SCION STREAMING RADIO TOP PICKS
In 2011, it’s hard to imagine Los Angeles without a dubstep scene. With regular parties, local DJs and relocated sound legends, it can feel like it’s always been this way. Drew Best, founding member of SMOG, remembers a bass-less time in the city and how he and his cohorts went about changing that. SMOG now has an impressive roster of DJs, puts out records and hosts legendary dubstep events on the regular. We caught up with Best, host of a monthly show on Scion Streaming Radio, to find out what music has been rattling his bones recently.
Emalkay, Eclipse Emalkay’s debut album just came out on Dub Police Records, and I think it’s probably one of the best things I’ve heard, dubstep-wise, this year. It’s a very current sound, all later dubstep, although he’s got a couple tracks that have an older, jungle vibe as well. The whole thing’s got a lot of guest artists who are vocalists, so there’s a lot of house-y tunes. It’s a great album, and we’ve played a couple of those tracks on the radio show already. Noah D SMOG’s hopefully doing an album with Noah D. He’s also got a lot of guest vocalists, everyone from people like P-Money—who’s a grime artist in the U.K.—to the Grouch and Eligh from the Living Legends, who are West Coast rappers. He also worked with people like Anti Serum. The whole record is real funky and it goes from being aggressive dubstep to really kind of out there, spacey, what they call the “purple sound.” Egyptrixx, Bible Eyes I love the new Egyptrixx album, Bible Eyes. It’s kinda house-y, but it’s got that dubstep bass influence. I’m a huge fan of his stuff, and that whole record label Night Slugs in general. It’s run by Bok Bok, and those guys have been making some really great records. It’s house and techno music, but it’s all dubstep and grime influenced, and it’s a fresh sound.
12th Planet and SPL, “Lootin’ 92” We just did a single with 12th Planet and SPL, who’s a new member of our team. He’s from Portland, but we signed him to our label. They just did a single that’s been well received, a lot of DJs are playing it. It’s called “Lootin’ 92” and knowing 12th Planet, I’m guessing it’s an L.A. riots reference. smogla.com Listen to SMOG Radio every month on Scion Streaming Radio at scionav.com/radio/channel7