Dubbel Dutch: "I think we need more [musical] schizophrenics"

February 1, 2014 2:05 PM

Marc Glasser started making electronic music when he was a teenager, and now produces music under the name Dubbel Dutch and releasing it most often on the eclectic Mixpak label, whose general sound often leans towards weird takes on reggae riddims. But as Glasser mentioned in a 2010 interview, he has been "opening up to music from everywhere. Cumbia, dancehall, kuduro, South African house, Dutch bubbling, Bmore club, Chicago juke and footwork*, old skool jungle and hardcore, garage, UK Funky and all that mingles with, or shares influences with, these sounds." What does this "schizophrenic" collage of musical styles sound like? Start with Self Help Riddims and the title track video, Self Help Riddim, then go from there.

Dubbel Dutch doesn't have a ton of music out, at most clocking in around 2 hours of original compositions, so you can bolster that with some of his mixes and remixes. But first let's get into those genres he cites:

• Cumbia (previously) is "the musical backbone of the continent" of South America, as detailed in a 45 minute episode of Alt.Latino on NPR. As described on Latino Music.co.uk's list of top 100 cumbia songs,

  Cumbia is a style of music originating from Colombia and hugely popular all over Latin America with different variations of styles depending in what Country and Region you are in. Cumbia is thought to have began as a courtship dance which was practiced among the African slave population that was later mixed with European instruments and musical characteristics. For a long time Cumbia was more popular than Salsa and still is some regions of Latin America.

• Dancehall is by comparison, a younger genre. As described by AllMusic,

  Dancehall developed in the '80s as "ragamuffin," a hybrid style featuring a DJ or "sing-jay" half-singing, half-rapping with often bawdy ("slack") themes. The musical structure is rooted in reggae though the rhythms, played by drum machines, are considerably faster. By the '90s, dancehall crossover was common, with many gangsta-rappers incorporating dancehall rhythms and its rapid-fire toasting. Major dancehall figures include Yellowman and Shabba Ranks.

• Kuduro has been mentioned in two prior post, the broad "booty music" post included kuduro next to Detroit Ghetto Techno and Miami Bass, and an older post on why kuduro hadn't taken off yet, as of 2008. But what is it? Here's kuduro according to BreY, along with his top 10 tracks:

  Kuduro is a genre of music originating from Luanda, Angola and not out of the European blogosphere. If you where to take what crunk music was in the US and ship it over to Angola, add a dash of afro-Latin percussion, give it a dance music twist and present its MC with a new complimentary set of balls…that’s what you’re in for, a hard ass ride. That’s Kuduro, at least the Kuduro that I grew up on.

• South African house, well, it's pretty much as its name implies. Local influences from South Africa mixed into house. the South African City Press shared the 10 top house picks from "club legends" Oskido and Euphonik, and you can dig further with South African House mixes from House-Mixes.com.
• Dutch bubbling started when a Dutch DJ played a dancehall record at the wrong speed and the crowd loved it, which resulted in that DJ, Moortje, building a sound and scene around sped up and slowed down dancehall samples.
• Bmore (Baltimore) Club refers to a what started as a local style of chopped up blend of hip-hop and house, and as since been adopted elsewhere, but the name stuck. Baltimore-Club.com is a pretty solid resource for more of the current scene, and was posted back in 2006.
• Chicago juke and footwork are related styles/scenes, originally based around dance crews. The local scene started in the 1990s, but it took over a decade for the sound to move beyond the Chicago area, thanks in part to Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu label. Paradinas described the sound for a mix he made a few years back:

  Footwork has hyper syncopated rhythms, sub-bass, offbeat tom fills, triplets and pitch manipulated pop samples; it takes a while to reprogram your brain, but it's worth it. This sound has evolved over the decades from Chicago House, Ghetto House, and is part of Juke.

• Old skool jungle and hardcore could be considered some of the early phases or stages of drum'n'bass, as described in the MeFi post, "Born from jungle techno, the amen break, hip-hop and dub: a history of Drum'n'Bass"
• Garage has a lengthy history, as covered in the MeFi post, "A brief musical history of Garage"
• UK Funky is described as "house produced by refugees from UK garage and grime looking to have a good time while bringing their sonic and stylistic baggage with them" by Tim Finney for Pitchfork, and that's a decent start to an eclectic soundscape. It's relatively new, so it's still lively and evolvoing, compared to old skool jungle and hardcore

Now you might be saying, "that's a ton of music to fit into 120 minutes of production, how does it all fit?" Here you can listen to everything Glasser has done as Dubbel Dutch, in an attempt at a chronological discography:

2008: Infinite Decimal (Daily motion, single)
2009: Trollsta (YouTube minimix)
2010: Throwback EP - Throwback, Deep Underground, Fool In You
2010: B Leave single (Bandcamp)
2010: Pulso (from the Untold/Dubbel Dutch split)
2011: Hymn EP (Soundcloud previewl; tracks: Open Up, Darq, Hymn)
2012: Self Help Riddims EP (Soundcloud)
2013: Cloud Club EP (Soundcloud), featuring "air horns and cheesy brass," blending "good-time melodies of dancehall" with "trance motifs."

And the mixes...
2010: Austin Mix
2011: Slow Club Mix
2012: Afro-House Mix
2013: Cloud Club Mix

posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

I have a complicated relationship with EDM. Thanks for this.
posted by humboldt32 at 3:36 PM on February 1, 2014

Awesome post. Self Help Riddim is one of my favorite dance tunes in years-- I wish it were more influential! Ahead of its time...
posted by chaz at 4:22 PM on February 1, 2014

One of my favorite producers and DJs (and a delightful human being in general). I still listen to his mix of slowed down jersey club tunes with some regularity.
posted by sparkletone at 4:46 PM on February 1, 2014

wow, gonna have to dig through these. thanks!
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 5:56 PM on February 1, 2014

That video exactly reflected my own self-help practice of meditating on expensive cars, exotic travel destinations, women and iguanas! What are the chances?
posted by yoHighness at 5:16 AM on February 2, 2014

I'm enjoying this. Since Cumbia was mentioned as an influence, this seems like a good place to mention DJ Zhao's fantastic Cumbiatronic mix (number 17 in his Ngoma series), of modern and mostly-electronic takes on Cumbia. I think I first heard of DJ Zhao here on MeFi.
posted by Emanuel at 3:13 PM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mod note: One comment deleted. There's a Metatalk post in progress for anyone who would like to specifically discuss the problem usage of the word "schizophrenic" in the post/article. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:52 AM on February 3, 2014