I have been quickly developing an obsession with a strain of UK club music known as dubstep/grime/sublow, etc. Grime's vocal artists have had some limited exposure in the US — Dizzee Rascal and Lady Sovereign — but my dubstep curiosity has been harder to satisfy. It has been a long time since I have kept current on any kind of "dance" music, but my interest has now been captured.
My first exposure has been from online mixes. There are many radio sets available online. It has been difficult to get my hands on the music here in Orange County, California, though. My only recourse has been to pay exorbitant shipping fees to boomkat.com, or download tracks from the bleep.com mp3 store.
What does it sound like? The one unifying theme of dubstep music is bass and sub-bass. Over that, the sound can range from very minimal and hypnotic to frenetic and choppy. The proper way to hear the music, apparently, is on a giant sound system that is capable of rattling your chest cavity. I have not had that opportunity as of yet, but I have been inspired to look into finally putting a subwoofer in my car.
I am putting some songs here for streaming to give an idea of the sound. I will not make them available for download. This is out of respect for the artists, who operate independently on a small scale. If you like what you hear, look for more dubstep on bleep.com or boomkat.com, thanks.
Do not attempt to listen to these on laptop speakers. A subwoofer is required.
Honour Kill by luke.envoy (Hot Flush)
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Bombardment of Saturn by Vex'd (Planet-Mu)
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Sparkle by Elemental (Hot Flush)
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The Knowledge by Toasty (Hot Flush)
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- Dubstep page on wikipedia
- Huge collection of mixes hosted at Barefiles.com
- Several mixes available to download from the Hot Flush website
- One of my first experiences was this mix by Kid Kameleon.
5 Comments
Dude, thanks for introducing me to this! I am feeling the bug as well. "Honour Kill" is a great track. I need to get it over onto my monster system and check it out! If you get a sub for your car, let me know, I am also thinking of pulling that trigger.
I did get a sub, actually. There's a small Kenwood self-powered one that sells for around $160 (KSC-SW1) if you look around. There's not much hidden space in my car because it has a hatch back instead of a trunk, so I decided against a sub box with amplifier and went for a very small unit. It is not going to set off car alarms as I roll by, but it fills out the sound and gives me much better low end extension. Everything sounds firmer.
I decided after a spell of overworking, that I should reward myself with some bass. Now I've got plenty.
cool. will check it out. did you get a preamp too? i'm pulling down some dubstep mixes right now as well… am very into it! like the levy as well, thanks for posting.
wait, does this thing sit out in the open in your car? it looks like it kind of sits out. and what's up with the remote?
It comes with brackets to set it horizontally or vertically, depending on where and how you decide to mount it. I chose this model because it is one of the smallest I could find, and it got good reviews from other Prius owners on the priuschat forums. There were also a lot of posts about installation and mounting to boost my confidence.
There are not a lot of places to hide a subwoofer in my car because it's a hatchback. I ended up putting it in a tray/pan that sits over my spare tire in the back. A popular place with other 2005 Prius installers. It is basically under the floor of the cargo area, covered up.
If by "sit out in the open" you mean that it is not in a sub enclosure, then yes. It is a self contained unit, with a built-in amplifier. Not a driver in a sub box with a power amp, as is usual. The remote is used to set the crossover, volume, and phase. It is a wired remote. Some people leave it tied up next to the amp. I ran it up to the front so I could make adjustments.