A beginners guide to dub step

I've been sifting through my analytics data and the most popular piece of content I have written was about dub music . I thought I would continue in a similar vein and provide an intro into the world of dubstep.

Dubstep is a dark brooding, minimal (at times), bass heavy experimental musical genre that Originated in the UK underground but is spreading across the gobe. As a musical style it tips its hat to traditional dub reggae, drum n bass/jungle, weird clattery sparse electronica, UK garage, grime and even elements of breaks and Techno.

A good jumping off point to explore this genre is Mary Anne Hobbs bbc radio one show which can be a challenging listen at times but also delivers serious gold (best listened to via IE as it seems to have issues with Firefox when listening outside the UK). Mary Anne has been seriously championing this sound since 2006 and is helping push it to the world. I have a copy of the Warrior Dubz compilation she produced a few years back. There are a a couple of cracking tunes that in my mind help define this genre with my favourites being The Digital Mystikz tune Anti-War dub, , Bengas tune Music Box, Burials tune Versus and a number of other gems. Probably my favourite tune from this genre is Burials tune "Unite" which is on his myspace page, I personally think its amazing.

The thing I like about some dubstep is the sparse moody sound, the beats and the blatant disregard for and commercial sensibilities. The downside of this adventurous production approach is at times the bass lines can be harsh, paranoid, heavy as F**K and almost un-listenable and it can all be a bit too much.

If you like your tunes on the more bass heavy side of things the dub step underworld is well worth an explore and if you have an internet connection it is all so easy. Other pages to check for a listen include:

• Kulture - I heard a wicked track of theirs/his "Vitamin D" on Mary Anne Hobbs show.
  
• Skream - A huge name in the scene
  
• NZ Dubstep - This style has taken hold in NZ, Kiwis dig bass heavy styles

Well enjoy the dub step for dummies guide I'm going surfing

New Improved Blogger Page Title Hacks

After discovering to my horror that the page titles on this blog had reverted to the dreaded "blog title: post title" format which is the bane of semantic indexing and plays havoc with click through rates in search engines. Thus I was forced to edit the code of this blog again.

I decided to see if anyone had produced any updated code that would create decent titles while still allowing me to manipulate the page elements without breaking the page (which was a previous massive failure of the code I linked to in my previous page title post). Anyway I stumbled upon this awesome piece of code hackery that will easily let you to swap xml blogger page title's (thanks Archit !). This is a great piece of code and is super simple to install. I swear that if the world becomes the internet then brilliant indian devs/programmers like Achit (& Kunaal) will build it.

Yes I am a wannabe Geek!

Software used to bust sly sickies

I noticed this article in the Sydney Morning Herald about voice analysis software that can identify if you are lying when chucking a sickie. Apparently the software has been rolled out by an organisation in the UK which has saved them squillions. I'm no fan of people taking heaps of sick days to take the piss - in fact I personally haven't taken a suspect sickie in years but this reeks of big brother and is a little terrifying. On the upside maybe this opens the door for voice modulation products to use when calling up to throw a sickie to lay on the couch so you can finish the final stages of GTA IV.

www.disguisemysickdaylies.com is available for any budding entrepreneurs....

Give Six Ounce Surfboards your money

I caught up with Ben at Six Ounce Surfboards on Saturday and was reminded of why he is such a dead set legend. Ben was kind enough to play the role of "ding whisperer*" for me and sort out some minor cracks and tail damage to three of my boards that I have purchased from him over the past 3 or 4 years. I have basically been delaying this life admin task due to slackness and a consistent run of surf over the past couple of months.

Anyway Ben worked his ding whispering magic and hey presto the majority of my quiver was back in top form, Benny also would only except payment in Beer (coopers pale) and minor cash which I think is amazing for someone trying to pay the rent and feed his Hugs N Kisses and two kids. So in return I thought I would do the charitable thing and tell the 4 whole visitors I get to this blog each day what an exceptional human being Ben is and that if you are planning on buying a minimal surboard bondi or a longboard bondi then go see Ben and give him some money (not beer as Barnaby is too young to drink).

Oh and don't for a minute think from the link text that I ride any retro hemp smelling craft, I am a short board fascist kind of guy although my daily ride is a little fatter to deal with the lurch burgers that the Eastern suburbs frequently dishes out. The anchor text selection is purely based on my thoughts of what kind of things prospective customers might be throwing into Google when trying to hunt down a reputable surf shop in Bondi.

Anyway the swell should be building over night due to a nice Tasman low pressure system. Check the explosion in the WAM below courtesy of Coastalwatch




*A ding whisperer is a human who is like a horse whisperer of Surfboards that have magnificent powers to magically restore boards back to a sleek non busted up state. Favour should be curried with these talented wizards of resin by any keen surfer with poor ding repair skills (like me).

Trying to get Base Pizza to rank

As the title says I'm trying to get my favourite outsourced dinner provider Base Pizza to rank as it annoys me when I try and find them in Google and they are nowhere to be seen. I figure a link may assist as their site is shocking from a search perspective committing a number of basic crimes against semantic markup (or lack thereof). Anyway hopefully this link will make it easier to find and order one of their excellent Spanish seafood pizzas ;)

Major Calling - I'm listening

I came across this spot of random today at www.majorcalling.com/ it appeals to my sense of humour and appreciation of the random.

Drunk Vader suprise Jedi attack

Something about this news article makes me piss myself laughing.

It might be the randomness of an alcoholic wearing a bin bag brandishing a crutch, ineffectually attacking the founding members of the Holyhead (wales) branch of the Jedi Church who were filming a light sabre battle that reeks of the absurd.

Hollywood can't script stuff this far off the randometer.

*And no I don't advocate violence - especially not from the welsh boozy sith against Jedi knights/students

Cervinia Snow Envy

As I mentioned in my last erratic post my Beyonce went on holidays to Europe courtesy of her extremely generous bestie Caria-Canaria. They visited a ski resort in Northern Italy on the border with Switzerland called Breuil Cervinia and it would be accurate to say that they got amazing snow.


View Larger Map
Check the terrain and satellite options in the g-map above to get an idea of altitude and set up

I'm so green with envy that I almost look like Fredo the frog, although I was slightly consoled with a stash of booty including Top Man t-shirts (No I don't try and dress like an electro, emo, wannabe beatles member at a rave), Qantas PJs from Business class and some Man-fume (the copy is hilarious for this - talk about selling lifestyle aspiration in a bottle) .

Anyway I realised that this blog has been significantly image deficient so I thought I would borrow a few images to add some more unique content.

Cervinia sounded like an awesome high rolling winter wonderland with great snow, comfy accommodation, nice food and runs up to 22km long to get your legs warmed up. The location on the Swiss Border meant that My Beyonce and Caria-Canaria skied into Switzerland from Italy one day (as you do) which sounded awesome although the 3-4 k's of t-bars coming back didn't sound so much fun (for those not in the know extended periods on t-bars and pommels=pain). Check the pics to get an idea of how epic this place looks.

Looks like awesome snow to me


Top of the world - a long way from Sydney


Caria-Canaria Living large

Anyway for other Ski oriented ramblings check my Snow Biz post from last year full of pirates, terrorists and super good Perisher.

Surfing is Good

The surf is absolutely cracking today in Sydney. I surfed a little known secret spot called Maroubra with a frothing pack of other dudes. I got a couple of fun ones and also got severely drilled duckdiving by a number of friendly bone rattling 4 foot peaks of doom. I love surfing in Autumn and winter when the winds switch after being onshore for days, and just like flicking a switch pretty much the whole east coast of Australia from the Victorian boarder to the Sunshine coast is pumping. There is something beautiful about the cool water, the smell of salt, the crisp mornings and the thrill of clean thumping waves that makes me feel alive at a cellular level. Well time for breakfast, my beyonce is back from a high rolling ski trip to Europe paid for extremely generously by her bestie Caria-Canaria.

Eat now, then more waves, then DJ Markie later for some Brazilian infused D & B warmth.

Good times.

Logistics Reality Checkpoint

I have this album on heavy rotation at the moment. I recently discovered Logistics by subscribing to Hospital records excellent podcast produced by Hospitals boss Tony Colman (aka London Elektricity who is also wicked producer and funny d'n b geezer). Anyway I decided to lash out and by this album on Beatport and it is fricken wicked. It features some nice big slabs of warm bass and wicked tight drum pattern production. To me the album is all killer with very little filler.

If you like well produced beats check logistics myspace in the link above or subscribe to hospitals podcast as it's generally more hit than miss and Tony digs shapeshifter which means he's OK in my books ;)