The Others - "Africa"

The Others - Bushido (Dub Police 2007)

The Others - Africa 12" / Dub Police

Cyrus (Random Trio) was a nice step in the right direction, but I still don't think I really know what's going on with the dubstep underground. It's a deep, dark, twisted terrain of alien dub the likes of which the creatures from "Independence Day" must listen to when they're docking their spaceships on the mothercraft. I'm not sure even dubsteppers themselves know what they've birthed.This bizarre mental correlation seems to hit me every time I hear dubstep of any kind, actually.

That changed with The Others, two guys from SW16 London who go by Dexterous and D-Code. Their background springs from the Vestax DJ Academy, where they met and united under the banner of similar taste. This promo CD-R and/or vinyl 12 arrived unadorned in early May and I've been listening to these three tracks quite often lately. I feel like a narrow-minded fool for bringing him up again, but in a time when listening to Madlib's latest Beat Konducta record is pretty much the norm (It's all getting a bit unhealthy, but I hope to recover soon; get-well cards can be sent to the address at the bottom of this page), the unique nooks and crannies that these songs inhabit gets me as close to India as any trip Otis Jackson Jr. might have taken me on lately.

First, the two tracks kids will come to know and love as their own: "Africa" and "Flapjack." Cut from the same cloth as the rest of their brethren borne out of the wobblestep streets that have produced the audio wreckage seen elsewhere on these pages, "Africa" uses vocals more than the other two tracks, but the point is the same: Reggae zooms in from the future, breaks your ears with its wamping bass and brings you back with echo-laden vocals replete with a thick accent and vaguely sinister words. "Flapjack" is thankfully not quite as hokey as its title may suggest, a similar bassment-dwelling thriller with slightly less vocal influx and a healthy penchant for keeping it sleazy. Parents will be proud of their children blasting this from their Civics if they're not totally put off by it first.

While these wicked riddims are all well and good, "Bushido" is the exotic ace up The Others' sleeve and has already garnered "anthem" status in finer dubstep circles. Caspa has already done a remix of it, for example, and its obvious hook is so enticing I can almost smell the curry rising from the darkest recesses of East London. Whereas "Africa" plays like the label the continent once carried and "Flapjack" has the amusing backstory of N-Type rambling on about his mother's flapjacks on Rinse FM so why not call it that?, it's "Bushido" that takes the cake with its British Raj vibe, except who rules who may or may not be reversed. You decide.

This is the eighth release for Dub Police, who are just two years old and already on the cutting edge of the scene; L-Wiz, N-Type and Caspa were their early releases (and L-Wiz has already had three releases at the time of this writing). A sister label to Storming Productions and Sub Soldiers, Dub Police was started in 2005 for the more dubbed and half-stepped beats. This is just one example of how they've succeeded. As dubstep grows a little older and the folks at the forefront of the movement look to change and evolutioni[s]e the sound, new names are beginning to emerge. Those of you who are into this and have been sleeping on Dub Police, it's time to wake up: The Others have arrived, and they're not alone.