Go Ahead and Skream

Take a look at that guy right there. We're very excited to announce that he's going to be coming to Champaign to play some tunes on Thursday, September 17th. Why are we excited? Because that seemingly unassuming guy does things like this:



"That guy" just happens to be Skream, and he is one of the rare musicians out there that you can say, without exaggeration, is responsible for an entire genre sounding the way it does now. To be very blunt, the sounds of dubstep that we all know and love would not exist in their current form if it were not for this 23-year-old from South London. (And yes, the fact that he's only 23 amazes and frustrates all of us as well)

Anyhow, Skream will perform on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th at the Highdive in Champaign as part of the Pygmalion Music Festival. It will be his FIRST US Festival appearance and his FIRST appearance in the Midwest.

Dubstep Massacre DJs Belly, Geist and Mertz will all provide opening support, and we know our fans will be out in full strength to see this dubstep legend.

Now for anyone that has even a passing knowledge of dubstep, Skream is a household name. But for those of you that are new to the genre, we're going to do our best to do some educating on this blog between now and the show.

We could start with his wikipedia entry, which does a nice job of providing an overview of his career. Just know that if there is a major European festival, he's played it. He's played every major dubstep night on the planet. He's criss-crossed the globe, and he released one of the biggest tunes in the history of the genre, "Midnight Request Line."

But to fully understand how much he was at the very epicenter, the very beginning of the dubstep sound, you should really read this interview from 2005 that he did with the blog Blackdown. It's incredible reading how Skream, Benga, Hatcha, El-B and the Big Apple Record Store all were directly responsible for UK Garage evolving into dubstep. Plus, there's a mix from Skream from 2005 in that post!

Skream's productions are of the highest caliber, and have provided some of the most epic moments in dubstep's relatively short history. Between now and the September 17th show, all of us blogging at The World On Fire will posting up favorite Skream tunes. But here's a few to get things going:

LaRoux - Going In For The Kill (Skream Remix)
Possibly the biggest crossover remix to date for Skream. It's a major hit in Europe, a top seller in record shops, and hopefully it'll soon be picked up by a certain Champaign radio station (hint, hint). And for all you interwebtweeter types, the YouTube video has well over 2 million plays:



Skream - Midnight Request Line
The tune that changed the face of dubstep forever. Grime artists like Wiley were still down with the new more melodic sound and the change in the hook, and even techno artists like Ricardo Villalobos were mixing it into their sets.



The Klaxons - Not Over (Skream Remix)
Like I said earlier, all of us will be posting up some of our favorite Skream tunes between now and the September 17th show. For me (Mertz) this Skream remix of the Klaxons remains one of my all-time favorite dubstep moments.



We'll have more for you soon and we will see you all THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th at THE HIGHDIVE in CHAMPAIGN for SKREAM!!!