I was having a conversation with my awesome sister the other day, who made the not-altogether-unreasonable claim that “all party dubstep sounds the same.” While I’m not the biggest fan of Rusko, High Rankin, and other bass-heavy producers, I do like the more headphone-oriented works from producers like Joy Orbison, Scuba, and Mount Kimble on Hotflush (not to mention the absurd talent of Burial).
My buddy Nihal has a great ear for mixing that sort of heady stuff together; check out a few of his mixes and productions on his SoundCloud page here (including a fantastic warmup set for Scuba at a Blkmarket Membership party in New York).
Having said that, there’s definitely a time and place for subwoofer-tearing dirtiness, and when that time comes, I’m a strong supporter of unsigned Ontario production duo ZEDS DEAD (I assume the name is coming from Pulp Fiction). They’ve released a handful of tasty bootleg remixes of some of the biggest names in music (think Rolling Stones, Radiohead, etc.).
It’s the track below that really got my attention. I’m of the mindset that Radiohead are almost an impossible challenge when it comes to remixing, since their original works are so unbelievably good. But ZEDS DEAD take “Pyramid Song” and transform it from a eerie, piano-driven, off-kilter slice of alternative rock into a vicious and invigorating dancefloor monster. Their Massive Attack remix is great as well.
Radiohead - Pyramid Song (Zeds Dead Illuminati Remix)
Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (Zeds Dead Remix)
They also seem to have a habit of absolutely shaking clubs to the ground, as the video below indicates:
Cool. Thanks to impressive blog Vacay Wave for finding these guys. Hopefully they’ll get signed soon!
