Dubstep: what lies beyond?

Your last point is exactly right Pezholio : Dubstep's tempo - which is now more and more flexible - makes it 'friendlier', more able to cross fertilise. Watching its spread was interesting: the techno scene took it in first, with Ricardo Villalobos, Laurent Garnier etc being early adopters; then drum & bass started having more and more dubstep in the 2nd room of raves; then the house and electro scenes began catching on; then increasingly the rap / r&b world in America got on it; indie bands more and more got into it; the pop world is catching on; and now, thanks to UK funky and grime providing new points of contact, predominantly black clubs in the UK are all over it again, it's being played in Ayia Napa etc... But even as it expands in all these directions, a solid core remains, which may or may not be because of its solid geographic roots in small groups of friends in Croydon, Bristol, Leeds etc...? Drum and bass, for all its strengths, was not able to meet the challenges of reaching out into the mainstream for a long time, and kind of turned in on itself - it's only very recently that it has grudgingly accepted that it's OK for Pendulum, Subfocus etc to speak to audiences that are not "JUNGLIST4LIFE!!!11"

Oh yes, and my event at the We Are Here festival is on Friday the 19th November, it's a discussion featuring Loefah, Artwork, Chef, Goldielocks, Tony "Moody Boyz" Thorpe and Mad Professor, followed by Mad Professor's Dub Club... It should be good.

Thanks for letting us know that you downloaded it illegally so none of the artists get paid, Clare. Way to go. And not only is Appleblim male but he's on Vol 1 already - as is Ikonika. And there are two other female producers on there: 8Bitch and Goldielocks.

Because, "Mr_X", she's a musician who grew up in Croydon, has a lot of connections to the Croydon scene, has worked with everyone from Benga and Mike Skinner to teenagers just coming up into the music world, is pushing new sounds in her own individual way, and is smart and lucid in coversation. Got a problem with that?