By 2011, Dubstep was not only fully embraced the world over, it had split into so many subgenres that everyone would argue about. It eventually spurned off into a media-dubbed label dubbed ‘EDM’ and my love affair with the sound was starting to subside. No longer did I feel people were making it because of the exciting energy it delivered or the anti-establishment sounds its roots were buried in. Now, being brutally honest, it all felt like it was becoming a bit of a fad and I felt everything was done for the faux shock value or the sheer amount of cash you could grab and go. Everyone and their mum, literally, was becoming a Dubstep producer.
Yes, I sound like a total hipster I know, but the reality is the opposite. I created a whole website and platform in order to spread the sound of the of music I loved and Dubstep was one of those genres. But artforms are quickly saturated and sadly this can cause the heart of a sound to die a slow death. But that didn’t mean it was dead, I don’t believe genres are owned or controlled by anyone such person who could deem it so, and there were enough bangers out there, you just had to dig a little harder.
It had been 11 months since I last created a Dubstep mix and as I officially ended the Dubfluencial series, to many peoples dismay, I had decided that Pop Dub would end now too. But, one cold winters day in London I got an email from a young kid called Charles. He had just turned 16 and wrote me an incredible message about what Ego Thieves meant to him. I won’t reveal too much, but he told me he wasn’t very well, was pretty much stuck inside all the time and he felt Ego Thieves had been his window to the outside world. It was a highly touching and emotionally charged email, he poured his heart out and asked if I had planned to do anymore Dubfluencials or Pop Dub mixes.
Before I emailed back, I decided to do a quick scan, could I find some tracks I felt would be worthy of the last installment of Pop Dub? I found a few and thought ok, I never actually announced I was to end this mix series so thought let’s do it. I emailed Charles back and told him I hadn’t planned to but his email was so inspiring I’ve decided to end with one more mix, Pop Dub 7, The Final Spin.
While I was putting the mix together, I had really begun to take my design studio a lot more seriously. My very talented cousin and artist Josh (Joshua Summana, go check out his incredible art right now!) was doing a small internship with me and I commissioned him to create our very own Ego Thieves, Pop Dub Slot Machine. I fell in love with the design and it encompassed all the energy I wanted to relay into the mix.
This was a bumper mix, consisting of 32 tracks, I really wanted the series to go out with a bang. Big up’s to Charles and if you ever see this, drop me a line bro, I lost your email years ago. Love to every single person who always got in touch to let me know how much they appreciated all our hard work, it really does mean the world <3
PREVIEW MIX
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