Originally Posted by Engine

In 2002 the magazine XLR8R put out an issue about the emergence of dubstep. I still have the copy that I bought on the stands, having never heard of dubstep.


the magazine writes that a BBC Radio 1 DJ credits XLR8R with coining the term, although the writer of the article is not sure if that's correct.

Anyone paying attention to electronic music since the early 00s can easily tell the difference(s) among dubstep that has been made since then. Like Freebase said, it's not a linear progression of a certain sound.

In that issue of XLR8R many unknown DJs are written about. One duo that definitely helped start the 'genre' (and one of my personal favorites) is Horsepower Productions. I consider them 'old' dubstep, although they don't represent the entire early scene which I think stems from a pretty simple equation: UK garage + Dub + 2-Step. But even that simple combo yields extremely varied results.



'New' dubstep is less easy to define because there are so many styles incorporated into the music that gets that tag. I think what Freebase called 'brostep' is generally what people think of when they hear the word now. Like this Zomboy stuff from, I think, 2013 (I personally think it sounds awful)


Of course there's a lot more than that coming out currently. Tempa is a label that has released reliably good stuff both old and new.

Originally Posted by Leotrix

You had to choose Zomboy to represent brostep didn't you?
He is a thief, he used loops for his bass sounds and drums (which are the core elements) and just says its his.

I think even brostep has subgenres at this point in time. Stuff from Circus Records is brostep but so is Skrillex and they sound different with the drum sounds and the amount of swing in the drums and the bass sounds.

Mt Eden, Datsik and Excision are all the pioneers of brostep.
Rusko started brostep.
12th Planet and Skrillex got brostep and dubstep in general into clubs.

I like all dubstep but the only part I don't like is the amount of wannabe producers copying skrillex's sound (e.g. zomboy)