Sound Systems: The Culture Breaking Down Borders

Bass is a fundamental of dance music; from sub frequencies, felt almost as much as heard, to the sawtooth wobble. So much so that it became a genre itself, Bass Music, circa 2005 in order to cover the post-dubstep era and has become a convenient catch-all term for people to crowbar in micro-strains like gqom, uk funky, footwork and more.

Rather than codifying this globalised movement transcending borders and uniting cultures as a ham-fisted genre, maybe it’s better to think of this as a continual advancement and progression of sound system culture? This notion fuels the curation at Boiler Room Festival, assembling a line-up of collectives, labels and sound-systems united through creating seismic waves vibrating around the world.

“ALL RACES. ALL CREEDS. ALL GENDERS. WE DON'T SEGREGATE, WE INTEGRATE.”

Established in the ‘80s, Aba Shanti-I is a sound system whose positive message remains at the core of this culture, inspiring the current generation. As Boiler Room set out to highlight with their SYSTEM series in 2018, which Aba Shanti-I participated in. A campaign celebrating the Windrush generation and the positive impact of migration on music in the UK and British Culture. Or bringing their weighty sound and messaging to their long-running sound-system residency at Notting Hill Carnival. All fuelled by the positive energy of Rastafarianism.

Still spinning roots, reggae and dub, the system’s open ethos pre-figures rave music’s ecstasy-fuelled sense of unity: “All races. All creeds. All genders. We don't segregate, we integrate.” Still providing a deep connection to the original basslines of Jamaica, it has served as a bedrock for new iterations, most explicitly dubstep. “We’re the foundation,” founder Aba Shanti-I told Colorising. “They’re borrowing elements of our music and stuff like that but that’s another avenue for people to listen and go, ‘Where did that come from?’”

It was Dubstep’s earliest adopters like DMZ, Kode9, Hatcha that have carried this spirit into the modern realm, for others to follow. Tracks like ‘Anti-War Dub’ borrowed not only the sound palette of dub, infusing it with a tougher, steelier frame, while also developing heavily mutated bass frequencies, but also the musical ethos of Aba Shanti-I et al. Dubstep also maintained the idea of dubplate culture, Mala, Coki, Loefah and the rest cutting exclusive acetates that could only be heard in their sets. This continued the emphasis on feeling bass on a proper system.

“I love playing music live, I love that connection with humans, I love people being in a room together, being energised and giving and taking energy,” Mala told RA on his own attitude to the unifying power of bass. “That flow and circulation of energy and vibes, for me, is a special thing.” Mala’s continued to plow his own particular path with Deep Medi, a label that has grown a defined signature rooted in dub whilst many other dubstep originators have moved on.

Encapsulating what it calls the ‘classic Brooklyn-Caribbean connection’, Mixpak, founded in 2009, has released albums from two of Jamaica’s biggest modern stars, Vybz Kartel and, most recently, Popcaan. The latter’s dancehall sound, now infused with trancy arpeggios and R&B auto-tuning, shows how technology and the internet have created a two-way flow of influence to create a new language driven by bass.

“Since the beginning, the plan has been to get involved with stuff from around the world and try and bring all the genres and aesthetics together,” label Boss Dre Skull said in an interview with Red Bull. “Because, ultimately, all music has commonality.” It’s this communication of cultures that’s at the heart of this global bass movement.

Founded in 2017 by Iceland’s SNØW, now a Rinse FM resident, and London’s Ahadadream, More Time is one of the exciting shoots of this new fluidity, drawing influences from various distinctive rhythms including dancehall, socca, UK funky, gqom, kuduro, afrobeats and grime to push forward an ever-accelerating process of fusion upon fusion. It’s a process that’s mutating these homegrown genres into a wider cultural context, Brazil’s MC Bin Laden riding beats as influenced by reggaeton as they are his native Baile funk, Príncipe’s Nidia drawing on her african-portuguese heritage for dazzling syncopated drum workouts that also throw in big room trance, auto-tuned vocals and grand string flourishes.

THE PROGENY OF FWD>> ARE COMING OF AGE AND TAKING OVER THE WORLD

To put this in context, it’s necessary to go back to FWD>>. Founded in 2001, FWD>> really came into its own when it took residence in the tiny Shoreditch basement of Plastic People (RIP). Little more than a dark dance floor and an incredibly dynamic sound system - as clear as it was loud - Plastic People fostered a long-standing community through its myriad of residencies. It was here that FWD>> nurtured the underground dark garage sounds that would become dubstep through DJs like Horsepower Productions, Slimzee and Geenus - Rinse and FWD>> founder alongside Sarah Lockhart.

FWD>> also fostered the innumerable mutations spanning the gaps between, around and beyond them. It became a breeding ground for new sound that lead on to future stars like Katy B and James Blake, whose music has journeyed beyond the club into the charts. The incubator of a generation. A space where steely, sparse dark garage mutations rubbed shoulders with urban and experimental pop, today their progeny are coming of age and taking over the world.

A bubbling, vibrant collection of artists, labels and sounds are combining and reconfiguring thanks to our digitally-connected world, swapping the DNA of sound-system culture and realising common, shared heritages. Reducing down influences to their richest essences then stirring in contemporary culture, this is a movement that is both deeply rooted and starkly contemporary. Boiler Room Festival’s line-up celebrates this multicultural, multigenerational scene, presenting key artists in its development and pointing towards its increasingly inescapable future.

Written by Joe Roberts

Boiler Room Festival Day 3: Bass with Ballantine's

Inspired by our True Music journey together across multiple continents shining a spotlight on the diverse sounds and spirit of communities, Boiler Room & Ballantine’s are celebrating borderless music in London, through the melting-pot lens of bass culture. Buy tickets here

Centred around Peckham, the Boiler Room Festival will push the boundaries of a traditional festival. Four Days. One City. No Headliners