Throughout the two and half years this blog has been running we’ve seen certain stylistic shifts in dubstep. We’ve tried to help document the phases and new directions through speaking to some of the players involved and through shining a light on newcomers making waves whilst keeping a level of continuity about our writing. The tempo shifts is probably the most notable change. A lot of people dropped it and the yardstick moved. Even since we’ve been doing our radio show, we started in May of last year, we’ve ended up (or started) at 110bpm or slower, a difference of probably about 20bpm considering we started focused on joining the gaps between dubstep and the housier offshoots. And yeah, I know, I fucking hate it when people talk in bpm’s too, like ‘oh, yeah, I make like 111bpm slo-mo house’… If you’re going to be that niche and specific you could have have something of a better frame of reference but I digress…

One person who’s seeming revelled in the open ended nature of this tempo shift is Grievous Angel; a producer whose work with Blackdown and his Keysound label has melted from garage flecked dubstep, to garage flecked UK funky over the past couple of years. Watching his movements from afar we’ve always considered him to be the kind of dude who puts across well versed reasoning, in themeing his mixes and presenting what he does with a well informed persona.

His 2008 album, Belief Is The Enemy, experimented with dancehall, techno and ragga influences, reference points that were more or less expected at the time, a period when producers poured every offcut of anything into their productions, and since then he’s focused himself further on making his own brand of UK funky – house music made with some of dubstep’s open attitude and broad sound palette. He remixed the whole of Dusk & Blackdown’s Margins Music live, from the stems up, creating his own Redux version of the album which was released in 2009. It fully showcased his ability to fracture and twist source material and since then he’s continued the trend, creating his own DJ tool edits that often appear in his archival mixes hosted on his blog.

Submitting a mix to us that he’s calling the third in a running volume of Tense, Nervous House mixes, James Balf caught up with the producer to discuss the very notion of the title, Ableton and the wealth and diversity of modern club music…

http://www.sonicrouter.com/2011/07/sr-mix-93-grievous-angel-keysound/

Kerri Chandler & Monique Bingham: In The Morning (Lost Love Dub) [Bigga Sounds 2006]
Shackleton: Blood Rhythm (Grievous Angel Edit) (2011)
Jamie Woon: Night Air [Ramadanman Remix] (Grievous Angel 130 Edit) [Candent Songs 2010]
Zander Hardy: Attack [Deep Teknologi Records 2010]
Oddyssey: Use It Up and Wear It Out (Grievous Angel Edit) [RCA 1980]
Unknown Soulja: Killing Kong [Unreleased 2010]
Don Morris: Amiga [Deep Teknologi Records 2010]
Grievous Angel: Kleer [Unreleased 2011]
DJ Gregory: Don’t Panic [Faya Combo 2009]
T.Williams: Drumstrumental [Deep Teknologi Records 2010]
DiscoKaina: Click Me On (Grievous Angel Remix) [Unreleased 2011]
DJ Gregory & Gregor Salto: Con Alegria (Solo ‘More Cowbell’ Remix) [Defected 2009]
Grievous Angel Vs Kalbata: Reload [Unreleased 2011]
Grievous Angel feat. Rubi Dan: Move Down Low VIP [Soul Jazz 2010]
Wiley: Electric Boogaloo (ROLLER EXPRESS RMX) [One Love 2010]
Delphic: Halcyon. (L-Vis 1990 Remix) [Chimeric Records 2010]
Felix Da Housecat: Kick Drum [2009]
Grievous Angel: Lush Vibes [Unreleased 2010]
Shackleton: Blood Rhythm (Grievous Angel Funky Remix) [Unreleased 2011]

http://www.sonicrouter.com/