Victoria based OuterSphere Recordings want to rep more artists

VICTORIA (CUP) — OuterSphere Recordings is looking to expand an entire genre of music.

The local collective wants to see dubstep — a South East London genre of electronic dance music — continually grow by meshing the cross-Atlantic styles of the genre. By splicing the big bass of the U.K. scene with the metallic tones and chaotic pounding of North American dubstep, the producers involved want to blur the distinction between the experimental and the classical.

“I think of the genre as actually modern classical music in the way that it has a big focus on the quality of sound,” said Mike Dean, a music theory and computer science student at the University of Victoria. “Music is not simply about harmony. Music is about organizing sound to give an effect to the listener, to state something the composer wants to state, and to explore all these different sounds.”

The net label collective also includes artists such as Triadic, Geev3s and Stylistic. They started the project about a year ago and their first multi-track release, Green’s FreEP Vol. 001, just dropped.

While the group eventually sees OuterSphere moving into producing other artists and even releasing some vinyl, for now it’s about collaborating on dubstep.

“The genre is really diverse, but there are some core things that it stems from. We’re really about accepting all the diverse takes on the genre,” explained Dean.

Dean and Green look to reshape dubstep’s boundaries with every track they produce. But they still feel the genre needs a core. For them, this core is a tempo of around 140 beats per minute. Having a consistent tempo allows DJs more flexibility when mixing, explains Dean. But around that beat, the music whomps and wobbles eccentrically.

“There is less necessary characteristics to a dubstep [track] compared to other genres,” Green said.

The technical element that is necessary is what Dean refers to as the “half-time feel.” Typically, music has a one-two-three-four beat, but with dubstep it’s more one-three-one-three.

“By reducing the emphasis on those extra beats it very much increases it on the ones that do have the emphasis,” Green explained.

The genre’s fluidity is the key appeal for both. Green grew up playing several instruments — six in total, including the trombone — but never found a true love for any of them. Dubstep, though, bit hard and deep.

“You weren’t restricted to music theory and harmony. You could start bringing in sounds that weren’t necessarily a specific note within a key. It’s just, this sounds a certain way and I want it in there,” Green said.

Dean’s first musical experimenting was on guitar for a couple of bands when he got to university. When they didn’t work out, he tried doing his own thing, but found the guitar too restrictive a tool. And Eclectrix was born.

“It was finally a way to express what we had always wanted to express, without feeling tied to the notes,” Dean said.

While both love the process of producing their own tracks, they approach it differently. Both use experimentation, improvisation and lots of revision, but Green reacts to what his experimenting produces, while Dean starts with a vision or concept in mind, and the track evolves from that. But both agree that dubstep’s really about the live experience.

“Going to a show and feeling the bass rattle your chest, or give you that full on feeling of power, is unlike any other genre I’ve experienced,” Dean said.

Green agrees.

“You can’t listen to it on laptop speakers. It’s a completely different experience live. I almost feel like, with dubstep, it’s not as much about listening to the song as being in the song, being a part of it.”