ROKon Magazine, 2008

Interviewed by for ROKon Magazine (Seoul, South Korea), 2008. Day job: English Instructor Length of time in Korea: Arrived August 2004 Djing since: 1997 Affiliations: Breakbeat Massive, Celestial Conspiracy Recordings Web: accomplicated.ca Styles of music: Old school hiphop and reggae influenced jump-up, dubby ragga-jungle with a hint of adult contemporary mash-up and… dubstep. ROKon: Can you give your description of dubstep? accomplice: For me dubstep embodies all that I look for in other genres of music. It has the influence of reggae, dancehall, and proper dub, the spacious yet still funky feel of minimal techno, the clever drum editing of jungle and breaks, and the powerful bass of dnb. Overall, dubstep is a 140 bpm genre of music that is sub-bass driven rather than snare reliant. ROKon: Do people here enjoy it? accomplice: As a genre, dubstep is still the underground of the underground, so it always surprises me when people here know of its existence. In Korea, the fans are few and far between, but they are all die hard. As such, when booked to play in Korea, I have had the privilege of introducing the genre to not a small number of people. Generally the responses range from, “Can you play something faster?” to “This is the best music that I have ever heard!” ROKon: Do you think a night dedicated to dubstep would go down well in Seoul? accomplice: At the moment, I think that an entire night of dubstep would not be well received. However, dubstep could comfortably be included in quality monthly events such as “We Love Techno” at Joker Red (with tracks like Appleblim’s “Vansan”) or “Junglist” at Cargo (with tracks like Aaron Spectre’s “Say More Fire”). ROKon: What is it about the style that people are going bananas about elsewhere? accomplice: It sounds incredible on a quality sound system; a veritable bass massage. ROKon: What are some of your favourite dubstep producers at the moment? Who would you like to see come out and dj here? accomplice: Of course, any article about dubstep cannot go without mentioning Skream, but there are several other producers that are worth mentioning, namely Benga, Kode 9, and Ans. There are also several cross-over producers who are making waves, i.e. Juju, Martyn, and Ed Solo. I would like to see any of the three aforementioned booked in Seoul; each are quality dnb producers in their own right that I feel would present dubstep in a manner that even the uninitiated could appreciate. ROKon: How were you introduced to dubstep? accomplice: Two years ago, after almost 15 years of listening to jungle, suddenly I was no longer feeling it. I started to notice that many of the producers that I had respected were lacking in regards to production values, while those who were producing big sounds seemed to be lacking in dynamics. At that time, Intoccabile from Montreal introduced me to dubstep; I was definitely intrigued, but not yet hooked. After serendipitously stumbling upon www.dubstepforum.com, I became familiar with an abundance of producers who, unlike dnb producers, were willing and even excited to share their music. Their excitement has been contagious and makes me, as ambassador of this relatively new sound, excited to share it with Seoul’s electronic music community. I look forward to sharing it with Korea on the dancefloor. Accomplice is a weekly resident of the Breakbeat Massive’s “Freebass Friday” at Bar Nana in Itaewon, a monthly resident of Breakbeat Massive’s Saturday at Vinyl Underground in Busan, and a monthly resident of “Redrum” at Underlounge in Hongdae. Accomplice can also be seen at PB&J’s monthly charity event at Monghwhan in Shinchon on February 2nd, and at “Junglist” at Cargo in Hongdae on February 16th alongside A-Sides. For sets and tracks, check out accomplice on the web at accomplicated.ca