The annual Dubstepforum Awards were held January 17 at London’s Herbal nightclub. Forum members voted online and nominees who received more than 50 votes appeared in the final results tally. Brixton’s Digital Mystikz/DMZ crew fared well, while DM producer Mala took both the top producer award (Burial and Benga were voted second and third) and Best 12”, for “Lean Forward” (tying Uncle Sam’s “Round The World Girls – Tes La Rok Remix”). DMZ’s Sgt Pokes was voted best MC, and DMZ took top club night. N-Type reapeated for the second year in the best radio show category and was also voted best club DJ. Other winners included Rusko, for best newcomer, and Deep Medi Music, for best label. View photos and videos at Get Darker now.
More DMZ news: the club night celebrates its third birthday on March 1 at the Brixton Mass at St Mathews Church. Digital Mystikz, Loefah, Sgt Pokes, and more will appear.
And speaking of voting: San Francisco’s DJG and Australia’s Flippo were democratically chosen to appear on the second 12” single from Pressing Issues.
Bristol producer and DJ Forensics–runner-up for best digital-download track at the 2007 Dubstepforum Awards–has posted a recent Ill FM set, with tracks from Burial, RSD, and The Bug.
Watch the amazing 300-style digital animation video for The Bug and Warrior Queen’s massive tune, “Poison Dart.”
New York’s Dub War party finally got some recognition in its hometown über-paper The New York Times.
Fulham, UK-based artist Dwayne Marsh, who records for Tempa as D1, spins at San Francisco’s Shine club Wednesday, January 23, with Selector Dub U, Jus Wan, and StayPuft DJ. Other West Coast dates will follow. A recent mix showcases the producer’s house and atmospheric electronic-influenced sound.
Drumz of the South blog continues to be a crucial portal, hosting tons of excellent dubstep audio and video clips
Some supposedly new and unreleased tracks by Burial are floating around ye olde net, some in the form of YouTube posts.
Techy London producer Elemental (recently featured on Hotflush’s Space & Time comp) releases “Sirens – Refix” on his own Runtime label in February
New York’s Selector Moldy, who DJs at Lurkury and guests at Dub Wars, teams with vocalist Juakali for the new single “Glory,” out in January on Tectonic sister label Earwax. Also back in the game is noted UK DJ and producer J Da Flex, who posted this message recently announcing his return: “Wassup gang… I’m gettin’ back into the swing of things production wise and I’ve posted a new demo on MySpace. I might even see if EL-B has a track to contribute, for a possible Ghost release…who knows!” Speaking of El–preview his latest track, “Beautiful Sounds.”
Dubplate.net has copies of Benga’s Diary of an Afro Warrior triple vinyl in stock, as well as the highly anticipated Skreamizm 4 on Tempa. The latter features Skream’s heralded new tracks “Tek-A-Pill,” “Nemesis,” and “2-D.”
Other notable new releases and forthcoming tracks include:
Pattie Blingh and the Akebulan Five 10″ on Ramp, out February 25, featuring remixes of ’07’s Sagala album from 2562 and Samiyam.
Art Recordings presents Fused Forces’ six-track Safety Catch EP, out this month.
Check Bionics “Dubcore,” out now on Studio Rockers, for some sick, bassy stuff.
Kuma “Dawn Stepped Outside” b/w “DSO (Horsepower remix)” is out soon on Immerse.
Skull Disco releases Peverelist & Appleblim’s “Circling” and Shackleton’s “Death Is Not Final.”
Cyrus and Omen are back in February as Random Trio, with “Corruption,” on Random Trio Productions.
NarcoHz issues a new split single by from Juju and Djuna. “She” b/w “Sub Sol” and “Joyful Sound” by DJG.
