Sweet Headache

Sweet Headache 056: “Exploring Drumstep” (by marvis)

A few weeks ago, I first heard about a musical genre called “Drumstep”. I heard it was somewhat similar to Drum&Bass and Dubstep, but was kinda in the middle of the two.

Being a DJ, the best way to get to know a new style is to play around with it and see which way it kicks you. So here’s my first Drumstep safari:

Talking about Drumstep to a few other DJs, many of them scoffed upon this style. For Drum&Bass-DJs, it sounded somewhat familiar, but some felt it lacked the ass-kicking drive of their preferred style. On the other hand, some Dubstep-DJs that I talked to complained that it was more or less the same as Dubstep, just a little faster.

I can understand those positions, but I decided to look at it from another way: With a tempo around 87 BPM, Drumstep should both mix with many HipHop tracks as well as Drum&Bass (if you count it as half-time).

This actually gives me a lot of flexibility as a DJ: I can mix different styles and thereby create a very dynamic set without having to change the global tempo.

As a result, this didn’t become a pure Drumstep set, but a short mix of many styles: Starting off with some remixed HipHop, we then come to a true banger by Tantrum Desire.

The two Aphrodite tracks after that are actually a bit older, but they nicely show how two different tempos can peacefully co-exist in one track – either in different parts (“Sometimes”) or layered (“Hoochie”).

“Lose Yourself” by Eminem is a classic HipHop track that simply had the kind of energy that I wanted here.

The mix ends with a funny little monster called “Panic Attack” that manages to alternate between melody and bassline attacks nicely.

All in all, I have to say that Drumstep seems to offer some interesting possibilities. I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for more. Suggestions are welcome!

Tracklist:

• Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Boom Shake The Room (Kanji Kinetic Remix)
• DJ Zebra – Killing Boombastic
• Tantrum Desire ft. Youngman – Chill
• Aphrodite feat. Beverly Knight  – Sometimes (Motion & Remedy Remix)
• Aphrodite feat. Schoolly D – Hoochie
• Eminem – Lose Yourself
• Diesel – Panic Attack

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderbohn/3308366016/ // CC-by-nc-nd