Dubsauce

FURTHER TO THEIR HUGE SUCCESSES LAST YEAR, SIGNINGS TO GIANTS SUCH AS DIGITAL SOUNDBOY, BISCUIT FACTORY, GGD ARE HOSTING THEIR OWN NIGHTS (GOONIE ISLAND), CLUB ROOMS, AGENCY, AND RELEASING MUSIC THEIR OWN LABEL….

HERE’S AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CREW FROM 2011

OH MY GOD WHO ARE THEY???? I hear you yell as their beats bleed out your eardrums & their subs fumble through your bones…..

GANGOON DUBZ is the name, Brighton’s the terrain, and spearheading their Dubstep productions are three hot new producers named Hurley, Dismantle and Hizzleguy.

The full crew was co-founded by Hanzone, the female rep, who handles all of their managerial, administrative, PR and artwork, and also includes members King Zaius, Rudy Reds, Gandizzly aka Jumanji, and 184 Lockdown.

What is refreshing about this budding collective is that not only is their music bold, wild and rabble rousing to the extreme, not only does it encompass the sounds that are driving the jump-up side of Dubstep right now, not only are their beats being championed by the likes of Youngsta, Chef and Kutz, but they are all fully aware of how the industry works, and view their collective and its’ creative output very much as it should be viewed – as a BUSINESS.

The collective is a lively bunch of dedicated, fun-loving creative ‘goons’ who have grown up together and always had the idea to turn their passion for music into a business, with raw enthusiasm and talent to match, they have done exactly that as we now witness their debut releases hitting the Dubstep streets!  As described by Joe Muggs in MixMag, Hizzleguy’s ‘Bot Worm/Retro Warrior/Ow (EP), released on J da Flex’s ‘Thriller Funk’ digital label are “Zinging rave-up tunes with real class”.

When asked to describe their influences, Reggae, Hip Hop, Grime, Dubstep and DnB are firmly in the frame, “from Goldie to Buju Banton!”, with certain members bringing their own angle, “Rudi has done a lot of Hip Hop, and we’ve all been musically orientated from early – GGD has been about for four or five years – we knew peeps in the scene already – everyone involved has their own take on what GGD music is!”

It’s safe to say that Hizzleguy and Dismantle’s beats can be described as tear-out, with bouncy head-nod drums and huge elastic industrial bass lines that twist your head up and sounds that you’ve never heard before.  The drops can be subtle or immense but they will inadvertently have you making shapes like Zebedee on crack whether you meant to or not.

Hurley’s beats are more musical, they still have the GGD characteristic of crisp hard drums and firm chords, but with an almost 2-step feel to them with clever use of vocal samples and harmonies, and inventive percussive sounds.  Again the production is clean, unambiguous and a delight to mix.  It’s fair to say that as a DJ you can rely on a degree of quality in the GGD sound that is unusual for a newcomer in any scene.

All three producers use Reason, and Hurley also combines Reason with Logic.  When asked to describe the type of Dubstep they make the answer came back: “Kung-fu style Goonstep – no categories – it’s ‘Dubstep’ at the moment.”  GGD are clearly aware of the infancy of their musical works and already see themselves as pushing boundaries free from the constraint of genre, which again is inspiring and refreshing in equal measure. 

They describe their individual artists as “holding down big moves” currently: the clues are emerging as we speak!  For those who follow Get Darker TV, their recent appearance with Hatcha and the Sin City gang was a big one… 

Not only will they be joining forces with Sin City, but also N-Type’s Wheel & Deal, Walsh’s Biscuit Factory, Terrain Records (Dismantle/N-Type), Evergreen Forest Records (Brighton) and last but not least, GGD Digi – their own label, which they are looking to develop into vinyl releases too.

Clearly psyched by their initial successes, they don’t take their eye off the ball for a second, and late summer brings a slew of events, mixes and promotional activity all based around getting the GGD sound moving around.

GGD play regularly in Brighton at Subsplash, Supercharged, Super Dubpressure, Big Bang, Skank, and various other venues that cover the Brighton base camp.

GANGOON DUBZ TOP 3 DEEJAYS:

1.     CHEF    “3-decks – he’s serious – more of DJ – he’s mixing on 1210’s”

2.     ANDY C   “best DJ in the world – 4 deck mix no headphones – no crossfader”

3.     N-TYPE   “skills – his mixes are on point and his selection”

GANGOON DUBZ TOP 3 PRODUCERS:

1.     EMALKAY – “Every tune he’s made is sick”

2.     SKREAM & BENGA – “broke so many boundaries, including other forms of music – everyone jumps on their shit – commercial and underground”

3.     JOKER – “vibes and skillz”

4.     JAKES – “hard”

 OK, that’s four, well, five…

As if all that wasn’t enough, GGD have plans to expand their business to include Gangoon Anime and soundtrack, tee shirts, artists, lifestyle, in a style akin to the empire building Jay-Z, in short a wide ranging production company/brand fuelled by their outrageously energetic music.

GANGOON DUBZ BIG UPS:

JAKES – “Shouted us out first on Radio 1’s Dubstep Wars”
J DA FLEX & EL B -  Check their forthcoming releases via Dubsep originators Ghost
HATCHA – For supporting and promoting their beats
DAN – Hove YMCA

SUBSPLASH BRIGHTON
MUTATED MINDZ
SOUTHBOUND HANGERS
RISKOTHEQUE
MARCH MELLOW
NTYPE & WALSHEY

CLANDESTINE
JAK WOB
KUTZ – “Heard him drop one of our tunes at Subsplash”

CHECK THE GGD SOUNDCLOUD FOR SOME INSPIRING FREE DUBSTEP DOWNLOADS

http://soundcloud.com/gangoondubz

Tuesday 19^th June 2011 – Corsica Studios

Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle London SE1 is no stranger to Dubstep of the deepest order, and boasts a tonk system to ply its wares.   This is all streamed live via:  http://boilerroom.tv/live

I was particularly interested in attending this session having interviewed Hyetal for iDJ Magazine earlier this year (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=206196332751007&set=pu.153379141366060&type=1&theater), and performing cuts from his album ‘Broadcast’ including a live PA from Alison Garner, Hyetal gave a stunning, understated yet overwhelmingly atmospheric delivery of his inimmitable  cinematic soundscaping and production.

I’ve always enjoyed the system in the second room at Corsica, and I was engulfed in a full body sound reproduction experience stood behind the artists performing high octane Ableton sets to a buzzing crowd eager to soak up this new broadcast medium/environment.   I was intrigued by the notion that it was ‘uncool to dance’ at Boiler Rooms, but thankfully this unspoken rule was blown out the window pretty much as soon as the music started!

The set up was odd – It felt unnatural for the DJ to face away from the crowd, but I could see how capturing the live club atmosphere behind the artists via a live stream added an extra dimension for the artists, crew, crowd and viewers alike.

Blue Daisy brought catchy wonky experimental beats, with obscure broken atmospheric sampling and sophisticated electronica production styles to the table, with grimey, funky, house & hip hop elements rife in the flavouring.

Hyetal performed several cuts from his album making full use of every frequency and facility in the system via his sweeping orchestral breakey soundtrack compositions, after a sly rum and coke, like I said – full body experience!

Fantastic Mr Fox leapt straight in with his bouncy 2-steppy funky flavours boasting  an  almost ‘pushed’ broken groove not dissimilar to obscureJazz time signatures, and skilfully  remixing R&B accappellas that I recognised from 90’s UKG.  The vibes really got jumpy on this set and the crowd had a good old wiggle on the dancefloor!

In summation I was bowled over by the system and bemused but equally entertained by the camera/crwod set-up – I can definitely see the appeal as a viewer for catching the atmosphere brought by the beats, and as a quick slide from Brixton on a Tuesday evening, it was a pleasurable laid back way to enjoy the best quality technology delivering high standards of composition and performance.  And all with a grimey South London warehouse feel – clever.

I would highly recommend the experience if you get the chance, or you can watch the stream live on a Tuesday evening, also hear sets from this night using the following links:

http://boilerroom.tv/blue-daisys-45-min-mix/

http://boilerroom.tv/hyetal-ft-alison-garner-35-min-live-set/

http://boilerroom.tv/fantastic-mr-foxs-40-min-mix/

NB:  Please be aware that this event is by invitation only.

So I caught up with Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs before the London leg of his Soul Assassins European tour at the Jamm in Brixton, where he was performing a unique dubstep set blended with hip hop and a melange of dance music as part of a dubstep V hip hop night in Brixton. 

 Gresh from Copenhagen and en route to Paris on his twelve country European tour, as a life long hip hop nerd I was fascinated by his interest in dubstep:

“I’ve heard that you’ve turned to dubstep?”

“ I LIKE DUBSTEP!” he grinned! 

Muggs is due to release a bass music album on Soul Assassins in January, and his European tour featured a mash-up set in with as much dubstep as his audience will take:

“… Yeah I think generally they come because they know me for my hip hop and they want to come see what Muggs is doing then I mix in the dubstep. “ 

Muggs recently collaborated with Bambu de Pistola on a dubstep release featuring Dizzee Rascal , Snap Your Neck Back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OiSNOv0Sg

 that premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe, and will feature on the Soul Assassins album out in January entitled ‘Bass for Your Face’. 

“ ‘Bass for your Face’ is dubstep/bass music – anything with a lot of bass  - I bring enough hip hop into it so the fans walk away happy!  The stuff that I like with dubstep is the stuff that I know hip hop kids would like- I still bring my hip hop energy into whatever I do.” 

The buzz about Muggs’ London date had been rising steadily over the preceding weeks where key London talent from the worlds of hip hop and dubstep were set to go head to head on 9^th November at the Brixton Jamm (Muggs, DJ 279, Sarah Love, Snuff One, Caxton Press VS Chef, El-B, Crazy D, Rod Azlan, Cotti, Enme, Raggs).  Due to technical issues Muggs was unable to appear on Get Darker, about which I quizzed him and it was evident that he fully comprehended the pivotal underground promo offered by GDTV and was genuinely gutted to have missed playing in what he rightly saluted as “the home of dubstep”…  However the crowd in attendance at Jamm was more than ready for his dubstep selection, and they weren’t disappointed.

Muggs’ set had a driving bouncy vibe and his wild skills, switching from the coldest hip hop breaks to the filthiest dubstep beats & bass, to thrash metal, to rowdy ska and back to tropical 4/4 dubstep.  As predicted, dubstep made up most of his selection, and despite having a prevalent set of angry mid-range sounds to suit the crowd, the other frequency ranges were fully on point.  I was pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion during his set to feel drum thuds and bass oscillation wriggle up through my leg bones, and got thumped in the chest repeatedly by some terrifying subs.  The levels on production were hardly a surprise from a living legend of hip hop - the message that his sound is evolving very firmly in the direction of dubstep was delivered like a shot in a face.

 He finished up with an impeccable throw-down of hip hop classics such as Rob Base & Easy E “It Takes Two”, Run DMC “Walk This Way”, Cypress Hill “Insane in the Membrane” and brand new dubstep including his new collaboration with Dizzee Rascal, and Itchy Robot’s remix of “Rock star”. 

 I was curious to see how the hip hop element would respond to the dubstep weight in his set, as the crowd was easily 50/50 hip hop/dubstep fans, however the integration of the genres came off seemlessly, and the subs and aggy energy were clearly more than enough for a heavyweight rap crew!

 Muggs has been working alongside Itchy Robot, 6Blocc and a host of other dubstep artists in addition to his collaboration with Dizzee:

“I do albums for different reasons, but I make sure I do a hip hop album every year and a half – I been doing a lot of underground records lately, and when I do those I use different MC’s and introduce myself to a whole new fan base so there are kids that are sixteen years old who don’t have a clue about the impact I made when I came out with my first record, so it’s cool.”

Muggs’ ethos about his music, about hip hop, and producing dubstep is relaxed and realistic.  He has nothing to prove musically or in terms of success, has a wealth of experience in the music industry and a healthy attitude to progressing his sound:

“So it’s about a sound, it’s more about the kind of energy I’m bringing.  Dubstep is huge in the US – the bass music scene is massive it’s getting bigger than rock, getting bigger than hip hop…  For now it’s all about collaborations – I’d love to collaborate with more dubstep artists - I like simplicity in music – that’s why I like James Brown – you got a groove a break a groove a break – I like songs I like putting vocals on things – things that will stand the test of time are gonna have melodies on them – things that are familiar.”

So watch this space, as well as his usual hip hop output of an album every year and a half, we can now expect to hear cult classic “Insane in the Membrane” getting the dubstep treatment by Muggs and his associates, alongside countless other dubstep creations.

Many thanks to DJ Muggs, Brixton Jamm, and Blitz UK for this interview.

DJ Raggs