I’ve been addicted to maybe two things in my life–clean socks and tomatoes. But this summer I feel a third addiction coming on–Dubstep, baby, DUBSTEP.

Beginning in 1999, Dubstep is a hybrid of the garage Grime scene based out of South London. It pulls from darker sources and relies on fluid instruments rather than grime’s characteristically coarse MC’s (ex: The Streets, Lady Sov, Kano). The term “dubstep” was first used on the cover of XLR8R magazine that featured Horsepower Productions–a UK trio (Benny III, Lev Jnr, and Nasis) that some claim gave life to Dubstep by mixing UK Garage, Techno, House, Dub, and Reggae. Croydon, a London borough, sparked the dubstep ignition with the now defunct Big Apple Shop by pushing the sound of dubstep. A conglomeration of producers from the Croydon hood, including Horsepower, Kode 9 and Jammer, manipulated and combined dense, hollow sounds with a darker two step.

There’s a great deal of connections when it comes to dubstep. It’s rather mind-blowing because everyone is releasing mixtape after mixtape, mashing up hits, therefore knowledge of this expanding music culture (as is everything else in the miraculous universe) is an infinite adventure. To make it easier for me and you I will compact the dubstep lesson with three links. I try not to get caught up with the name-game, but to relax and enjoy my newfound love of dubstep. Now please go take off your socks and check out these links.

[1] Pitchfork recently had a column devoted to dubstep and it’s pretty informative. I learned about a New Zealand and Japanese producer collaborating to make up Goth-Trad! The name is hysterical, but it’s fun to eat grapes and text message to their myspace song Acid Trip. DEFINITELY on my top 8 til myspace do us part. [read dubstep article here]

[2] The blog of Blackdownsound, aka Martin Clark, made a lengthy mixtape: This Is 4 You Bristol (Clark is referring to the Bristol in England with the population of 397,585 according to dictionary.com) He was the one who wrote the pitchfork article and I think it’s awful when people refer to themselves in third person. You’ll know what I mean if you read it. [download mixtape here]

[3] Dubstep PHOTOJOURNALISM blog. This lady has been doing documentary work out of London for the past six years…around the time dubstyle formed. Do I smell a connection? Like babies and pacifiers? [visit photo site here]

A personal interpretation of dubstep from thy heart yields: