bones with periodic shocks from looming bass ghosts. Its spindly needlepoint riff unfurls casually before drifting into lockstep with a head-nodding groove of heart murmurs, slow-burn shudders, and mechanical, paranormal moans. Boo. AARON GONSHER 24. Bassnectar "Bass Head" (2010) Six-and-a-half bass-swept minutes of delayed gratification. "Bass Head" evades exhaustion with drops that are worlds away from the Brits' nasty wobbles — opting instead for sleek, carefully calibrated swoops and curves. Uncluttered, with phlegmy bass and crunchy-cereal claps, the San Franciscan's most popular tune ratchets up the tension with "Zarathustra" kettle drums and refuses to stop the whirligig even as nausea closes in. A.G. 23. Shackleton "Blood on My Hands" (2007) Shackleton's uniformly sepulchral mood and extensive use of the same ethnomusicological drum samples lead much of his voluminous catalog to blend together; and that's just fine — neither dub nor drum circles reinvent the wheel every time, after all. But 2007's "Blood on My Hands" stands apart, carefully balancing quicksilver percussion and diffuse chords. It's topped off with a pitched-down meditation on 9/11 that sounds less maudlin than grimly resigned. It only figures that Ricardo Villalobos would latch onto this for his own DJ sets (and, later, remix it to profoundly unsettling effect). P.S. 22. Florence and the Machine "You Got the Love (Jamie xx Re-work)" (2009) One of U.K. pop-step's finest moments arrived at a perfectly timed crossroads for two budding superstars. With Jamie xx at the controls, Florence Welch's arena-sized cover of a Candi Staton song became a fantasia of dread, like psychedelic Cali soul stripped by London's gray minimalism. Through heavenly harps and a garage beat, lovers try to convince themselves of each other long after the fire's gone. The sole moment of ecstasy arrives when Florence unleashes "You know it's real" and Jamie chops it up. But oh, what a moment! P.O. 21. 12th Planet "Reasons (Doctor P Remix)" (2010) There was American dubstep before the Los Angeles producer John "12th Planet" Dadzie launched his local party SMOG, but nothing set the tone for domestic bass culture quite like this Planet's orbit. "Reasons" — named by Skrillex as "one of the most influential songs ever" — helped establish L.A. as something like a bedroom community for London's dubstep scene. Putting a wide-screen spin on Auto-Tuned reggae and perky synth pop, Dadzie rolled bass lines that were as unstable as the earth undergirding Hollywood. P.S. 20. Flux Pavilion & Doctor P "Bass Cannon" (2011) Dubstep gets its Black Sabbath moment, its Throbbing Gristle moment, and its Flipper moment rolled up into one caustic migraine befitting its hilariously literal title. Two U.K. big-beat blasters team up for a full-moon experiment, pushing the acceptable limits of slow'n'low chainsaw bass, imagineering a "hook" that's essentially a six-second blurst of power-drill noise that wouldn't sound out of place on an Einstürzende Neubauten album. It's been sucking the air out of festival crowds for two summers straight. C.W. 19. Kode9 & the Spaceape "Kingstown" (2005) Dubstep's actual ties to Jamaica have become more and more tenuous over its decade-long development, leading even a reformed brostepper like Rusko to frontload his last LP with a shout-out to King Tubby, as though atoning for the scene's collective sins of omission. But reggae's spiritual home is front and center on this 2005 cut from Hyperdub head Kode 9. Over a bed of melodica and clanging chords, the Spaceape growls gravelly dub poetry in the fashion of original London-via-Jamaica legend Linton Kwesi Johnson. P.S. 18. Jamie Woon "Night Air (Ramadanman Refix)" (2010) With its original version coproduced by Burial, "Night Air" was an overdue party for a dude who, by 2010, was getting his U.K. soul-tronic lunch eaten by James Blake. Here, with David Kennedy's help, Woon took a side trip into slightly more jammy hinterlands. As with many things Hessle Audio-related, this is a bass-music-as-drum-circle-friendly outing. Except we've left the city, and are beatboxing fireflies. P.O. 17. Pinch "Qawwali" (2006) Next time you hear someone complaining about dubstep's elevated testosterone levels, counter with a spin of Pinch's "Qawwali," one of the canon's most blissfully meditative songs. The title nods to the Sufi devotional music popularized by Pakistan's iconic singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, as do a plaintive harmonium melody, an intermittent flourish of strings, and soft hand percussion accentuating the track's liquid pulse. It feels as natural as breathing — an attribute Pearson Sound used to great effect when he placed it between two far-tougher tracks on 2011's FabricLive 56. P.S. 16. Untold "Discipline" (2008) All sticks and stones and foghorn moan, U.K. cryptkeeper Untold's "Discipline" feels like dubstep as Jan Svankmajer might have imagined it. He sets the scene with a ticking grandfather clock and ratchets up the tension with radiator clang and disembodied mewls. Quicksand sucks at every footfall, and the groove lurches with the uncanny motion of an automaton. Somehow it still skanks hard. P.S. 15. Zomby "Spliff Dub" (2008) Despite its repeating mantra of "one spliff a day keeps the evil away," "Spliff Dub" is not really lifestyle advice from the mercurial producer who was hunting for chewable Rolexes on Twitter. In fact, the narcotic imperative sounds progressively like a mantra spouted by someone doubting its reliability, waterlogged claps and a persistent wobble approximating the jelly legs and uneasy haze of a dance floor caked with sweat, flooded with smoke, and bulging with questions. A.G. 14. Africa Hi-Tech "Out in the Streets" (2011) Anthem alert! Using a beyond-famous Ini Kamoze sample as the tree of life, geezers Mark Pritchard (Global Communication) and Steve Spacek (Spacek) went ragga ragga batshit. A couple of Casio-style keyboard lines, incessantly driving and panning high-hats, and a sequencer bit that wouldn't sound out of place in Detroit — they all add simple but shifty ornamentation to Ini’s looping and dubbed-out voice. But who cares about accessories when they're decorating the exterior of an interstellar tank. P.O. 13. Pearson Sound "PLSN" (2009) Whether as Ramadanman or Pearson Sound, David Kennedy has an exceptionally kinetic percussive touch: juggling exotic drum samples with classic 808 and 909 sounds, creating some of the springiest rhythms in bass music. His 2009 track "PLSN" is a prime example, with tuned toms and offbeat accents pulling the rug out from under a nominally four-to-the-floor groove. Pushing through hazy string glissandi and an almost subliminal dub bass line, the center of focus becomes an insistent woodpecker tattoo that rises and falls in pitch, drawing out the tension for six-and-a-half hair-raising minutes. P.S. 12. The Bug, feat. Warrior Queen "Poison Dart" (2008) On 2008 release London Zoo, art-metal-lynchpin-turned-aggro-dubster Kevin Martin expertly skirted the fringes of dancehall, grime, and dubstep. This disorienting collaboration exemplifies the collision of multiple modes of bass impact. Fire-tongued vocalist Warrior Queen progresses from stuttering incantations to impetuous boasts while Public Enemy-styled ambulances speed past with sirens at full volume and the ground fractures to reveal cavernous gaps below. Martin engineers an apocalypse slathered in echo, with each destructive element given ample time to survey the wreckage. A.G 11. Joker "Psychedelic Runway" (2009) British bass luminary Joker tumbles headfirst past the White Rabbit, floats down Willy Wonka's chocolate river, and bong-rips his way through Oz. A glossy and gulping trip, "Psychedelic Runway" buffs the surfaces of its hesitant fills, synths, blips, and shuddering sub-bass to a dazzling sparkle. However, the frantically chattering Martian who appears midway through the track just sounds like he's hopelessly lost. A.G. 10. Katy B "Katy on a Mission" (2010) An alum of U.K.'s famous R&B-twurked Brit Pop School (see Adele, Amy Winehouse, et al.), this young singer is the undeniable queen of dubstep's boys club. Her first single, produced by Magnetic Man's Benga and cowritten by Rinse FM grime stalwart Geeneus, is a perfect balance of the siren's coolly understated, late-night provocations, grounded by pulses of menacing bass. Katy B's sophisticated, Billboard-bound club music is not made for mean-mugging dubstep purists or fist-pumping festival bros, but for everyone else in between. P.P. 9. Addison Groove "Footcrab" (2010) After four years spent churning out dubstep as Headhunter, U.K. producer Antony Williams turned bass music upside down with his first release as Addison Groove, for Loefah's Swamp 81 label. The similarity between the new alias and the name of a Boston acid-jazz band is coincidental, but the similarity between "Footcrab" and Chicago's frenetic footwork music is not. Copping the staccato rhythms and stuttering vocal samples of footwork artists like DJ Rashad and Traxman, Williams slowed down the chaos enough to sneak the usually high-bpm music into dubstep sets. The result was a heavy dose of alien funk just when the scene needed it most. P.S. 8. La Roux "In for the Kill (Skream's Let Get Ravey Remix)" (2009) Stripping the U.K. No. 2 electro-pop megahit of its upbeat synths was the best thing that Skream could’ve done for La Roux vocalist Elly Jackson. He replaced the song's giddy pep with undercurrents of bass and a simple kick-snare, expertly highlighting the gorgeous vulnerability and haunting yearning of the singer's voice, heretofore lost in the original's bubbly bounce. And the frantic drum'n'bass run at the end turned the chorus into one of contemporary EDM's most anthemic moments. P.P. 7. Girl Unit "Wut" (2010) Smeared with giddy synth waterfalls, undergirded by 808 smashes, and heavy on the air horn, "Wut" is the undisputed jewel of this 25-year-old London newcomer’s sparse output. Released on left-field label Night Slugs, the gloriously chopped-up question refuses to settle calmly into its glimmering hip-hop haze, doing battle with syrupy bass atmospherics and washes of wonky organ, resulting in delirious shout-alongs of its squeaky, gibberishy vocal bits. A.G. 6. Joy Orbison "Hyph Mngo" (2009) For a good bit of late 2009, this was inescapable, ultimately ushering in a new era — stealth smash-ups of electronic styles like these are no longer "dubstep" but "bass." Not too bad for the London producer's recording debut. The seemingly endless intro, which gave way to magisterial chords, promised something grand, and Orbison does not disappoint. "UK funky" has since fallen off as a genre-alert, but the garage-influenced mix of house and rave that birthed "Mngo" remains the holding center of contemporary U.K. club culture. P.O. 5. Skrillex "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" (2010) At 92 million YouTube plays and counting, dubstep's Godzilla stomp doesn't get any bigger than this yowling chainsaw rocker from former emocore-scene kid Sonny Moore turned EDM "it" boy Skrillex. Sampling a silly YouTube clip for the tune's trademark "Oh my gosh!" ejaculation, he pushed dubstep viral, combining candy-colored carnival synths with a low end so corrosive that it could only be the sound of pop eating itself. P.S. 4. Digital Mystikz "Ancient Memories" (2006) Like Kode9, South London duo Mala and Coki masterfully honor the reggae progenitors who cut the road for its moody electronic stepchild — though with a decidedly contemporary twist. Here they sample Jamaican dancehall crooner Sizzla's 1998 album track "Ancient Memories" and serve it up with their own dark mutations: jittery, syncopated snares, reverbed synths, and murky cymbal rolls that fade in and out of the shadows. A beautiful example of dub's past shaking hands with its dystopic future. P.P. 3. Burial "Archangel" (2007) The Mercury Prize-nominated 2007 album Untrue inspired legions of imitators to try and match producer William Bevan's skittering, pitch-shifted vocals and stumble-drunk rhythmic feints — but none can approach his static-obscured emotional depths. The anthemic entreaty "Tell me I belong" in "Archangel" reflects the yearning of anyone who has ever searched for acceptance on the dance floor, rumbling with tempestuous exhales, swaths of goose-bumpy strings, and the faceless ghosts of Saturday night crackling through the tinnitus of a Sunday-morning hangover. A.G. 2. Benga & Coki "Night" (2008) Uncomplicated and immediately gratifying like a hardcore song, no dubstep track cuts straight to the core like this London power-collabo. Taking cues from the era's garage and funky production craze, the song whips together crisp, skipping, claptastic drums with a bloaty, echoing, elastic bass line. The result is a brilliant quicksand-like pull where the mood behind the melodic riff changes from playful to melancholic depending on how quickly it escapes from the waves of chomping bass. P.P. 1. Skream "Midnight Request Line" (2005) Skream's second single was a game changer, the first dubstep anthem to fully break the chains of "we-don't-want-to-be-categorized" bet-hedging, and instead wear the genre badge proudly. While its gurgling bass is a cauldron brewing under the dark, clean kicks of ’90s garage, the real star of the show is the melody — a simple progression from eerie, minor-chord synth flutter to a lightly floating major-chord chime, giving the song both textural depth and a memorable hook. It was dubstep acting like pop years before pop noticed. That shit's cray. P.P.

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Scott has been introduced to the rave scene, and Ecstasy, by Craig. The two of them go out on the weekends, with some of Craigs friends, and stay up all night, dancing in a drug-fueled trance.

Last edited by Moral Hazard on Apr-26-2011 at 07:48