many members of this forum have been here since day one, so we are probably just preaching to the choir. but as the chicago scene is flooded with new faces and new fans, it's time to clue people in on a bit of history. and since this is largely an oral history--culled from our own experience and conversations with dj distance--we invite any corrections or clarifications.
DUBSTEP SCHOOL: MRK1
few can draw a line from the dubstep genre's origins on the fringes of uk/2step garage, the rise of grime, through it's breakout release--the arguably mis-named "grime" compliation on APHEX TWIN's rephlex records--up to the present moment; all the while churning out dancefloor bomb after dancefloor bomb. MRK1's first releases (as MARK ONE) came from the camp of labels--tempa records now being the most prolific, among bingo, souljah, texture and vehicle--surrounding ammunition promotions and their seminal FWD>> club night. started in 2001, FWD>> proved to be the spot where HORSEPOWER PRODUCTIONS and EL-B's dubwise interpretation of 2step
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN8GeW8krQ4 met the young followers and refugees of drum n' bass. building on tracks like DJ ZINC's massive "138 trek"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfmqmrFHJZg, many of dubstep's later stars--BENGA & SKREAM, DISTANCE and CASPA as QUIET STORM--would get their start producing the garage off-shoot many would call breakstep: taming the extreme swing of garage and gradually incorporating more of the darker elements of drum n' bass.
around the same time, proto-grime riddums, called 8 bar, rose from the ashes of uk garage. stripped down for freestyling MCs, 8 bar/early grime tracks like WILEY's "eskimo"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3PdS7r38HI and MUSICAL MOB's "pulse x"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bMQTU2iI1E sound quite similar to other garage mutations of the era--though you can start to hear the greater emphasis on half-time elements that would become rhythmic lynchpin of modern dubstep. though most music later to be known as grime originated from a different scene, MRK1 was at the center of both: pumping out tracks for the FWD>> crowd and leading his own manchester grime crew VIRUS SYNDICATE. with the success of THE STREETS in 2002 and DIZZEE RASCAL's 2003 mercury music prize, british hip-hop exploded and by 2005 VIRUS SYNDICATE dropped their full-length on planet mu. however, it was MRK1's inclusion in two important 2004 compilations--tempa's "dubstep all-stars vol. 1" and rephlex's "grime"--and his prolific output since on his own contagious recordings that has guaranteed his spot in the dubstep hall of fame.
check out this mini-mix by opener WHOA-B of some of his favorite MRK1 tracks:
http://www.whoa-b.com/audio/mrk1_minimix.mp3
tracklisting:
Devil Man
Daywalker
Slang
Realmatize
Trip Down The Nile
Slope
Infection
Too Hard
Digital
Stargate 92 Remix
