Skream

Skream – real name Oliver Jones – is one of the pioneering forces of UK dubstep, having helped popularise the genre through massive remixes and regular club nights (including the infamous Forward>>). The Londoner’s debut album, Skream!, was considered a game changer at the time; it was certainly the record that opened my door to dubstep in all its original variations. Most people will have first encountered him via his incredible dubstep remix of La Roux’s ‘In For The Kill’, which was arguably the version that broke La Roux in the first place.
I’ve probably seen him live about twenty times; he seems to appear at every single festival in every single country, every single year. Most of the first few times I saw him live was while he was DJing B2B with fellow dubstep pioneer Benga; together, they would try to out-bass each other with the grittiest, heaviest dubstep. And, of course, they are (or were, as Benga has allegedly retired) both part of the ‘dubstep supergroup’ Magnetic Man with Artwork, who performed live with MCs and intense visuals – I saw them across a number of festival during 2011.
More recently, and since his emergence as a BBC DJ, Skream has turned his back on dubstep in favour of disco house. In 2013 I saw him and his epic ‘disco sets’ (often three to four hours long) at four separate festivals (including Worldwide in France, Dour in Belgium and Secret Garden Party in the UK), in which he would play oldschool Motown, ‘80s disco and cheesy house music fronted by oldschool dubstep MC (and Magnetic Man MC) SGT Pokes. Just this weekend, I saw him at Secret Garden Party 2014 for a garage and house orientated set! Whatever genre Skream turns his hands and eyes to next, he is sure to remain one of the UK’s best club DJs.

Often described as one of the central figures in the development of the Dubstep genre, the musical direction of Croydon’s Skream, otherwise known as Oliver Jones, has changed somewhat in recent years. As Dubstep’s prevalence began to wane and gave way to (or melded into) genres such as Trap, Skream went ‘back to his roots’, the results of which we can see in his Skreamizm tour. Essentially, these dates feature Skream (among other DJs) doing a three hour set of the music that’s close to his heart, which is house, funk, disco, electro, plenty of bass. What I really appreciate about the concept behind Skreamizm is the urge on Skream’s part to recreate that ‘rave’ vibe, much like at the FWD nights at Plastic People in Shoreditch. That means somewhere dimly lit where you can go and dance or stand and bob your head and listen to the music. It’s not necessarily about party anthems or smoke machines, or expecting a live show; it’s primarily about the music. This was the kind of place Skream (and many other producers I might add) musically ‘came of age’ in, and it’s certainly good news for some of us that a DJ regularly playing festivals and big stage shows would make the space and time to return to more intimate venues. 10 years on and Skream is still proving that he’s one of the best.

Depending on your view of dubstep, Skream is either a visionary or a culprit; either way, he had a major hand in launching the genre, nurturing many aspects of the genre’s sound as we know it today on his debut album, Skream!, back in 2006. Later on, he’d become one-third of the style’s most prominent supergroup, Magnetic Man, alongside Benga and Artwork, and lend the scene a genuine commercial viability; their one and only album to date, self-titled, went in at number five on the UK charts. Most notable, though, was his remix of La Roux’s ‘In for the Kill’ back in 2009; his Let’s Get Ravey take on the song really marks the moment that a prominent dubstep mix made the move over the mainstream clubs for the very first time. He continues to work as a producer for artists like Kelis, Katy B and John Legend, and has DJ’ed on Radio 1, too; he continues to tour extensively, too, and already has two appearances lined up at Manchester superclub The Warehouse Project this coming November. Constantly mashing up his own work with fresh takes on that of others, his live sets are unrelentingly exciting affairs; he’s one of the country’s most prominent young dance talents.