Reid Speed played at Awful Arthur's on Feb. 20
Reid Speed’s ponytail bounced as frantically as the Awful Arthur’s crowd she entertained Saturday evening. Behind a turntable setup, the petite performer aggressively bobbed her head while the speakers pulsed.
Based out of Los Angeles, DJ Reid Speed creates dance ready music mixes that fuse a breadth of styles.
“In the flow of a two-hour set,” she said, “if you’re going from 170 (beats per minute) to 140 to 130 and back up again, you can keep it interesting and it doesn’t have to get boring.”
At the slower end of that beat spectrum resides a rising musical genre called “dubstep.” The dubstep sound is unhurried and loaded with heavy, nearly omnipresent bass — its advocates describe songs with words including “nasty,” “filthy” and “grimy.”
Born of this millennium, dubstep permeated Blacksburg in recent years through several conduits.
During his 2008 abroad studies, senior marketing major Ian McGlumphy glimpsed dubstep in an Amsterdam coffee shop. Once stateside, he promptly broadcast his new tunes. A radio DJ for WUVT since freshman year, McGlumphy released dubstep into southwest Virginia airwaves.
Yet while McGlumphy had considerable reach, he said his showcase wasn’t the original. House-party audiences peeked dubstep through local acts such as DJ Chup and DJ Class-A.
A taste for Chupa Chups lollipops led to the name DJ Chup, while Class-A refers to top-level audio amplifiers. Like McGlumphy, both DJs latched onto dubstep in Europe, which is where its roots formed in the early 2000s.
DJ Chup, senior electrical engineering major Sam Wells, worked near London in summer 2008. Class-A, senior chemical engineering major Steve Morris, had a more ingrained experience.
“Pretty much my entire teen years (were) in the U.K.,” Morris said.
“It’s definitely influenced my music tastes I feel like more to the electronic side.”
Although dubstep has a detailed ancestry of electronic music styles, the DJs said certain characteristics make it unique.
They acknowledged a layer they call the “wobble.” Dubstep producers often manipulate bass with computer software to create a fluctuating effect. To get an idea, say “womp” repeatedly at varying speeds. Granted, the “womp” plays at rumbling frequencies that approach human auditory limits.
“Hope you got some real speakers for this one,” McGlumphy said on WUVT last Thursday, “that’s the only way you’re going to hear it.”
The growing infusion of vocal clips also differentiates dubstep from its instrumental relatives.
“A lot of producers will just take a sample and build a song around that sample,” Wells said.
Snippets from British film are common. McGlumphy said he recently heard morsels of animated sitcom “Family Guy” in a dubstep track.
But how do “womps” and cartoon comedies translate on the dance floor?
“That’s almost kind of like a joke in the culture,” Wells said. “How do you dance to dubstep?”
McGlumphy said rarely are there intimate dance partners.
Because of dubstep’s often deliberate pace, people tend to find their personal groove, which includes what he calls a contorted “bass face.” And he’s seen many grimaces this academic year.
McGlumphy helped organize performances that featured dubstep at establishments including Ceritano’s, Abella Cafe and Awful Arthur’s. Atop locals such as DJ Chup and DJ Class-A, McGlumphy reeled in Finland dubstep producer Tes La Rok.
McGlumphy said although Tes La Rok’s January show at Awful Arthur’s fell just after snow caked Blacksburg, the turnout was substantial.
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 26 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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An article about the Reid Speed show without any mention of Third Eye Productions or Boogieburg who made this possible? Didn't Jonathan Griffin of Third Eye Productions fly from Colorado to help make this event happen?
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yeah that's cool to write an article about the dubstep DJs in the Burg, but to not mention the guys that booked Reid Speed and put all the work into it is kind of messed up. what's the deal with that?
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Replying to May & Robin: Yup, CT seems "consistent" in leaving out the important details. This doesn't surprise me, as I recall living in Blacksburg and reading about events that I attended and observing all the mistakes in the subsequent CT article.
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The CT really should have mentioned those who worked hard to put on a great show. The Blacksburg music scene doesn't just happen on its own.
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Great music doesn't just stumble upon b-burg. It might have been nice to mention the folks who brought the heat to swva in the first place. Perhaps they should be the focus of your next front page story, the individuals and groups who work their asses off to bring in DJs like Reid Speed. Those same people are the reason big-name DJ/musicians WANT to come to Blacksburg--cause they do it right, have great crowds and know how to throw down!
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Where's the mention of Boogieburg or Third Eye? These are the guys who made it all happen. All Reid Speed had to do was show up and 'bob her ponytail'. What a rot gut of an article.
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Yeah this is nothing new. They did a whole story last semester about EDM events in the area and guess what. We were not mentioned in that article either. Im starting to question the motivation of some of their staff. Either that or they just dont pay attention. There was a TON of CT staff at the show. I guess thats why I started running ads with 16 Blocks instead.
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There's nobody named Joe in Boogieburg. What are you afraid of that you're hiding behind a fake name?
That article you mention was specifically about the events at Champ's that were produced by Massive Sound, as mentioned by Dave below. There was another article (by the same author) about Spark Arrester a month later, but apparently that one's easily forgotten.
This article might be lacking a bit, but the comments are so full of win!
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Its Joey. Some people call me Joe. Sorry if I just blew your mimd. haha
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wow, I do that sometimes... mind sufficiently blown
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As other comments have said, both Third Eye (Jon) and Boogieburg should have been mentioned since this article appears on the surface to be about the Reid Speed event. Since it instead focuses on who is behind the dubstep movement in Blacksburg, it's ridiculous that there's not even a mention of Perry Graham. While Ian is a good guy, and he's put together a few great dubstep events downtown, I feel that the popularity of dubstep in Blacksburg is largely due to Perry putting together so many house parties over the past year. The kid bought a DJ setup and a PA just so he could play music any time and place he wanted, and the crowd turnouts we're seeing at these recent events wouldn't be close to what they are without him.
It's nice to see coverage of electronic music events in the CT, but please dig a little deeper next time instead of just calling up 4 of your friends to ask for their opinions.
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i have to say that i'm pretty upset by this write up. the CT makes it seem like dubstep and the whole dance scene just suddenly dropped into Blacksburg. truth is, it's because of the Boogieburg crew that Reid Speed was even possible. Yeah, Third Eye helped too and he's helped book other artists with Boogieburg recently, but Boogieburg's been throwing some of the greatest dance parties around here for YEARS. they've brought in hugely popular DJs like Ursula 1000, Fort Knox Five, Tal M. Klein, Bastard Jazz, and have flown in people from the UK to NYC to San Francisco. give these guys some credit where it's due. they work their butts off to make sure that people have a good time.
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You should really just let parties involved speak for themselves, you are doing them a disservice with your posts.
If you think Third Eye just assisted boogieburg in booking reid speed, or "other djs" you have your head in the sand and I will just leave it at that. Forget that Third Eye already booked Reid Speed for her Under the Influence Tour......
It should have been mentioned who threw the party, that was a flub, no doubt about that, BUT let's not get it twisted either.
if the "other article about edm" is the one Topher wrote, it was about dnb, not edm. Not only was it about dnb, it's focus was the upcoming show in which Encryption came from DC and played DNB & Dubstep... yes, Dubstep. I'm sorry if anyone felt snubbed if they weren't mentioned in that article about genres they do not play and about a party they weren't involved in with music they don't play... and the show was a success without any outside assistance.
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This shoddy article is about this party, but also dubstep, no? So other than the omission of those involved in throwing the party, which for sure is messed up, there's no need to get all bent out of shape that no one is saying boogieburg is responsible for dubstep coming into blacksburg because imo they are not. They don't play dubstep. They do not book dubstep. They have turned down the opportunity to have dubstep at their parties. They have definitely booked a lot of great artists in the genres that they do play. I've been to tons of them, and had a lot of fun. I have respect for what everyone making moves in Blacksburg is doing. At the same time, plenty of people have been throwing house parties and parties downtown for a long time, and they will continue to do so for a long time. There have been multiple EDM parties in Blacksburg, downtown, on the same night and both been successes. There was nothing beforehand preventing third eye from throwing their parties that somehow was enabled by the fact that boogieburg throws parties.
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All successful shows in bburg do not owe said success to them. And I DO NOT think theyre saying that, But it sounds like it's what YOU'RE saying - maybe you should just let ppl speak for themselves. There's nothing preventing anyone from booking any music other than themselves. I've seen Blueprint doing an instore & show in dt bburg! If Hip Hop blew up in bburg, I wouldn't attribute that to just anyone doing other parties in town, I'd give it to ppl who took initiative, because that's all it takes. It has way more to do with the crowds in bburg than who's throwing the party. I know single individuals who found a musician they liked & acted as a 1man street team & made sure they got booked, or booked it themselves, & made sure the show was a success. The attitude that you can't do a successful show without someone else's support or endorsement is incorrect and will only hinder the musical scene in town. Blacksburg is made of ppl from other larger areas, they already know EDM, some play EDM themselves. And there is room for all of them to do their thing. So let's just appreciate everyones' stuff and stop relegating anyone's success to just a derivative of someone else's stuff
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Oh Kee-Rist!! First you don't mention who promoted the show, and then it turned into a total roto-rooting Puff piece about Ian McGlumphy. What the author neglected to mention is that while Ian's radio show DOES include a lot of dubstep, they forget THAT HE TALKS OVER IT CONSTANTLY!! Any listener of his program, "A Show About Nothing" knows that Ian goes to MADDENING LENGTHS TO HEAR HIMSELF SPEAK. He talks between every song, or at least every other song.
In short, his show is really annoying to listen to, unless you are Ian, who probably tapes every show so that he can listen to himself talk some more.
Sincerely,
Don "The Don" Rastberger
PS Now I talk a lot on MY show (The Big Waste of Time Global Corporate Empire presents The Doncast - every Weds nite from 9 to midnite!!), but MY show is SUPPOSED to be a waste of time.
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Ian's show rocks. He talks about the music he plays because a lot of people know nothing about it. don't hate.
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jealous much?
where's Cam in here to wag his finger...U MAD
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Do you people know how many drunken nights standing around pushing buttons the BoogieBurg guys had to do to garner their small rural town fame? It's not an easy niche to carve...all those grams of substances...nights drunkenly trainwrecking on the tables...fake smiles to fake people. Boogieburg deserves more credit...being an aging alcoholic hipster in a small rural college town takes it toll. This kind of rave crap doesn't just come to town you know....how are the next generation of emotionally damaged skanks going to know who to jock if you don't mention joey and boogieburg? small town fame is hard to come by, at least you can give them some print in your rag. it takes more than ponytails and drink specials to throw a good party, apparently it takes whiney aging losers with a sense of entitlement too...so let's make sure they get credit where credit is due.
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Yup, and those are the same whiney aging losers you'll be begging tickets off of for the next show. easy, Liz. Give credit where its due, and perhaps one day when you're a whiney aging looser you'll look back fondly at all those nights you don't remember that Boogieburg made happen. The beats will go on! and one things fo sho--so will the good vibes.
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yea adding alcohol and drugs to crappy music with flashing lights is such a novel, credit-deserving idea. *slow claps* way to go guys...they should give you the key to the town.
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Liz - what's your story; why so bitter? Do you feel that you're doing a public service by spewing bile at others?
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karma can be a b!tch!! hahaha
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This article fails on so many levels.
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When I gave this interview I was under the impression it was just an article about local dubstep DJs. If I had known little clips of what I said were going to be dispersed through an article that glosses over almost every important aspect of the Blacksburg music scene, I probably wouldn't have given my two cents in the first place.
Thanks again to Johnathan Griffin / Third Eye Productions for consistently bringing talent to Blacksburg and hopefully further articles about local DJs don't discredit or not even acknowledge over some of the better known artists who have worked to make the scene what it is.
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Don't take that as a negative towards, Massive sound. I just felt overall theme of the article fell short in terms of promoting the music.
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This article should have been like...3 or 4 different articles, each one more detailed than this article. This is a pretty sparse view of the scene here, it would be better to concentrate on smaller portions and do a good job than to try and explain the whole electronic music movement in Blacksburg in one article.
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The lack of credit awarded to Boogieburg and Third Eye Productions for the Reid Speed show is glaring. In actuality, these two are the reason there is such a platform to throw crazy raves in Blacksburg. Boogieburg's dedication is undeniable, they have deserved such a following by consistently putting together incredible shows. As for Third Eye, Jonathan is pulling in massive headliners into our tiny town, on the regular basis. I never suggested, or ever intended to suggest that I had anything to do with putting on the Reid Speed show. That credit is entirely owed to Jonathan Griffin of Third Eye and the Boogieburg-ers. It was a proper banger, might I add.
Hate to see Dub Perry unmentioned, as well. His following has greatly impacted every show I have organized. In actuality, I have Massive Sound Crew to thank in many ways for paving the way with their DnB and Breaks movement, which obviously began well before my time.
Simply put, I'm only hoping to contribute to the ever-growing Blacksburg live music scene. In the last few months, I have seen several developments that suggest bigger and better things for the future. The scene, as a whole, is what it's all about.
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Where do you get crazy raves from? I can't stand when people use that term to describe any party with electronic music involved. They're just good parties. As far as credit is due, Joey deserves plenty. He has been holding it down in Blacksburg, long before many of you were even in this town.
I left Tech in 1998 to join the Marines. When I got out in 2003, I came back to find there were some great parties going on with Joey being involved in a lot of those. Who remembers the lounge affair parties? I do.
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Cool story, Hansel.
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big up Perry and Boogieburg
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I have found a site that pushes indie artists all over the world. Just like artists in the blacksburg scene. I have found so many new indie artists that I listen to through this site called www.musicwithoutlabels.com they are also creating a site called www.beatplay.com and it's all about indie music. It's sick my buddy showed me their blog http://beatplay.wordpress.com/ and I am hooked on this new way of indie music finds.
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