A beat revolution

A beat revolution

If someone says, ‘Italian music,' what usually comes to the foreigner's mind is euro pop, movie scores or opera. Those who have spent more time in the Boot may recognize such local favorites as Jovanotti and Tiziano Ferro. The surprising fact is that Italians tend to embrace all

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Thu 02 Feb 2012 1:00 AM

If someone
says, ‘Italian music,’ what usually comes to the foreigner’s mind is euro pop,
movie scores or opera. Those who have spent more time in the Boot may recognize
such local favorites as Jovanotti and Tiziano Ferro. The surprising fact is
that Italians tend to embrace all types of music. From classical to rap, early
music to avant-garde, there is something for everyone in this dynamic country
that continues to bring melodies to the world in a variety of ways. For
example, Florence has a thriving dubstep scene.

 

 

Dubstep is an
experimental electro-dance genre. Less harsh than metal but more sinister than
pop, dubstep originated in the garage scene in Croydon, South London, and
gained popularity after several BBC radio 1 DJ’s embraced the new sound.

 

Dubstep is
unusual in its rhythm (138-142 beats per minute) and wobble bass, in which an
extended bass note is manipulated rhythmically with a low-frequency oscillator
and other filters. The resulting dark sound and the style of bass mark some
variations of dubstep, particularly the more club-friendly form. Another
technique used by dubstep DJs is the rewind or reload, a simple turntable
technique in which the DJ spins back the record without lifting the stylus,
creating a scratch and play back to the previous clip. This is especially effective
in live entertainment.

 

Heard in
clubs the world over and already evolving, dubstep now incorporates elements of
reggae and orchestral sounds and is even featured in some pop artists’ recent
music (Britney Spears is using it, for example). A new form of dubstep has
evolved in the United States called brostep, a ‘lurching and aggressive’
variant that has proved commercially successful (instead of focusing on
sub-bass, brostep emphasizes mid-range frequencies.)

 

Dubstep has
even taken hold in Florence, and featured events with famous DJs, such as
Skream (see page 7), are part of the music scene in clubs around town. Florence
is also home to Numa (‘new underground massive alliance’) Crew, a group of
underground music producers. Numa Crew is part of the first and biggest dubstep
scene in Italy, using drum and bass-Kuduro-Massive beats with six releases for
the Italian label Elastic and a bootleg label, Erba, which focuses on reggae.
Performing all over Europe from 2007 to 2011, the Numa Crew has organized many
big dubstep events throughout Italy and also has important collaborations with
famous names of the dubstep world, among them Zion Train, Asian Dub Foundation
and Casino Royal.

 

A list of
upcoming dubstep events in Florence organized by the Numa Crew appears on www.facebook.com/numacrew. In
addition, Dubstep Italia lists upcoming events and dubstep news (in Italian) http://dubstep.altervista.org/wordpress.

 

 

 

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