Dubstep Canada

A longtime fixture on the techno scene with a penchant for reggae production techniques, it’s no wonder that dub gnostic has seamlessly migrated to the dubstep scene.  Growing up in London, Ontario paved the way for heavy exposure to house and techno, being situated halfway between Detroit and Toronto.  Relocating to coastal British Columbia in the mid-nineties, he cofounded online resource Technowest.org, promoted activism-oriented arts events and raised the bar in the nightclub industry with his well-promoted events.  After several national tours and a brief stint living in Scotland, he is back in Victoria, BC as resident at the “Convivial” series in Whitebird Lounge.  Dubstep.ca was intrigued by this Canadian talent’s take on the dubstep scene and sat him down for some questions:

What is the meaning behind your DJ name? Do you think your current style of production reflects the same values?

Dub Gnostic is a play on the word agnostic.  “I’m not really sure if
it’s a dub.”  My roots are in the post-punk and industrial scenes of
the 1980s, and cross-over dub-electronica artists like Richard Kirk
(Cabaret Voltaire) and Bill Laswell turned me onto the genre.  In the
studio, I’ve traditionally used effects as instruments in and of
themselves – and apply this to DJing when the outboard technology is
available.  I think the notion of the producer as a musician in this
respect is at the core of the dub ethos.  Until my recent production
foray into dubstep, I’ve produced house and techno – so the name is
appropriate and even more-so now.  As far as what I play out when I
DJ, I consider myself a “fusion” DJ of sorts, spanning genres.  While
I may stray from the original mandate of the name from time to time,
most of what I play has some manner of influence reaching back to dub.

How long have you been into dubstep – and are you still following your techno roots? Do you believe the styles are compatible?

I’ve collected music that could arguably be re-released as “dubstep”
since the early 1990s.  The 4th track on the Lion’s Gate Dubs mix is
from 1993 (Seefeel, remixed by Aphex Twin), and the 3rd (Martin
Buttrich), 6th (Basic Channel), 16th (Ben Klock), 19th (Saafi Brothers
/ Bandulu), 20th (Bluetrain) and 27th (Plastikman) tracks are all
producers who usually output techno, and all these tracks are on
techno or house labels.  I still actively DJ and produce techno, and
enjoy the total compatibility of the two genres where they meet in the
middle.  Dubstep is of interest to me because it’s still in a
developing phase, and people are really open-minded about the
potential of the genre.  While there’s certainly a nod to its garage
roots, and an element that really pushes the South London sound, I
hope that it will be artists at the fringes that continue to redefine
its textures and possibilities – to keep this form of mutant garage
mutating.  While the whole wub-wub bass thing has dance-floor appeal on a big system and there are definitely tracks that are well-produced in this regard, the genre stands the chance of ossifying if this aspect comes to dominate the production values.  Keeping an open mind to other possibilities for bass tone is essential for its growth.

Do you think that music is innovative now, or was it ‘way better back then’?

I don’t think music stopped ever stopped being innovative.  There’s
been market fluctuations that have messed with the signal-to-noise
ratio of the true innovators, like when all the genres experienced an
over-saturation of cookie-cutter production value when the “laptop
revolution” made producing highly accessible to anyone.  The shift to
online digital distribution has also meant that all the tracks that
your local record store declined to order in the past are now available.  This means a lot more research and listening, and while
that may require sifting through a lot of rather un-innovative music,
you also find those rare gems that no one’s ever heard of.

Who is inspiring you in dubstep right now, and why?

As far as labels go, hands-down 7even Recordings from France.  They
release a lot of four-to-the-floor dubstep that rides the line right
up to techno.  As for artists, I’m really into the Bristol sound, and
artists like Appleblim, Martyn, Peverelist, and Shackleton – they all
have immense cross-over appeal with the techno scene.  There’s a
tremendous sense of musicality as well as production skill, and the
tracks coming out of Bristol are as listenable on their own as they
are useful as DJ tools.  Their minimalism works well with my DJ style,
which tends towards layering than drop mixing.

Describe your new stuff. What can we expect to hear from you?

I am presently working with Chris Rozek, who has been producing techno for nearly 20 years and is released on Jeff Milligan’s Revolver Canada imprint.  We use old analogue gear married with Ableton Live, and draw percussive and atmospheric samples largely from the ambient sounds of film and television.  Both of us approach production with a Dada-esque mentality, and like to explore emotive textures that are challenging, but we’d like to think at the same time enjoyable for those who share our surrealist bent.  My work tends to be lengthier, and the label feedback has been mixed about tracks that are ten minutes in length.

In this respect, especially with the more classic analogue sounds
(like the Moog, Linn Drum and June 106), I like to think I’m headed
towards a sound influenced equally by techno artists like Cobblestone
Jazz and Mathew Jonson as it is by the Bristol dubstep scene.  Chris’
work is more cut up and emphasizes the post-production editing – so
ultimately our releases working with the same material will reflect
different but complementary approaches to the genre.

Plans for the summer?

I’m wrapping up graduate school coursework this summer, so am limiting my appearances on the festival circuit this year.  So far, Diversity and Victoria Electronic Music Festival are my main outings.  There’s also my residency at Whitebird Lounge (3rd Saturday of every month) and a Saltspring Island gig on July 4th.  While August opens up for me, I intend to use most of the month to finish up studio work.  We hope to have a few EPs ready for fall/winter release.

Details on upcoming gigs are best found on Myspace or Facebook.  I
don’t have a “fan page” on facebook, because I’m ambivalent about
fandom in general.  Culturally, the principal attractor with the electronic music scene was the dissolution of the boundary between
artist and audience – the interactivity of a DJ on the floor  at eye
level, rather than on a stage for show.  So with facebook, I prefer
having “friends” to “fans” – so look for me in the people pages, not
the fan ones.

Any links people should know?

For the Pacific Northwest scene.. people should become attuned to
Insectmind in Seattle.  This crew comes at it from an industrial/IDM/techno point of view, and when I played with them a month ago, found both their purveyance as DJs and the content of the label to be unique.  It’d be nice to see an expanded regional approach to promotions, building a strong Pacific Northwest that reaches down
to the Southern California scene.  There’s also Pacific Dubstep in
Victoria, and someone to watch from that camp is Quinn Rhythmicon’s
take on the soulful side of the dubstep genre, or what he calls
“Future Garage”.  As for me, I’ve uploaded my entire mix archive to my
website, and while there’s a few missing, there’s close to 48 hours of
MP3’s there.  This can be a little overwhelming to navigate – and deep
within there’s a section of “Broken Beats,” so I thought I’d point the
way more directly…

http://www.insectmind.com/
http://www.pacificdubstep.com/
http://www.dubgnostic.com/BrokenBeatless.htm

Dub Gnostic – DUBFORMS13 MIX

Dub Gnostic “Lion’s Gate Dubs Volume One:  The Dubforms 13 Set”

Tracklisting
———
1.   Dub Gnostic & Chris Rozek “Papa’s Got A Brand New Wife” (Rozek’s Rendering)
2.   Random Trio, Cyrus “Mind Games” (Original Mix) Tectonic
3.   Martin Buttrich “Well Done” (Papa Ench Remix) Four:Twenty Recordings
4.   Seefeel “Time to Find Me” (Aphex Twin Slow Mix) Astralwerks Recordings
5.   Boxcutter “Gave Dub” (Original Mix) Planet Mu
6.   Basic Channel “Lyot Rmx” (Original Mix) Basic Channel
7.   Boxcutter “Tauhud” (Original Mix) Planet Mu
8.   Silkie, Harry Craze “French Knickers” (Original Mix) Break the Habit
9.   Wascal “This You Know” (Original Mix) Rogue Dubs
10. Scuba “Timba” (Original Mix) Hotflush Recordings
11. TRG “They Know” (TRG BerlinWall VIP Mix) Immerse Records
12. OSC “Bless Up” (Original Mix)
13. Eskmo “Harmony” (Original Mix) Ancestor Recordings
14. Moldy “Glory feat. Juakali” (Dub Mix) Earwax
15. Bass Clef “Welcome Back to the Echo Chamber” (Original Mix) Blank Tapes
16. Ben Klock “Gold Rush” (Original Mix) Orstgut Ton
17. Likhan “Terre” (Original Mix) 7even Recordings
18. Michael Red “Red Light” (Stepping mix) Unreleased
19. Saafi Brothers “Internal Code Error” (Bandulu Remix) Blue Room Released
20. Bluetrain “Red Eye Dubs Volume 1” (Original Mix, unknown title) Bluetrain
21. Synkro “Dub Specialist” (Original Mix) Smoking Sessions
22. Peverelist “Infinity is Now” (Original Mix) Tectonic
23. Benga “Technocal” (Original Mix) Tectonic
24. Kontext “Plumes” (Relocate Remix) Immerse Recordings
25. Sub Scape “Low Heights” (Original Mix) Subway Recording
26. Likhan “Quiet Riot” (Original Mix) 7even Recordings
27. Plastikman “Spastik” (Original Mix) Plus 8 Recordings
28. Antiserum “Frisco Funk” (Original Mix) Full Melt Recordings