Soundboi - Dub Step/Soundboi Surrender

Hear The Track Here

This new name to me came onto the list this month and directed me to a track that wasn't on Soundclick. Now I see nothing wrong with that because I believe it shouldn't matter where the tracks come from, although it does cause a problem. Where can you, the loyal but tested reader, hear this track? That's why I have included two tracks in this review. One from the review list on another site and Soundboi Surrender which you will find on here. It's probably a good job too because to be honest if I only had Dub Step to go by, I might well be dissing the man right here. Dub Step isn't dub, unless you count the sub bass as being dub, which it ain't.

The first thing that struck me about Dub Step was that it almost doesn't register on my VU meters at all meaning it was mastered at an absurdly low rate. It means you'll either have to crank your system or tweak the ol' EQ to get any decent volume out of it and then be very, very careful because that sub bass I mentioned eats worlds. I guess the reason this track is mastered so low is to make headroom for that bass because when it drops in the world shakes. Once you get past this, Dub Step turns out to be a decent enough slice of hard DnB with enough technical tricks to keep even the most fanatical of techno heads satisfied, but those sub bass moments are all consuming and for sure this WILL blow some speakers if not handle properly. The peice works though, so if you can manage to tweak it enough AND like the style, this is well worth a listen - when Soundboi puts it on SC that is.

Soundboi Surrender sounds like a much more business-like proposition from the getgo. None of the fidelity problems of Dub Step, and I guess that must mean Dub Step is a demo of some kind. Soundboi Surrender treads much the same ground as Dub Step and is a skillful blending of hardcore DnB with some neat Dub/ragga overtones that screams dancehall. Put it like this, if you like your music really mixed up then you are going to rave over this. I love a bit of musical jiggery pokery and this track certainly does that from the bass sweeps and the ragga vocal snippets and the (very loud) bass runs. I do like good Drums and Bass and Soundboi definitely falls into this category whatever reservations I may have about the production style or lack of it. Fans of the genre will like it and I guess that's all Soundboi wants. I'd say it was well worth checking out if you like music that keeps you guessing...

Interesting DnB excursions.