Album of the Week - SBTRKT by SBTRKT

You know what's a trend I can totally get behind? Gentrified dubstep. Allow me to qualify that. Of course, I'm not referring to race, income, et al., but rather the mainstream re-modification of this rather specific genre of electronic music.

Dubstep has by now developed a relatively concrete template--it may be hard to describe to friends in one sentence, but you know it when you hear it--so much so that if one departs from its standards, they must be re-labeled "post-dubstep" or "witch-house" or some other genre that the collective press has yet to stupidly* name.

But as dubstep continues to grow up and out of the underground, artists like Jamie Woon and SBTRKT are co-opting its styles and praxes, stripping away all the warble, murkiness and grime and re-purposing said conventions for mass, pop appeal.

"Is 2011 turning out to be the year UK bass music goes semi-mainstream?" asked Pitchfork's Jess Harvell in an April review of Jamie Woon's Mirrorwriting. With the release of SBTRKT's self-titled debut right around the corner (June 28th), alongside Woon's output and the championing of James Blake, she may be onto something.

SBTRKT's record, which I've already spun several times between Sunday night and now, runs all over the place stylistically speaking; there's something for everyone. And while the LP is delivered in broad strokes, it's more than "generic UK garage."

Don't get me wrong, the lo-fi output of Burial, Zomby, Benga, Mount Kimbie or Kode9 define dubstep, but not everyone has an ear for a track like "Endorphin." Even if you do, do you always have the patience/appreciation for it? Wouldn't you rather just dance? Honestly, it's refreshing to hear London bass in a much more glossy, digestable form and SBTRKT delivers just that.

I could complicate things further by throwing around genre terms like funky, 2-step, drum & bass, four-on-the-floor, grime, ambient, or breakbeat, but the takeaway here is to cheers an album that captures UK electronic music in an easy-to-swallow 40 minutes, not to pick SBTRKT apart influence-by-influence; its originality exists in its straightforward delivery.

*Can we honestly not do any better than "Chillwave" or "Witch-house"?

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SBTRKT - SBTRKT

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SBTRKT - Wildfire
SBTRKT - Something Goes Right
SBTRKT - Right Thing to Do

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