Skream - Essential Mix 6.17.2007

Skream, BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix June 17, 2007 (YSI link) (Sendspace link) tracklist in comments

I lied. I said that I was taking a break from the Essential Mix posts, in order to throw up some longer mixes that don't come from the BBC Radio One show. But, I had a crappy incident Saturday night and I've been listening to more and more of the dark shit recently anyway, so it seemed like a good time to throw up this Essential Mix by one of the leading figures in the dubstep movement, Skream. We're gonna be digging in a little deeper into this genre and a some related stuff over the next week or so, long overdue.

Skream was the first name to come to me in regards to the dubstep movement, which seemed to emerge from the grime scene but most people seem to see it as another splinter of the UK garage scene of the early part of this decade. Whatever, it's one of the most exciting things going today, its sparse rhythms, massive bass and dark vibe fit today's world a lot better than most of the stuff I put up (and LOVE!). Skream, amazingly, is only 21-year old, based in the Croydon area of South London, who has been producing tracks since he was a teenager. He found himself working at the Big Apple Records shop, which was an early epicenter of dubstep. We'll have more to say about him as we put up some of his tracks, but for now, it seems important to note that Skream was perhaps the first to bring a melodic sense to the genre in 2005 and 2006, while maintaing its distinctive syncopated rhythms and dark basslines.

You get a great chance to hear this on the 2-hour mix he did for Pete Tong's radio show. Amazingly, dude almost exclusively uses tracks by himself or his mix of someone else's song, as he clearly does not lack for confidence. Why shouldn't he, though, if he's responsible for so many excellent tunes? A few quick observations, before you download - I had never realized how much dancehall/reggae influenced and overlapped with dubstep, it's one of the few genres that works just as well without vocals as with and the basslines, oh the basslines you will hear. More to come on this front, this is a good intro if you'd like to jump in and a really great mix for those of you who've been following this scene closely.