Friday is a special one in New York for all y’all bassheads fiendin’ for your fix.

Love lights it up with FIRE DRILL, featuring CS familam Slouch alongside Dore and Nebulla from Code of Arms.

Then across town, Le Poisson Rouge cooks it up with Sub City Sessions, featuring Glitch Mob and Sub Swara.

Over the East River in Brooklyn, the night keeps going.

Glasslands reups on the Dutty Artz tip with another New York Tropical, featuring Matt Shadetek, Uproot Andy and Geko Jones.

Not far away, Jungle Space is cracklin’ with Derty Derty Boom Box, featuring 77 Klash, Todo Santos, and Comerade.

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Quick post for y’all. Video of Boosted at Love from January. Videos from the club are usually terrible, but this isn’t bad. And it offers a good look at what goes on behind the boards there. 6blocc, Enkryption Projekt, Nebulla, Dore, Bisc 1, and Human (maybe).

This joint came out in ’07, but Mars is mastering a full length as we speak, so expect more freshness soon come. In the past, he’s blessed wax with toasters on the scene like Dutty Artz’s Jahdan and Dub War’s Juakali. (Peep the Jahdan song, called “Above & Beyond Dem,” on SoundCloud.) Like so many other New York dubstep producers, black’s got a background in drum and bass, but he got his start in a hardcore band in upstate. Most recently though, he remixed a song called “Master” by indie rock band The Press, and turned it into a tragic cliffhanger of a cut. (Record Label posted up the MP3 for free download.)

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Turbulence “Notorious,” (Nate Mars RMX)

Mars will spin at the after party for the single’s release this Friday in Brooklyn at East River Bar. Peep the handy-dandy Culture System calendar post for more on that. (For all yall that subscribed to the calendar’s RSS feed from the original post about it, this is the correct link for that. Sorry.)

His overall dubstep style is similar to Dub Gabriel, although less obsessive in its sound design with more attention paid to composition. That may be due to his interest in live instruments, which he uses in his production. “I never stopped playing instruments to make electronic music, I still practice all the time,” he told The DJ List. “I’m trying to break the preconceived notion that instruments and circuits can not be integrated together successfully as one sound. I want to bridge the gap by flipping the crossfader on people’s brains and allowing them to see that all mediums of artistic expression should be embraced since it is the message that is really important.”

Aztec Calendar

We’re happy to announce a new feature on Culture System: The events calendar. You can subscribe to the feed here [fixed], or when you visit the blog just check the sidebar. You can scroll through by month and hover over the days that have events to see what’s going on, or you can look below the calendar for a list of upcoming events.

The new calendar is another step towards Culture System’s mission of being a portal, in addition to a publication. In the sidebar, you can also find links to other New York event listings, digital music stores, search engines for DRM-free MP3s, music glossaries, a gang of other New York music blogs, and more.

In Brazil, there are a number of rural communities called quilombos which were founded by escaped slaves or started on abandoned plantations. A new documentary called Quilombo Country, narrated by Chuck D, covers these communities in their contemporary state. The film is showing through Thu, Jan. 25, at Two Boots Pioneer Theater in the East Village, and again on Fri., Feb 6, at the Taller Latino Americano theater in Harlem.

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Proper Villains, Here Comes the Neighborhood Mix, (Tracklist after the jump)

What can we say about this, other than it’s a heavy bass mix from a New York DJ collective?

The mix starts off a bit random but its all connected by fat, dirty synths, sawtooth bass, and the wobbles. Next, it moves on to solid bassline territory then flirts with dubstep for a bit. Finally, the ’90s come hard for the last 10 minutes, starting with Proper Villains‘ song “Vampy,” which is available exclusively on this here mix [Fixed]. The mix isn’t very evil, though.

Catch Jon [S], one of the crew, at the Bowery Poetry Club on Jan. 25. Also, you can pick up their new album, Nightshifters Classics vol. 3.

Proper Villains, “Piggly Wiggly,” Nightshifters Classics vol. 3

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"Remaking the Night Sky," Graphite on paper. By Michael Schall. Show up now at Pierogi Brooklyn.

Long melodies written with sub-bass are generally the province of the bassline circuit. In a genre like this, where less attention is paid to sound design, that makes sense. It deals with a smaller sound palette and makes up for it with melody, similar to electro. But even in bassline, creating comprehensible melodies is an achievement, because wobbly sub-bass is such an unintuitive sound.

With a piano, for example, the notes are laid out in order; one related, subtlety different note after another. But wonky bass has such a wide variety of textures, pitches and speeds that putting them all together seems like it would be a daunting task. Even when successful on this front, however, bassline can leave more to be desired, since it has a tendency to lack depth of mood and tempo.

But now, such melodies in dubstep have begun showing up on on Culture System‘s radar.

The most prominent label to push the sound is the young Sludge Records, situated in Brighton. Sludge was (presumably) birthed from Ed Solo’s "Sludge" dub from last year. Solo, who unsurprisingly is very comfortable with bassline, released this song which marked a distinct departure from the rest of his eclectic sound. Then recently, he released the "Age of Dub" on the new Sludge imprint and killed it. Next, Crissy Criss dropped "Don’t Mess About," arguably burning Solo.

Although it is hardly recognized at the moment, New York dubstep will not to be left out of this shift, thanks to DJ Dore. A couple weeks ago, Dore dropped "Dark Ecology (dubstep remix)," and it deserves a place alongside Sludge at all dance music distributors. Also notable among Dore’s portfolio are "Hidden Dub" and "Snowcone." Although loopier and simpler in composition, "Hidden" is a good listen. "Snow" also has a tendency to get loopy, but builds into an expansiveness of melody (albeit less rhythmic) that surpasses the aforementioned dubs, Sludge included. All these songs are on his MySpace page.

You can catch Dore, and the rest of the Code of Arms recruits at Synctank at Bar on A this Saturday, January 10th. The event, which we covered last time around, will again be hosted by Slouch. He released a new EP with The Great Mundane, which is available for free download at Mundane’s Web site. (It’s well worth your time.)

But they’ve got their competition cut out for them. London’s murderous Zomby will be performing has cancelled his appearance at Trouble & Bass‘s show at Studio B the same night.

Distort – "Oil and Collage on Sign" – 2007

On Saturday an unexpected gem of an event played host to further evidence of dubstep’s creeping influence on New York’s musical inclinations. The event was a monthly electronic jump off called Synctank, which took a deep look into itself and found it was capable of darker depths of sonic exploration. That realization spawned a guest appearance by the Code of Arms crew, who spun a blend of their own locally produced dubstep with some of the more recognizable names of the genre.

The night started off on a very different note, when Caitlyn Hessell filled the room with her acoustic guitar and melancholy voice. But her sound was akin to the eye of a storm, and any stragglers who were lured in by her comfortable wallowing were certainly surprised when the rain hit in the form of wobbly bass.

Bar on A, where Synctank is held, has the feel of a place that pines for the Village of the ’60s. But nobody came asking that the bass be turned down, and the system there is certainly better than anybody has at home (audiophiles not included).

The host of the event, DJ Slouch, got it in as well with his new mix. He took a decidedly bass heavy turn, and blessed the crowd with a mash up of deep, recognizable instrumentals, bursts of ’90s hip hop, and original production.

You can catch Slouch again at Out of Sequence on Thursday at Karma Lounge. Staten Island’s own Udachi will be a guest there, as will Peter Kirn on the visual tip. Udachi, who was at Trouble and Bass on Saturday while we kicked it at Synctank, takes the bassline thing to even speedier realms. Kirn is the founder of Create Digital Music and an all around smart guy. (Peep this ridiculous video he posted a minute ago.)

The Code of Arms boys can be heard again on Thanksgiving Eve at Greenpoint’s Europa.

Nebulla, DJ Dore, and Soroka, "China (clip)," Draco EP (BUY)

Slouch, "October Mix"

“God damn dubstep.”

That about sums up how I’ve felt about this British style for a while now. It caused me spasms; teasing me with   its possibilities, but forcing a landfill of trash through my headphones. Maybe it was just ‘cuz I’m in here in New York, not London.

The latest DubWar poster. By Miss Ashes 57. Cop a limited edition print here.

Well, now the DubWar heads are pounding the concrete streets of NYC, and I finally got a real taste of the style with the party they threw last night.

I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but from some of the mixes I heard on their website, I suspected it might be what’s up.

See, I’ve heard dubstep mixes where I had to suffer through twenty minutes of monotony before I heard a decent dub. Whole sets where I didn’t hear one minute of melody or complexity. I couldn’t even tell whether or not I was listening to different songs because they were all so similar as to be identical. It’s almost as if a lot of the heads in the scene are more concerned with identifying with a genre then they are with making good music – like so many of the purists in the prolific variety of electronic sub-genres.

But it’s a style that appeals to me with its forward looking attitude, as my man Blackdown is fond of saying, who was present last night. Dubstep caught my interest since I first heard some random snippets of its bomb-raid-like bass and rusty metal electronicness. I’ve been eagerly  waiting to find examples of the style that pushed beyond the excessive loopyness and simplicity to attain the title of “music,” and DubWar brought that shit.

I’m not sure who I heard – whether it was the Bomb Squad, (the production team behind Public Enemy who performed live last night), Loefah, Dusk & Blackdown, or any number of the resident DJ crew. But I do know that I most definitely came away feelin’ like the music I heard was worth the scraps of cash left in my hole strewn pockets.

DubWar definitely filled the emptiness my fiendin’ for good dubstep caused, but it took more than that to get my sleep deprived ass outta bed and into last night’s  freezing wind. It was also the chance to hear this ish on a good system. I wanted the bass to rumble everything around me like the subway. And dudes did their best to provide.

Unfortunately, the police showed up and made them turn it down.

Killed the whole night.

In fact, the whole club – called Love, of all things – was hurtin’. The place was underground, and after you entered, you descended a flight of stairs that looked like a five year old’s idea of hell, what with its black light toy graffiti, grimy corners and all. They had this lounge that was pretty fly, with two open stories of loft spaces that held beds inside little caves. But the whole area was damp from this waterfall that took up a big part of the room. I couldn’t help but think about how bad the mold looked once you turned the lights on. Besides the water, you couldn’t really hear the music in there either. The only speakers were on the dance floor, and there were none in any of the other rooms.

Six dollars for a Red Bull with no alcohol? Riiiiight.

If this night is going to blow up, they’ll have to find a new spot. But keep your eyes on the DubWar cypher, ‘cuz they just might bring the fifteenth British Invasion. [UPDATE: One year later, almost to the day, I finally experienced the system on the dancefloor in all it's glory, and it. is. fire. RIdiculous. As my luck would have it, something happened everytime I went, and I never heard it like that. I still stand by my statements on the rest of the club, but damn that system is nasty! ]

Since Culture System did an earlier post on the Chicago electro-rockers Walter Meego a few months back, I figured it would be appropriate to let you know that they are coming to Brooklyn on August 30th at Studio B.

My Open Bar, everybody’s favorite cheap drunks, are putting together this electro night, which will be headlined by VHS or Beta and include a Deejay set by Finger on the Pulse. Team Robespierre will also perform.

If you RSVP through Going.com, you can avoid the steep cover charge that Studio B has been known to level people with.

Skroop!

UPDATE: The Meego afterparty will be at Home Sweet Home.